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"It's already enough that I want to kill every man who'severglanced upon you." His words inflame me even as I realize the precariousness of our situation—stranded in the middle of nowhere with no means of getting home. "But to have the entire world in love with you too?" He shakes his head.

"The entire world in love with me? Aren't you jumping the gun?"

"Nope," he answers immediately, "because there's no wayanyonewould take one look at you andnotfall in love with you." His voice sends shivers down my back, his words reminding me that Vlad doesn't see me like the rest. In his eyes I'm so precious there's no way others would see me as less.

I raise my gaze toward him, catching his hand in mine as I bring it to my mouth, my lips skirting around his knuckles.

"Thank you," I whisper, "for making me feel so loved."

His regard for me never fails to surprise me, the way his love can be so pure and yet so wicked at the same time.

He treats me better than a queen. Me, the girl who everyone looked down upon—the cursed, unwanted one. Yet when he looks at me with those dark eyes of his, I finally feel like I matter. That all I endured so far was never a misfortune, but rather a test. I had to earn thefortuneI now have, and frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Because not only did my past shape me into who I am, but it also helped me recognize just how lucky I am to have this unusual man's love.

"You should never thank me, Sisi, for treating you like you deserve. Hell, you deserve so much more than I can give you. Sometimes I worry that you might find someone else. Someone… better."

His voice is low, his forehead slightly creased as he admits this. The vulnerability behind his voice astounds me and I realize that I'm not the only one thinking I'm not worthy.

He is too.

"Vlad," I softly call his name, his dark eyes on mine as I lose myself in those depths. "There's no one better than you. There won't ever be anyone else. Period."

There's a slight twitch in his upper lip as he regards me intently, almost without blinking.

"For me, you are the other half of my soul," I say, and his features relax, a lightness appearing on his face. "You are the one requirement I need to live, just like I know I am yours." I place his hand over my heart, letting him hear how it beats for him. "Don't ever think you're less, Vlad. Because to me you areeverything."

"Sisi," he releases an anguished sound, "my darling Sisi," he says as he draws me into his arms, holding me so tight we might melt into one. "I can't help myself from wondering what I did to deserve you. You're just…" he trails off, his fingers moving up and down my back in a slow caress.

"Perfection," he finally says, and I snuggle closer in his arms, allowing his heat to seep into my skin, his love into my heart, his adoration into my soul.

And as the sun comes up into the sky, a reddish hue staining the horizon line, we stay like that—wrapped in each other and pretending we are indeed one. That we're not separate bodies, nor separate entities. No, as my cheek rests on his, my body molded to his, we are one being.

"Ya lyublyu tebya," I murmur softly into his hair, telling him I love you in his language, the only reason I'd wanted to learn it.

He stills, shocked.

"Isho," he says, urging me to say it again, "isho."

"Ya ochen lyublyu tebya," I repeat it and he crashes his mouth to mine, prying my lips open and breathing in the words from my mouth.

"Ya tozhe," he rasps. "Ah, milaya, ya tak tebya lyublyu… v etu zhizn mne nuzhna tolka ti odna." His voice breaks as he tells me that I'm the only thing he needs in this life, the sound of his promise of love never sweeter as I know he means it from the bottom of his heart.

I don't know how long we stay like this, but eventually we decide we need to keep on walking until we find a car willing to take us into the city.

Seeing the fatigue on my face, Vlad doesn't even let me try to walk, swinging me over his shoulder and giving me a piggyback ride.

I hold tightly onto his shoulders, letting myself absorb the heat of him.

He keeps on walking, and after some time I start feeling guilty that I'm an added weight on his back. No matter the evidence to the contrary, he's still human.

"You should put me down now. I'm well rested," I tell him, but he simply refuses, stubbornly continuing forward.

"I mean it, Vlad. You can put me down." I tap his shoulder, but he doesn't even reply this time, trudging his way forward.

By chance, I see a car approaching and I start waving my hands in the air, hoping to get their attention.

A couple in their mid-forties stop by us, giving us a one over before inviting us to share the car with them. Luckily, they are also heading upstate, so they can drop us somewhere close to Marcello's house.