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“Luciana,” he breathes, “Your emotions . . . they call to the deepest, darkest parts of my being. Compelling me to be what you need. And when I really got to know you, I gottrulywrecked.”

I shiver as his words raise goosebumps on my skin.

“Your brilliant mind. Your brazenness. You were surrounded by death, yet you never flinched. Never ran . . .” His eyes burn into mine. “You just kept digging deeper into my soul until you made it impossible tobreathewithout you.”

“Oh, Cade,” I sob as his words crack me open, leaving me raw and exposed.

Thetears I’d been holding back spill over, and he catches them with his thumbs, his gaze softening but losing none of its intensity.

“So instead of asking what I want, you tell me what you can give. Because I want all of it. Forever.”

Forever?

The word rings in my head like a gong. Cade was supposed to be something dangerous and elusive—a tempest that can’t be held, let alone tamed. And now he’s offering me the whole storm?

“I don’t—” My voice catches. “Cade, I might not have forever.”

His eyes hold mine, bottomless pools of green. “I’ll take whatever you’ve got. One minute or one hundred years. I want you bound to me in every way. Marry me.”

Christ. His words . . . Pure joy surges through me, but terror rises alongside it, clawing at my throat. That deep, gnawing fear I’ve tried so hard to bury.

What if I can’t give him what he needs?

“Cade, I—” My hand shakes as I step back from him. “It’s not the right time.”

His eyes narrow, like he can’t quite process what he’s hearing. “What do you mean, not the right time?”

I scramble for something—anything—that might make this easier. “It’s . . . um, too soon.” I take another step back. “We’re not ready.”

For a moment, he doesn’t move. He just stands there, jaw tight. And then, slowly, he nods as if weighing some invisible scale. “Will this help?”

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out something I recognize instantly.

His kill list.

I watch as he walks to a nearby drawer and yanks it open. The lighter flicks to life, the flame dancing with a quiet menace. For a moment, Cade just stares at it, the flame reflected in his eyes. Something flickers there—grief, maybe. Or relief. Or both.

My jaw unhinges at what he’s about to do. I’d playfully threatened him with this before, but I never thought . . . never imagined . . .

“Cade?” My voice is a strangled whisper. “What are you doing?”

He doesn’t respond.

The moment the flame kisses the parchment, my breath catches. Fire curls at the edges, devouring it hungrily, like the paper has been waiting all these years to burn. Cade lays the burning scroll on the marble countertop, clicks the lighter shut, and throws it back in the drawer.

Then he turns to face me.

51

Luna

Two decades of rage and vengeance turn to ash, golden handles gleaming against the black remnants like a memorial to everything he’s letting go.

“Your kill list . . .” I swallow hard. This isn’t just paper burning. It’s his whole life’s mission going up in flames. For me. “You just . . . Why?”

He closes the distance between us. “Vengeance kept me alive. But you, Luciana, you make me want to live.”

His raw vulnerability steals my breath. God, I don’t think I could possibly love him more than I do right now.