Page 168 of Desperate Crimes

Now it’s time to claim my place beside him.

To tell the whole world that I’m his, and he’s mine.

Louder than the crashing sea.

I glance down at the blue diamond winking from my left hand.

A symbol.

A vow.

A promise.

Straightening my shoulders, I let the ocean wind catch the skirts on my gown.

Let the sun kiss my cheeks.

Let the day carry me forward.

And I know I can do this.

Because I’m not the same girl I was before he took me.

Before he stared at me across a dark room and whispered that he would burn the world to keep me safe.

Before I stared back and whispered, “Then burn it down.”

Before I rescued him.

Before I watched him bleed and still rise.

Before we chose each other, bloodied and bruised, wrapped in jungle smoke and moonlight.

Before I realized love isn’t soft.

Not for us.

It’s fire.

It’s war.

It’s everything.

Now?Now I’m Leanna Fury.

Daughter of a legacy.

Wife of a Viper.

Mother of a child made in holy chaos.

Queen of a love that will never die.

And today?Today I walk barefoot down an ivory aisle of sand and rose petals, the warm Mediterranean breeze lifting my veil like a benediction.

Today, I speak my vows out loud—no more secrets, no more stolen shadows.

In front of all of them.