Page 81 of Desperate Crimes

Lightning in his eyes.

But he’s not.

Of course, he isn’t.

“Where am I going? Home, Nico,” I say, my voice level but laced with steel. “My home.”

“You were home.”

“That was your house. Not mine.”

A pause. Then, low and lethal, “You got that wrong, Leanna.”

I swallow hard, fury crawling up my throat like fire laced in thorns.

“I woke up alone. You were gone. What was I supposed to think? That you were done with me?”

“Done?” He laughs—a brutal sound, ugly and hot. “We are far from done.”

“No,” I bite out. “You’re just not finished playing house. But I’m not a doll, Nico. I’m not a fucking trinket you get to obsess over and hoard like treasure.”

The silence is explosive.

Heavy. Charged.

“I underestimated you,” he says finally. “Thought your sweetness meant submission. Thought you’d stay where I put you. I was wrong.”

Then, with venom-laced clarity, he growls, “So let me be crystal clear now. No more misunderstandings. You. Are. Mine.”

The words hit me like a brand to the skin.

I’m trembling, but not with fear.

With anger, yes.

But also, something darker.

Something that wants to be his.

“No,” I whisper, but even I hear the waver in it. “I have a life, Nico. A real one. People who love me. Who know me.”

“They love you. But do they know you, Princess?” he hisses. “Do they know how you sound when you moan my name? How your body melts when I touch you? Do they make you come so hard you forget your own goddamn name?”

“That’s just sex. You’ll get tired of me.”

“Don’t lie. Not to me. Not to yourself, Leanna,” he says, and I swear I can almost see his expression in my head.

“You think I didn’t see it? The way you look at me like I built the stars just for you? You think I didn’t feel the way your soul screamed mine every time I touched you? You were always meant to be mine, Princess.”

“So what? You just took me?”

“That’s right. I made your darkest dreams come true. I’m your Hades, Sweet Persephone,” he whispers, and a shudder runs through me.

Tears burn my eyes.

Because he’s right.

Because I hate that he’s right.