Page 44 of Desperate Crimes (Mergers & Acquisitions #6)

F our Months Later—The Vow Renewal

The breeze is perfect.

Soft. Salt-sweet.

Gentle, like a kiss behind the ear.

It flutters through the gauzy layers of my ivory gown, dancing through the long train, lifting my veil in teasing spirals as I stand at the edge of the suite’s marble balcony, staring out at the white-and-rose ceremony tent pitched beneath the palm trees, beyond which the sea glitters like liquid sapphire.

Somewhere down there is the man I love.

The man who stole me.

Who bled for me.

Who knelt before me, wounded and proud, and swore to love me till the end of days.

And four months ago, when he came home, I gave him everything.

Including my body.

I place a hand gently over the soft curve of my belly.

Four months swollen with the miracle Nico Fury Jr. gave me the first night he made love to me after I brought him back from the dead.

He swears it’s fate.

Kismet.

That the stars aligned the day I was born to lead me straight to him.

That our love was unstoppable, written in blood and starlight and soul-deep need.

And I believe him.

I believe it all.

In fairy tales.

In dark myths.

In Hades and Persephone.

I believe in princesses who become warrior wolves when the men they fall in love with are threatened. And in vipers who shed their skin and become bigger, badder, and sometimes softer, for the women they adore.

I mean, how could we not be destined?

He gives me everything.

His name— Fury.

His home—a literal castle with gardens so beautiful, I still can’t stop wandering through them, lost in the fragrance of rare roses in bloom and a million other botanicals.

It’s even better when he joins me, holding my hand, kissing my fingers like he’s still in awe he’s allowed to touch me.

He gave me his heart.

And now, this.

Our child.

I am so full of love I don’t know how to hold it all inside.

It’s probably a red flag.

A thousand red flags.

But what can I say?

I’m just a dark romance girlie who got her happily ever after.

And my unhinged antihero? He’s absolutely feral for me.

He worships every inch of me—every curve and dimple, every scar, every stubborn freckle.

He’s obsessed.

Unapologetically so.

And I’m just as gone for him.

A knock on the door pulls me back into the moment.

“ L ee-Lee!” Michaela bursts in, radiant in her rose-colored dress, her curls bouncing, eyes misty. “You look unreal. Oh my God. You're glowing like a goddess.”

I turn to her, smile trembling as I blink back the tears I’ve been threatening for the past hour.

“You really think so?”

“I know so,” she says firmly, taking my hands. “Come on. Everyone’s waiting. It’s time.”

I nod, my throat tight. “I’m ready.”

And when I rise from the velvet settee, I feel a flutter—not just of nerves, but something softer, deeper.

Life.

The baby shifts inside me, a sweet, rolling little kick that feels like a secret only the two of us share.

I cradle my bump and close my eyes for a breath.

Why am I nervous?

Nico loves me.

He’s shown me a thousand ways. A thousand times.

But the idea of standing in front of all of them—our entire families, the Volkovs and the Furys, every powerful, intimidating soul who raised us both—and declaring it out loud?

It’s a lot.

I’ve always been quiet. Private.

More pages than spotlights.

But now?

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.

The Volkovs and the Furys.

Our clan.

Our empire.

Our future.

And when I finally reach him, standing beneath a garland-draped arch of olive branches and white orchids, Nico turns to me like there’s no one else in the world.

There isn’t.

Not for me.

His blue eyes rake over every inch of me, pausing at the gentle curve of our child nestled beneath silk and lace.

His chest rises, thick and tight with emotion, the muscles beneath his white shirt flexing with the effort not to pull me straight into his arms.

“You ready to marry me again, Princess?” he murmurs, ignoring the officiant, ignoring the crowd, speaking just to me.

I blink up at him, heart cracking wide open at the heat in his gaze.

At the way he loves me like it’s oxygen. Like he needs me to breathe.

“I’m ready,” I whisper, voice trembling.

And I mean it.

With everything I am.

His hand closes around mine. Strong. Sure. Steady.

“Then let’s do this.”

We say our vows with the sea behind us and our child between us.

And when he kisses me, it’s not chaste.

It’s not polite.

It’s Nico Fury— my monster, my myth, my man —claiming me all over again in front of God and everyone.

Forever.

And always.