Page 94 of Devil's Azalea

“I don’t know… this is so fast,toofast. I can’t think.”

“It’s been fifteen years in the making,amorina. Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet now.”

“It’s not cold feet.” She shifts uncomfortably, wincing as the movement pulls at her injuries. “We’re enemies, Rafael. No matter what I've discovered about the bureau, marrying you will spell the end of my career. Because what kind of federal agent marries a known criminal?”

There it is. The real objection.

“You said you were going to quit,” I remind her.

She shakes her head, raising her right hand to massage her temple. “Yeah, when I thought the bureau sent those men after me. And I made some disturbing discoveries today. Still, my career is my entire life. Without it, I’ll have nothing left.”

“You’ll have me,” I point out. “You’ll be married to me.”

“No. I’m not marrying you. There has to be other solutions. Marriage is a big decision. My life, yours,everythingwill change.”

Everything already has changed, baby. You just haven’t accepted it yet.

“Being scared of a change this big is normal. But this is the only way we can truly protect each other. The choice is yours,piccola.” I pause, making sure she’s listening. “You can either let your fear win and leave this penthouse tomorrow, never to come back, and face your challenges alone. Or marry me, and I’ll shield and protect you from everyone—even yourself.”

The silence stretches between us. I can practically hear her mind working, weighing options, calculating risks. I hold my breath as she deliberates. It’s obvious which choice is safer for her, but she can be stubborn and unpredictable.

“Does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore?”

The question comes out of nowhere, soft and uncertain. I frown, caught off guard by the sudden shift. “Mad about what?”

“What happened ten years ago.” Her voice drops to almost a whisper. “I betrayed you. I knew it was bad. I didn’t want to do it… but I did it anyway.”

Ten years ago.

I take a moment to really consider that. The night it happened, I was furious—betrayed, hurt, ready to burn the world down. Even though I couldn’t help myself from watching over her through the years, from interfering when she needed help, that betrayal had always been there, a constant ache in my chest.

Maybe it’s the passage of time, or seeing her beaten andhelpless on the concrete tonight, but I can’t summon even half the anger I felt back then. At least not right now.

“So?” I ask finally. “Do you plan to betray me again?”

She shakes her head quickly and tries to swing her legs off the bed as if she means to get up. But pain stops her, and she collapses back against the headboard with a wince that makes my jaw clench.

“Stay still.” I’m beside her before I consciously decide to move, checking the IV line, making sure she hasn’t pulled anything loose.

Emilia grabs my wrist like she was only waiting for me to come closer. “I only did it because I was so sure you were innocent. I wanted to prove your innocence to everyone.”

I tilt my head, studying her face for several long seconds. “And what did you discover?”

“Everything was so shady and unclear. Then my dad died—died again—and I…” She bites her lower lip, worrying it between her teeth. “I just forgot to ask about your innocence after that. I was too angry, too hurt to think straight.”

“And I was never arrested for that crime, was I?” The reminder hits its mark. She lets go of her lip, staring up at me with sudden realization, as if this fact had never occurred to her before. “You were probably fed lies about me from the start to foster dislike. Tell me, what crimes were they trying to pin on me?”

She sighs and releases my wrist—reluctantly, I note with dark satisfaction—before settling back against the pillows. “Remember how little girls were disappearing around that time? The ones who turned up with their organs harvested?”

“You thought I’d do that?” I ask incredulously. The hurt in my voice is real—the idea that she could think me capable of something so monstrous…

“No!” Emilia shakes her head quickly. “Iknewit wasn’t you. That’s why I tried so hard to prove your innocence. But then I–Isaw you and the other guys were at the orphanage where the last girl was kidnapped, and I didn’t know what to think anymore.”

The orphanage.Memory crystalizes—we’d been tracking the real monsters, trying to stop them. But from the outside, I can see how it looked.

“So you shared our location with your fellow agents,our enemies.” The old anger flickers to life briefly. “What if we had died then? We almost lost our lives. Your father—”Fuck.

I cut myself off abruptly and get off the bed, putting distance between us. I almost said too much, almost revealed that an FBI agent killed Tomassi that night. She’s already starting to come around to me, to trust me. I don’t know how she’ll handle that revelation on top of everything else she’s been through tonight.