Page 101 of Intense (Beneath The Blaze #3)

STEPHANIE

I know he’s behind me before I even look. But I can’t. Because before I can even turn, my stomach wrenches and I’m throwing up into the toilet again.

This time, when it’s over, I actually feel lighter. I sit back on the cold floor, breathless, and Finn is already there, rubbing slow circles into my back.

“You okay, love?” he asks, lowering himself beside me on the tiles like he belongs there.

“I’ve been better. Do you think it was the fish? But you aren’t sick?”

I press the back of my hand to my forehead. I’m not sweaty. Not feverish. Just… off.

Finn chuckles, that dark sound that always carries a secret, and lays his palm against my stomach.

“No. I don’t think it was anything you ate. I think it’s something I put inside of you.”

I swallow hard, fighting the sting of tears.

“You’re late, temptress. Three days, if my calculations are correct.”

“I’m pregnant?” The words come out broken, almost a hiccup.

I shoved that thought so far back, I almost convinced myself it wasn’t possible.

I didn’t want the disappointment. I should have known better.

I should have trusted Finn. His obsession with tracking me, my body, my cycles.

When he wants something, he always gets it.

And what he’s wanted—what we’ve both wanted—is a baby.

He pulls me up from the floor, steadying me with his hands around my waist, grounding me in his arms.

“I hope you’re right, Finn.” My voice is barely a whisper.

His face softens, that hard mask of his cracking, and he presses a kiss into my hair.

“So do I.”

He grabs a bottle of water and presses it into my hand. His eyes flicker with that dual edge of care and control.

“Are you well enough to host the Decadence Trials? I can start without you.”

I gasp. “How dare you even suggest that!”

He smirks, eyes glittering with mischief.

“There she is.” He chuckles, holding out his hand.

“Wait—let me brush my teeth first.”

“Why? Just adds more to the torture methods. Vomit breath.”

I laugh, shaking my head. I love seeing him like this—lighter, uncoiled, less haunted.

When I’ve cleaned myself up, I take his hand, and he leads me into the trial chamber.

It looks different now. Deadlier. Sharper.

More refined. Finn and his brothers worked through the night while I slept, bringing in the five men now waiting.

We even set up pre-recorded videos, calculated perfectly to unravel their nerves before we ever step inside.

They think they’re on trial for survival.

The truth? None of them are walking out of here.

They’ll burn. Their ashes scattered with their sins. And the women they tried to throw into this hell? We’ll pull them out. Between me and Charlotte, we’ve crafted a plan to reach them. To save them. To remind them that monsters can be stopped.

And if we succeed, then maybe—maybe—I won’t carry the weight of guilt anymore.

We stop outside the first room. Finn hands me my mask. Mine glows red when I switch it on, eerie and blood-soaked in appearance.

“We can do a test after we’ve finished with the first trial,” he tells me.

“Okay.”

Finn slides his gold skeleton mask over his face, and the sight steals my breath.

“Fuck. Finn. That’s hot. Don’t get it dirty, I wanna use that later.”

He tugs me flush against him.

“I bought a spare just for you. I had a feeling you’d say that.”

I punch in the code. The door clicks, and the stench of urine and raw terror spills out.

Inside, a man is chained to a wooden chair, skin pale, eyes darting with wild panic.

“Please. I can pay you. Just let me go,” he begs.

Finn laughs, cold and sharp, like ice cracking.

“The only way you can save yourself is by doing exactly as we instruct you. Welcome to Decadence.”

Behind my mask, I’m smiling. I pick up the blade from the counter and press it into Finn’s waiting hand.

This moment—this darkness—shared with him? It’s everything I never thought I’d have. A husband who sees me. Who accepts me. Who loves me fiercely and without flinching.

To the world, we’re monsters.

But we’re not.

We’re the ones who fight the battles others won’t touch. Who’ve bled and sacrificed pieces of ourselves no one should ever have to give.

And maybe that makes us dangerous. But it doesn’t make us evil.

Because I know the truth.

We love with good hearts. For each other. For the family we built in blood and fire.

For the ones worth saving.