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“But at what cost, Ares?” I whisper, my hands fisting in the fabric of his shirt. “You talk about protecting me like it’s something you can do without bleeding. Like you won’t break in the process.”
He lowers his forehead to mine, breath shallow, jaw set. “I don’t care what it costs.”
“Well, I do.” My voice trembles, the words tearing from me like confession. “Because I’m the one who has to live with it if you don’t come back.”
Silence folds between us, heavy and raw.
“You think I haven’t pictured it?” I continue, eyes burning. “Them putting a bullet in your head. Capturing and torturing you, because of me. You think I don’t see it every time I close my eyes?”
Ares pulls me tighter against him like he can shield me from my own thoughts. “No one’s taking me from you,” he says low. “I won’t let that happen.”
“But you can’t promise that.” My voice cracks, and I hate how fragile it sounds. “Not in your world.”
His eyes flash, something desperate and furious and heartbreakingly human. “Then come into mine. Stay in it. Choose me, and let me carry this weight.”
I shake my head. “I already did. I always will. That’s why it hurts so much.”
He kisses me then, not out of hunger or heat, but something deeper. Something final. His mouth moves against mine like a vow, like a goodbye he refuses to say out loud.
When we pull apart, my decision is no longer a possibility, it’s inevitable.
Tomorrow, I leave. And he’ll never forgive me when he finds out.
When he pulls back from the kiss, I keep my eyes closed for a beat too long, trying to hold on to the feel of him. To the illusion that we could outrun this.
But when I open them, everything inside me fractures.
I look up at him, tears clinging to my lashes, and force the words past the lump in my throat. “Marry her,” I whisper. “Marry Giana. Become Capo dei Capi and put an end to this.”
Ares freezes. “I’d rather watch you marry someone else,” I breathe, voice splintering, “than have to bury you.”
His face contorts like I’ve just stabbed him. His grip loosens, arms falling away as though the ground just vanished beneath him.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.” The lie tastes like blood on my tongue, but I keep going. “If this is the price for your life… then I’ll pay it.”
He stares at me like he can’t believe I’ve just uttered those words and then his stare hardens, the breath leaving his lungs in one sharp exhale. “No,” he answers, shaking his head. “No, you don’t get to say that. You don’t get to offer me up like some sacrifice and pretend it’s love.”
I flinch, but I don’t back down. “It is love, Ares. That’s the problem.”
He paces a step away, raking a hand through his hair, the muscles in his back tightening beneath his shirt. I see the storm building, the fury, the grief, the disbelief.
“I would burn the fucking world for you,” he growls, turning back toward me. “And you want me to hand myself over to it instead? To her? Are you fucking serious, Jordyn?”
“Do I want to? No, I don’t. I want you alive ,” I snap, the tears spilling now, hot and angry. “I want you breathing. I want to know you’ll still exist on this earth even if you’re not mine.”
His eyes blaze hotter than I’ve ever seen them. “I won’t exist without you.”
“Neither will I!” I bellow. “You can’t be the only one to sacrifice yourself for us. Don’t make me bury you, Ares.” I whisper, broken. “Please.”
For a moment, all I hear is the sound of my heart shattering. Then Ares steps forward, slow and deliberate, and cups my face in both hands and looks into my eyes.
“You think I’m afraid to die?” he asks quietly. “I’m not. I’m afraid to lose you. That’s what terrifies me.”
I close my eyes as his forehead presses to mine, my tears meeting on our skin.
“I won’t survive it,” he murmurs. “You walking away… marrying her, I won’t survive it, Jordyn.”
I force down the sob building in my chest. “And I won’t survive you in a coffin.
At least this way, if you marry her, I’ll know you’ll be alive.
” I lift my hands, my fingers trembling as I brush them along his jaw.
“I can’t live with that.” I whimper, choking on the sob I’ve been fighting as it splits me open.
I feel him go stiff against me.
Then, slowly, his grip loosens, not in surrender, but in defiance. His hands slide down my arms, then back up to cup my face again, this time firmer. Unyielding. His eyes lock onto mine, burning with something wild and furious and entirely him.
“No,” he says, voice raw and trembling with restrained rage. “No, I’m not letting you go.”
“Ares—”
“I’m not marrying Giana,” he growls, each word sharp and deliberate, as if he’s spitting poison from his mouth. “I don’t give a fuck what Luciano wants. I don’t care about alliances or bloodlines or thrones. I will not let them win.”
His hands are shaking again, not from fear, but from the sheer force of holding himself back. From tearing the world apart.
“They’ve taken everything from me,” he says. “Twisted my childhood, used me like a fucking weapon, buried me in blood and obedience. But they don’t get you.”
His voice breaks, just slightly, like a crack splintering through marble. “You’re the only good thing I’ve ever touched. The only thing I want for myself. And I’m done letting them dictate who I have and who I don’t.”
I open my mouth, but he doesn’t let me speak.
“No,” he repeats, fiercer now. “You don’t get to make this choice for me. I decide who I am. And I’m not him, Jordyn. I’m not Luciano’s soldier. I’m not a fucking puppet. I will never be hers. I’m yours .”
My heart lurches violently, already unravelling under the weight of him.
“You said you’d rather watch me marry someone else than bury me?” he breathes, stepping closer until our foreheads touch again. “Well, I’d rather die loving you than live a lifetime with anyone else.”
Tears sting my eyes all over again.
“I’ll burn their alliances to ash,” he swears, his voice dark and trembling. “I’ll tear down every legacy they built if it means I get to keep you.”
And I believe him. God help me, I do, but I know this isn’t going to end well. “Ares, please,” I breathe, “This isn’t about letting them win, it’s about keeping you alive. You need to marry Giana. We can find some way to be?—”
“Don’t,” Ares growls, his grip tightening ever so slightly. “Don’t even think about finishing that sentence, Jordyn.” His voice is low, dangerous, threaded with something close to desperation.
“Don’t you dare ask me to make you the other woman. I won’t do that to you.”
He brushes a strand of hair from my face with both hands, eyes locked onto mine like he’s trying to burn the truth into me one word at a time.
“You’re not some dirty secret I tuck away in the dark,” he says fiercely. “You’re mine. My woman. The only one. And I’d rather you take my gun and put a bullet in my heart right here and now than pretend otherwise.”
I try to speak, to challenge him, to remind him that love isn’t always enough. That there are forces bigger than us closing in. But the second my mouth parts, his hand drops from my cheek and slides to the base of my throat, his touch gentle but commanding.
Ares pulls me flush against him, his breath mingling with mine, lips barely a whisper apart.
“Basta parlare, bambina,” he murmurs, the Italian low and rough like gravel soaked in honey. Stop talking, baby.
My pulse spikes, but I refuse to fold. “Ares, you need to listen to me.”
His mouth brushes mine, just enough to steal the air from my lungs. “No,” he breathes. “I need to kiss you.” And then his lips claim mine, instantly silencing me.
His lips crash into mine with a kind of desperation that feels like both a battle cry and a surrender. There’s nothing gentle about it, he kisses me like he’s trying to anchor himself to the edge of the world, like if he holds me close enough, I won’t slip away.
And for a breath, I don’t.
My fingers tangle in the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer, giving into the storm because it’s easier than facing the silence after. Easier than telling him goodbye.
When our tongues glide over one another he groans against my mouth, the sound low and guttural, like he’s been starving for this. For me .
But it’s more than need, it’s dread. It’s fury. Love, too loud to be spoken in words.
His hands slide down to my waist, gripping me like he’s terrified I’ll slip through his fingers. He breaks the kiss just long enough to whisper against my lips, his breath trembling with truth.
“I don’t want to kiss lips that aren’t yours, Jordyn. I don’t want to touch skin that doesn’t belong to you. I don’t want a world without you in it, mia cara. Don’t make me live in one.”
And that’s when my chest cracks open. Because I don’t want that either. I never did.
But wanting him has never been the problem. It’s keeping him alive that is.
“I don’t want that world either, Ares… but I’m scared it’s the only one I’ll be left with if you keep charging into this crusade of yours.” I whisper, my voice fraying at the edges.
He doesn’t respond.
Well, not with words.
His eyes search mine, dark and molten, wild with something unspoken. Then his mouth is on mine again, fierce and consuming. Not like before. This kiss isn't a claim or a demand, it’s a plea. A silent promise. A prayer laced with fire.
Strong arms tighten around me, and before I can draw another breath, my feet leave the ground.
A quiet gasp escapes my lips as he lifts me effortlessly into his arms, like I weigh nothing as he carries me through the open doors without breaking the kiss.
My arms loop around his shoulders, fingers threading into his hair, tugging him closer, deeper, like I could climb inside him and disappear if I just held on tight enough.
The bedroom is dim, the air thick with the scent of us, warm skin, salted tears, the tension we’ve been burying for far too long. He sets me down at the edge of the bed, his hands lingering at my waist, thumbs pressing into my hips.
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