“I start panicking, fearing something might happen to you, that someone might take you away from me,” I whisper.
She presses a soft kiss to my lips. “And still you think you could watch me marrying someone else?”
I hold her tighter. “I won’t.”
I know I can’t. How could I bear to watch her become someone else’s?
“Don’t force me to do this, Zoan. We could stay like this. No one needs to know about us.”
“I can’t let you live with your face hidden, Dove, when you could walk proudly, head high, like a queen.”
She rests her head on my shoulder. “I don’t want to live like a queen.”
chapter 25
Avira
The hostility meter tells me I’m still deep in Leo’s red zone. So, to pull myself out of it, I gulp down the delicious pancake made by my man.
“Leo, I’m thinking about calling Lyn for girls’ night today.”
He gives me a safe smile.
“She won’t agree to come into his house,” Zoan says, before taking a small bite into his mouth—so elegantly that I ache to kiss his slowly moving lips.
I drag my mind away from his mouth and warn him, “He doesn’t likehearing that.”
Zoan smirks. “Then he should’ve thought of that before he fucked up four years ago.”
My eyes widen at the taboo words coming out of his mouth. My head snaps toward Leo, who is already glaring at Zoan. Then the obvious realization slams into me, Leo can bully me all he wants for pissing him off, but he can’t do the same to Zoan. Fire can’t burn fire.
Leo’s smile returns, sharp and slow, as his gaze slides back to me.
“How was your date with Marco?”
I rub my throat to force the nausea down. “It was amazing.”
He nods. “So, it’s a yes.”
I glance at Zoan. “Whatever Zoan says.”
Leo lets out a sarcastic laugh. “Then it’s a yes.”
I hold his gaze, locking on to the cold determination burning in his ice-blue eyes. He won’t back down.
“I’d like to marry him next week,” I say bitterly.
His jaw ticks. My eyes drift downward, catching the whitened knuckles on his hand, the fork straining in his grip as if he might snap it in two.
“Alright,” Leo says. “I’ll give the good news to everyone.”
I nod at him with a smile.
With no mood left to continue breakfast, I push back my chair and return to my room.
I grab my phone and start a group video call with my girls.
Autumn picks up first, her sweet smile lighting up the screen. “Hey, Avi.”
