“I’ve got you,” I said. “No matter what they say. I’m not going anywhere.”
Let the world burn. Let them twist the story however they wanted. She was mine to protect now. And I’d fight every damn lie with everything I had.
I kissed her—long, hard, fierce. I kissed her like it was the only thing keeping the world from splitting in half. All the words I didn’t know how to say, all the rage and protectiveness boiling in my chest, I poured into that one moment. When I finally pulled back, her eyes found mine—haunted, yes, but steadier than before. A flicker of light, of trust. And that? That was everything.
“Order that cookie you like,” I murmured, already reaching for my phone.
She blinked. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to fix this,” I said, every syllable steady even though my pulse hammered like a war drum.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, voice tentative. “Nikolai?—”
“Trust me.” I met her gaze and held it. Not with bravado—just the simple, unshakable truth that I wasn’t going to let this go unanswered.
I pulled up Mikel’s number with one hand while confirming the dessert delivery with the other. Because if she was going to weather this shitstorm, she deserved something sweet while I handled the bitter.
The phone rang once before he picked up, and of course, he opened with a smug drawl. “Well, well. If it isn’t the Reaper himself.”
“Cut the bullshit,” I said, my voice low and hard. “We need to talk.”
“Oh? Didn’t expect you to call after last night. Hope Mina’s enjoying your bed as much as she did mine.”
Rage surged through me, red and blinding. I saw the cracked knuckles on my hand and imagined them meeting his face again. I swallowed the instinct. “I saw your interview.”
“Yeah?” he said, amused. “Don’t believe everything you read.”
“You’re dragging her name through the mud for attention.”
He chuckled—mocking, grating. “Please. She used me long before you came along. Now she’s riding your name like a lifeboat.”
My grip on the phone tightened. I forced my tone calm, ice over fire. “You want attention? Fine. Let’s make another bet.”
There was a pause—curiosity now simmering under his smug tone. “Another bet? What’s the game this time, Reaper?”
“If I win, you walk back every lie. Publicly. You say you made it up.”
“And if I win?” His voice shifted, lower, darker. The kind of quiet that comes before a cheap shot.
I let the silence draw tight between us. “What do you want?”
He waited—too long—and I knew whatever he was about to say; it wasn’t going to be good.
“I think you know,” Mikel replied, casual as hell—like this was just a friendly wager and not the most twisted power play of his pathetic life.
My blood ran cold. The silence between us thickened, pressing like a vice against my temples.
“Mina,” he said simply.
Her name. He said it like it belonged to him. Like she was some trophy he could win back with the right gamble. My grip around the phone tightened until I thought the screen might crack under the pressure.
“Listen carefully,” I said, my voice like steel drawn across ice. “If you think you can take her from me, you’re walking straight into hell.”
He didn’t flinch. “You’ll have a day to change your mind. When we settle this, we’ll see who she’s really meant to be with.”
There was something so smug in the way he wielded her name—like a weapon, like he didn’t care that she was a person, not a pawn. It made me sick.
“I won’t lose,” I snarled, the words pulled straight from the fire in my gut.
