The words tear out of me. Her breath stutters.
“I knew they were pushing for it—aye. An alliance. A fucking cage dressed up as peace.” My hands curl into fists at my sides. “But that night? The chapel? The guns?” I shake my head hard, like I can beat the memory out of my skull. “I was meant to die too.”
Her eyes snap up.
“They lured me there,” I continue, voice rising now, cracking, losing its edge. “Told me it was safe. Told me it was just us. Just music and stolen time and your bloody smile.”
I take a step closer. She doesn’t back away. “The meeting point wasn’t forthem,” I snarl. “It was for me. And your brother stepped in front of the bullets meant for my heart.”
Her sob breaks free—violent, unrestrained.
“Ciaran was my hero,” I shout. “Do you hear me?! I wanted to be him. Wanted him to look at me like I was worth a damn.” My chest burns. “And I watched him die thinking it was my fault you’d never look at me again.”
She’s crying openly now, shoulders shaking, knife forgotten in her hand.
“I woke up stitched together and empty,” I say hoarsely. “And the first thing I did—the first fucking thing—was start hunting.”
Her head lifts.
“I didn’t hide,” I tell her. “Didn’t mourn quietly. I bled. I broke bones. I buried men.” My voice drops, lethal. “Every whisper, every name, every shadow that night—I’ve been chasing it since.”
I laugh, harsh and broken. “You think I survived because I wanted to?”
She shakes her head, tears spilling freely.
“I survived because I had to find who betrayed us.”
I step into her space now, forehead nearly touching hers. “And don’t you dare think you were the only one who lost everything,”I say, voice wrecked. “I lost you. Lost him. Lost the future we were stupid enough to dream about.”
My hand comes up—not touching her, stopping just short.
“I loved you then,” I say. “I love you now. And I will until this world burns itself clean.”
Her knees nearly buckle.
“So don’t stand there telling me you were alone in your grief,” I finish, voice breaking at last. “Because I’ve been screaming your name into the dark for three years, waiting for you to stab me again if it meant you were still alive.”
She sobs openly, shattered, fuckingreal. I step into her space and take the knife from her hand before she can think to stop me. Her breath catches—but she doesn’t fight it. The blade is still warm from her skin, from her anger. I lift it slowly, deliberately, tip brushing beneath her jaw, steel kissing the pulse at her throat. She gasps—not in fear.
“A lesser man,” I say quietly, dangerously calm, “would use this to his advantage.”
Her chin lifts on instinct. Tears stream down her cheeks, cutting clean tracks through smudged mascara. Her lashes clump together, her lips tremble. She looks wrecked, ruined.Perfect. My thumb presses just under the blade, steadying it. Making sure she knows—I’m the one in control. And I’m choosing not to hurt you.
“A lesser man would make you beg,” I continue, voice low, reverent in the way only sin can be. “Would remind you how easily I could end it. How soft you are right here.”
Her breath shudders. She doesn’t pull away.
“But I’m not him.” I lean in, forehead brushing hers, blade still there—an echo, a promise, a warning to the world and not to her. “I won’t take what isn’t given,” I murmur. “Even when you offer it bleeding.”
She swallows hard, throat moving against the steel and I hate how much I want to taste that pulse. She’s shaking now, crying openly. A mess of rage and grief and desire twisted together so tightly it hurts to look at.My fucking beautiful mess.
I lower the knife—but I don’t let it go.Not yet.Her breath stutters, not because of the blade, because of the space between us.
“Then don’t,” she whispers.
I still. The knife hovers at her throat, my hand steady, my pulse not. Tears cling to her lashes, spill anyway. She doesn’t wipe them away, she never does when she’s decided something. Her fingers curl—slow, deliberate—around my wrist. She guides the knife down, just a fraction.Just enough.
“Finish what I started,” she says, voice wrecked and fierce all at once. “Or put it away and stop pretending you don’t want me broken exactly like this.”
