Or is itobsessionborn in violence? Two predators recognizing themselves in each other and deciding to burn together instead of apart?
His hand finds my clit, thumb circling with practiced ease, and I break again—louder this time, crying out his name as he grinds into me, mouth on my neck, his own control shattering in the face of my surrender.
“Rafa—”
My voice cracks on it. There’s no heiress in that sound. No strategist. Just a woman unraveling in the arms of the only man who has ever seen her completely and wanted her anyway. He groans, hips stuttering, then lets go with a shudder that rocks through both of us.
For a moment, everything fractures—control, composure, the careful distance we both maintain in every other part of our lives. His mouth finds mine again, messy and desperate, and for a long moment, we simply exist like that—skin to skin, breath to breath, heart to heart.
No Bratva.
No crown.
No blood waiting on the horizon.
Just us. Suspended in the fragile calm before the storm. I realize something that terrifies me more than the war coming in seventy-two hours?—
If this is love, it’s the kind that doesn’t make you weaker. It makes you ruthless. Because now, I have something worth burning the world down for.
When it’s over, we lie tangled in the aftermath. Quiet. Spent. The hum of the monitors returns, grounding us in reality, butneither of us moves. His fingers trace lazy patterns over my bare shoulder as I curl into his side.
“Any regrets?” he asks softly.
“About what we just did? Never.” I press a kiss to his chest. “About what we’re planning to do? Ask me in a week.”
“Fair enough.”
“Rafa?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For seeing who I could become before I saw it myself. For wanting that person instead of trying to keep me safely contained.” I tilt my head to look at him. “For making me believe I deserve to be someone’s first choice.”
“Always,” he promises, and I hear the vow beneath the simple word.
Always chosen. Always supported. Always loved for who I am and who I’m becoming.
It’s more than I ever dared to hope for, and exactly what I’ll need to survive what comes next.
Because in three days, I’ll have to be strong enough to watch my father die. Smart enough to claim power without triggering chaos. Ruthless enough to consolidate control while maintaining key alliances.
I’ll have to become someone worthy of the crown I’m about to claim through violence.
But tonight, in the sanctuary of Rafa’s arms, I can just be Kira. The woman who chose love over duty, partnership over isolation, and future over past.
The woman who’s about to discover exactly how much she’s capable of when she finally stops limiting herself to other people’s expectations.
Tomorrow, we begin the final phase of our plan.
Tonight, he made love to all the versions of me I’ve ever been and showed me I can be more.
And for the first time in my life, I believe it.
CHAPTER 36
