I'm shaking. Can't stop shaking. My throat hurts. My face throbs where Adrian hit me. But none of it compares to the hole in my chest where my identity used to be.
Not a Nero.
The words echo in my head.
Bianca's daughter. Adrian's sister. The last Nero princess.
All of it, gone.
Because I made a mistake. Because I was angry. Because I wanted to matter.
And now I'm nothing.
"Why?" My voice is barely audible. Broken. "Why did you do it?"
Saint doesn't answer for a long time.
Then: "I had to."
"You had to betray me to my brother? You had to watch him nearly kill me?" I turn to look at him. His face is carved from stone. "You had to destroy me?"
"I had to protect the family."
"I'm your family!" I'm screaming now. Don't care that Emmanuel can hear. Don't care about anything. "I'm your wife! I loved you!"
"I know."
Not past tense. Present tense.
I still love him.
And he knows.
And he doesn't care.
The car stops. We're at the compound.
Saint gets out. Opens my door.
I don't move.
"Gemma. Inside."
"Or what? You'll drag me? Hit me? Give me to someone else to punish?" I laugh. It sounds insane. "What's left to threaten me with? I have nothing. I am nothing."
He's quiet for a moment.
Then: "You have me."
"Do I?" I look up at him. "Because from where I'm sitting, I lost you the moment you decided your position was worth more than I am."
Something flickers across his face. Too fast to identify.
"Inside," he repeats. "Now."
I get out. Because what choice do I have?
He walks me to our bedroom. Opens the door.
