Confusion twisted through me. “No, I don’t want to be separated from you again. Not ever. I have nothing left back there. No one to make me want to hold on.”
She looked at me with sorrow in her eyes, then placed her hand over my stomach.
“Oh my daughter. There are at least two people waiting for you back there, who need you to fight for them. Go back to your family, Serenity. Go back to him. He won’t survive without you.”
Her words sent panic and confusion spinning through me. Who was she talking about? Who were the two people I needed to fight for?
I didn’t have time to ask before her image blurred and the light began to vanish. My heart pounded faster, fear clawing through me.
“No, Mama Kate. Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.”
“Don’t leave me, baby,” I heard from somewhere far away,the world shifting around me, pulling me into a different place. “Come back, please. I can’t survive without you.”
I felt hands pressing hard on my chest, then lips on mine, breathing air into me. It was like being dragged back to life. My lungs filled and I coughed, fighting for air.
“Oh God, thank you. Thank you, baby, for coming back,” I heard a man’s voice say.
I wasn’t sure who it was. My eyes were too heavy to open, my mind cloudy, but I felt myself being lifted into strong arms.
“Call a doctor, now!” he shouted, panic flooding his words.
Who cared enough to sound like they’d die if I didn’t make it? I wondered because I couldn’t remember ever being that important to anyone. I fought to open my eyes. I had to see, had to know. My eyelids barely lifted, my lungs still burning, but my gaze landed on a bare, strong chest. There, on that beautiful chestnut-copper brown skin, I saw it—a tattoo I’d traced so many nights in the dark, the one above the heart of the only man who ever gave me happiness. My hand lifted, trembling, and found its mark, fingertips brushing over that planet.
“Knox…” I whispered.
Then my mind slipped back into darkness. But this time, it was a darkness full of hope.
Chapter Sixteen
KONFLICT KORVEN
Earlier that evening…
Whoever thought winning a woman back was easy had never tried it after being a bastard for a year. Two weeks. That’s all I had. A measly two weeks to undo a year’s worth of cruelty, to break through Serenity’s rage and prove I could be the man she deserved. Two weeks wasn’t enough, because every gesture, gift, and attempt to win her over fell flat. She couldn’t stand the idea of me being gentle, different from the person she’d met every day since our wedding. She couldn’t believe I wanted to make it up to her, so she didn’t want to keep a single gift from me. My attention only made her recoil. My presence drove her deeper into herself, pushing me further out. The harder I tried to reach her, the more she bristled, seeing every kindness as a trap.
And the truth is, I wasn’t even playing with clean cards. I hadn’t told her that the man she was losing herself to every night, the one who had the privilege to touch her, kiss her, and mark her inside and out, was me. I didn’t want to tell her. Not now, because she still hated everything about me. If she found out Konflict and Knox were the same person, she’d burn every bridge between us and take those nights with her.
I was addicted to those nights. Addicted to her hands on my skin, her thighs tight around my waist, her taste, her scent, the way her pussy gripped my dick and made me forget every war, every grudge. I couldn’t give up those nights, not until the last second. So we fought like enemies all day, then at night I slipped between her legs and took her apart, trying to show her without words how special she was to me.
In two days, the lie would crack open. I’d have to tell her the marriage could never be dissolved, not after all the ways I’d claimed her. We’d consummated our marriage in every way possible and God, I wanted that truth to live between us. Not just the sex—the way I’d mapped every inch of her skin, learned her body, memorized her breath, the arch of her back, the sound of her voice when she moaned my name. But also the way she let me in. The way we spoke about herself, her pain, what she’d lost and what she hoped for. About the family I would love to give her and about my mother. Those conversations were everything. I played my own role, careful not to let the mask slip, but every talk was a gift.
Krash dug up everything he could and the more I learned, the more it knocked the wind out of me. Serenity and my mother had a bond that was deeper than I’d ever guessed. My mother lost baby after baby after me but she always wanted a daughter—she found that in Serenity, and Serenity found the mother she never had.
I learned that my mother taught her to shoot. To hit the targetevery time. That only made it clearer that the day Serenity pressed a Glock to my dick, if she’d really wanted to pull the trigger, I’d be in the ground. If she’d known who her masked lover really was, she’d have killed me long ago. She’d said it herself—this world wasn’t big enough for both of us. And still, I wanted to tell her the love I felt had only grown since learning about her and my mother. The more I pieced together, the more the truth landed heavy in my chest.
I was lost in my thoughts when Draven found me out on the balcony, right where Serenity had left me after yet another argument. Glass in hand, he walked over with an accusatory look in his eyes because I knew damn well he hadn’t missed my wife storming across the ballroom, furious as hell.
“Another marital spat?” he said with a hint of amusement as he sat down next to me. “Marriage doesn’t look much like a fairy tale from where I’m standing. And here I was, thinking I could take inspiration from your happiness and finally put a noose around my own neck. Guess that’s not happening any time soon,” he said, smirking.
“You’re doing women a huge favor by staying single. I can’t imagine the misery of any woman who’d be crazy enough to tie herself to a demon like you,” I shot back.
He grinned, sharp as ever. “Says the man who treated his wife like shit for a year and now looks like an idiot trying to win her back, only managing to piss her off every time he opens his mouth. Oh, trust me, I’m sure I could learn a thing or two from you about how not to be a complete asshole.”
“You’re just a little shit, D,” I said, smiling. “And don’t think I’ve forgiven you for voting against me last year. The day the council forced me to marry Serenity or lose everything, I still can’t believe you let me down. We always had an understanding—we backed each other, no matter what. I never understood why you and Crowhurst joined those jackals to force me into amarriage I didn’t want.”
He just smirked, then shrugged. “What do you want me to do to earn your forgiveness, K? You want me to suck your dick or what?”
“Fuck you,” I replied.
