Page 300 of Vicious Temptation

“There has to be another way out.”

“We'll find one.”

We both know I’m lying.

She gets to her feet anyway and joins me, running her hands along the walls before trying the only other door within reach. It doesn’t budge. I slam my weight against it with her, but my leg gives beneath me and sends me down to one knee.

“Thiago, stop. You'll make it worse.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re fucking not.” She catches my arm and helps me back up, but another section of ceiling crashes down behind us, forcing us into a corner.

“Fuck!”

The flames climb higher along the wall, and the smoke thickens enough that Remi starts coughing. I pull her away and lower us both to the floor, where the air is clearer.

“There’s no way out, is there?”

I can’t lie to her again.

“I don’t think so.”

Tears fill her eyes, and seeing them nearly fucking destroys me.

“I need you to hear me, chama.”

“Thiago, no...” she cries, shaking her head.

“Please. I need to say this while I still can.” I cup her face and wipe the soot and tears from her cheeks. “Meeting you started as a mission. I won’t insult you by pretending it didn’t. I came into your life because I was ordered to, and I lied to you every day I kept the truth from you.”

Her mouth trembles, but she lets me continue.

“What I didn’t plan for was you. I didn’t plan on looking forward to every argument or finding excuses to stay another hour because I wasn’t ready to leave you yet. I didn’t plan on falling in love with how fucking brilliant you are, or how you can take anything apart and somehow know exactly how to put it back together. Turns out, that includes me." I reach for her hand and interlace our fingers. “Remi, baby, you’re funny and stubborn and so fucking beautiful, but you’re also one of the strongest women I’ve ever known. I love you, and I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Stop.” She presses her forehead against mine. “Please stop talking like you’re saying goodbye.”

“I have to.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Remi, listen⁠—”

“No.” Her fingers rip from mine and clench around the front of my shirt. “You don’t get to tell me all this and then die on me.”

A broken laugh escapes me. “I’m not exactly planning on it.”

“I mean it.” Her tears flow freely down her cheeks. “I spent two days trying to hate you, Thiago. I shot your fucking truck.”

“You shot at me too.”

“I stabbed you.”

“You did.”

A laugh catches between her tears, and fuck me, even here, I love that sound.

“I wanted to hate you so badly,” she says. “I thought that if I hated you enough, none of it would hurt anymore. But it didn’t work.”