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I see something flicker in her green eyes, some hint of softening. I press on, pouring every ounce of my desperate, aching love into the words.

“Please,” I beg her. “Let me have this. Let me have him.”

For a long, breathless moment, she just stares at me but then, slowly, she nods, a simple dip of her chin. She steps up to her husband, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. Leo stiffens, his jaw working, but he doesn’t shrug her off.

There’s a long, tense silence. “He lives,” he grinds out, each word sounding like he’s regretting saying them. “But only because he protected my daughter. He kept her safe when I couldn’t.”

Nikolai makes a noise of protest, but Leo cuts him off with a sharp look. “We’re letting this go, Nikolai,” he says, and there’s a note of finality in his voice. “For Seraphina’s sake. For Katerina’s.”

Nikolai’s jaw clenches, his eyes flashing with fury. But after a moment, he nods, a single, sharp jerk of his head.

“Fine,” he bites out even though Maksim looks dismayed. “But hear me, Barone. If you ever hurt her, if you ever give me a single reason to think she’s not safe with you again, the truce is over. And I will end you myself. Am I clear?”

Nico steps forward then, his shoulder brushing mine. “If I ever hurt her,” he says quietly, “I’ll let you.”

There’s a moment of heavy silence, and then, one by one, the men start to turn away and head back to their cars, their postures stiff with reluctance and simmering anger.

But they’re going. They’re actually leaving, letting us be.

The families leave, their cars kicking up dust as they peel out of the driveway. I watch them go, a mixture of relief and trepidation churning in my gut. It’s over.

I know Russo is still out there, but I have to take the victories when they come.

But it’s not just Russo I have to worry about. Or even Nico’s half-brother, Luca. There will be fallout from this.

My cousins acquiesced too quickly.

I can’t even imagine what they’re feeling right now and how much rage there is. I’m afraid to even think of the consequences.

I turn to Nico, ready to voice my fears and doubts, but the words die on my tongue when I see the look on his face.

I take an involuntary step back at the tight, controlled fury, and the barely leashed anger.

“What the hell were you thinking?” he grits out, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? What you’ve given up for me?”

I stiffen, my own temper sparking to life. “I was thinking that I love you,” I snap back. “That I wasn’t going to stand there and watch them kill you for sins you’ve already atoned for.”

He makes a harsh, scoffing sound. “Atoned for? Katerina, I kidnapped a child. I used an innocent girl as a pawn in my own selfish game. There’s no atoning for that.”

“But you protected her!” I argue, my voice rising. “You kept her safe! You made sure she got home to her family. That has to count for something.”

He shakes his head, a bitter, mirthless smile twisting his lips. “It doesn’t change what I did. It doesn’t erase the fact that I’m a monster, Katerina. A monster who doesn’t deserve you, or this life, or any kind of happiness.”

I stare at him in disbelief. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it?” I whisper, my mouth dry. “You’ll burn down the world to keep me safe, but you’ll let someone put a bullet in your head because some part of you decided a long time ago that you deserve to die alone.”

He flinches, his eyes squeezing shut. But he doesn’t deny it.

I step closer, my hands coming up to frame his face, forcing him to look at me. “You spent two years deciding you loved me,” I tell him fiercely. “I had thirty days. Thirty days, along with a kidnapping, a concussion, and a man threatening to send me back to you in pieces.”

He shudders under my touch, and it hurts me to see the raw, wrenching anguish that flashes across his face. But I don’t stop.

“So don’t you dare tell me I didn’t have to do that,” I continue, my voice shaking but strong. “I did it because I wanted to. I wanted something just for me, just because it was mine. And goddammit, Nico…it’s you. You’re what I want. What I choose. No matter the cost.”

He stares at me for a long, breathless moment and then, with a sound that’s half sob, half growl, he’s kissing me.

His mouth slants over mine, hot and desperate, his arms crushing me against him like he wants to pull me into his very skin.

I kiss him back just as fiercely, pouring every ounce of my love and bone-deep belonging into the press of my lips, the slide of my tongue.