I kissed Roman on the neck and smiled as we strolled through Central Park.
Roza stayed in the car. She said she had work to do, which was probably true, but she must’ve wanted to give us some time alone.
Which I appreciated. Roman was in a good mood, although that meeting hadn’t gone the way he wanted. Central Park seemed to cheer him up, and we talked about inconsequential things, the weather, music we liked, movies we’d watched, the small things that made up a life and somehow had slipped through my fingers. It was strange, finding out that Roman enjoyed jazz and liked the Lord of the Rings films.
“I can almost pretend that we’re regular people,” I said as I squeezed his hand. “It’s sort of nice.”
“You’ll always be normal, but I doubt I ever will be.”
“Come on, how can you say that when you think Taylor Swift makes decent music?”
“I can respect Taylor Swift as a songwriter without succumbing to normalcy.”
I rolled my eyes. “Do you enjoy it up there?”
He glanced down at me. “Up where?”
“On your high horse.”
He sighed. “I walked into that.”
“You sure did.” I leaned against him and hugged his arm. “That meeting. What should I know about those men?”
He was quiet for a long moment. “Old Bern’s not going to be in charge of his family forever. He’s a hard ass, but predictable. Torin’s a decent enough guy, vicious when he needs to be, but otherwise fair. Kaspar’s the dangerous one.”
“I sort of got that. You didn’t like that he knew my last name.”
“No, I really didn’t. I thought you were a better-kept secret than that.”
“Am I spoiled for you now?”
“Hardly.” His eyes narrowed and I could tell he struggled with an internal problem. “I want to keep you safe, but I need to put you in danger to get to Oisin. I’m in a bind.”
“I know. You don’t have to feel guilty.”
“If something bad happened to you, I couldn’t live with myself.” He stopped, turned to me, and gripped my hands in his. His body vibrated with suppressed desire and a quiet, burning rage. Angst rolled off his skin in waves. I wanted to hug him, kiss him, tell him it would all be okay—but that would be a lie.
I didn’t know what would happen. Only that Roman needed his revenge as much as he needed to breathe, and he’d go to any lengths to get it.
“I’m here because we made a deal, remember? I won’t back down from that.”
“Protect anyone you want.” His lips quirked, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “When was the last time you spoke to Winter?”
“Days,” I admitted. “We’ve been busy.”
“You should call her soon. Before the ceremony.”
“I will.”
“But don’t invite her. It’ll be too dangerous.”
I let out a breath. “My wedding is too dangerous to invite my best friend. How messed up is that?”
“You can back out whenever you want.”
“No, I can’t, and I won’t.” I stood on my toes and kissed his lips. “And you won’t let me.”
He released my one hand and laced his fingers through my hair. He gripped hard and stared down at me, his muscles rough and intense, his jaw locked down tight. He was in pain, struggling with something, and it stabbed him in the guts.
“I care about you Cassie. I care about you much more than I thought I ever could.”
“I know.” I touched his cheek. The stubble pricked at my fingers. His lips opened, his tongue ran along his teeth. “I care about you too. As insane as that may be.”
“When this is over, I don’t want to let you go. I need you to stay.”
“I don’t plan on leaving.”
He nodded and kissed me, tightening his grip on my hair. I wanted him to say it, finally say the words that lingered between us, but when he pulled back, his eyes shining and fierce with devotion and passion, I knew the words didn’t matter, because he looked at me like I was the only important thing in this world.
Before he could speak, his phone rang. He cursed and went to silence it, but as soon as he did, it began to buzz again.
“Emergency,” he said, pulling the phone out. “It’s Erick.” He answered and didn’t say anything. His face turned pale and he stepped back away from me. “Are you sure?” he asked. Then he hung up. “We have to go.”
“Go where?”
“There’s been an attack.” He reached out a hand. “Come.”
I followed him to the car. As we approached, another black SUV pulled up, slamming on its breaks. The door flung open and Erick jumped out, looking around like an assault was imminent, his gun drawn.
Several people stared, and at least one took out his phone to call the police.
Erick grabbed Roman’s arm. “Get in. We got to go.”
Roman shook him off. “How bad?”
“Bad. Everyone dead.”
“Take me there.”
Erick shook his head. “We have to go somewhere secure. You’re not safe.”
Roman shoved Erick hard enough to make the man stumble. “You will follow orders.” Roman was shaking with anger.
Erick stared at him in surprise, then nodded, his face clouding. “Yes, sir.”
We piled into Erick’s vehicle. Roza poked her head out the window of her SUV, but Erick told her to stay put and she actually listened.
Erick sped off. Roman was silent on the drive. I could tell he was struggling with fury, barely suppressing his emotions.
I didn’t know what was going on, but it had to be bad.
An attack on the bunker.
But how? I thought nobody knew about it?
It took me a while to realize that driving in a car didn’t bother me anymore, not ever since I told Roman about what happened. It was like he loosened something inside of me that was constantly trying to get out, and now I was free.
Unfortunately, my epiphany didn’t last long.
We reached the bunker drive. Roman cursed softly and his fingers pressed into the dash in front of him.
The front gate was a ruin. The drive up was like heading into a war zone.
Bodies were left in the sun.
“I bribed the local cops already,” Erick said as he parked. “Nobody’s coming. As far as they know, the gunshots were fireworks.”
“Good.” Roman got out. “Keep the car running.” He walked toward the smoking topside structure.
I leapt out after him. “Roman, wait.”
He ignored me, kept going. I ran over, trying not to look down.
Dead bodies everywhere. Blood and guts. I wanted to scream and cry as panic raced through my skin.
But I forced myself to follow my Roman up the steps and in through the front door.
The fire was dying down. The room was smoky and I coughed against the haze, but it was clear enough to breathe. A sprinkler system drenched everything. Roman walked to the elevator, ignoring the wreckage of his house, and pressed the call button.
Nothing happened.
He jammed the button again and again, until there was a loud beep.
“God damn it.” He stalked over to a control panel, tapped the screen, and pulled up several camera feeds.
Each one showed the same thing: water.
Standing water everywhere.
“He flooded it,” I whispered. The damp concrete outside suddenly made a lot more sense.
“That fucking bastard.” Roman slammed his fist against the controls, cracking the glass. “He’s going to die for this. It’s going to rip the Oligarchy apart, but damn him, he has to die.”
I put my hands on his arm. “We should go. Are there still people inside?”
“There are other ways out, emergency stairways. I’ll have Erick make sure the staff’s accounted for.”
“Then let’s get out of here.” The whole place was a graveyard, a pit of death and destruction.
But Roman didn’t move. “His room.” He said the words so quietly, and it broke my heart.
His brother’s room. Little Ant.
Down there, drowned.
God, what a nightmare.
“I’m so sorry, Roman. I don’t know what we can do right now.”
He stood staring at the broken screen. He didn’t talk for a long time, and his face was blank, like he’d lost the ability to think or move. It terrified me, like he was suddenly empty, until he pulled back and took a shuddering breath.
Like he broke up onto the surface again.
“I’ll rebuild it,” he said, meeting my eyes with such an intense stare that I felt my knees shake. “All of it, I’ll rebuild. And then I’ll kill Darren for this.”
“I know you will.”
“But first, we have to get married.” He grabbed my wrist and held it tight. “None of this matters if we don’t go through with the wedding. I will finish Oisin, and you will be my bride.”
“I know I will.”
He kissed me, pulling me against him, wrapping his arms around my body. The kiss was pain and pleasure, his teeth and lips pressed tight into mine, his soft tongue rolling around, and I moaned like he bent me over and spanked me, unable to help myself.
Roman was suffering. I could taste it on him, the anguish, the rage. And there was nothing I could do but give myself to him.
And so I would.
All of me, everything I had. I would be his.
I’d take this risk for him and when it was all over, I wouldn’t walk away, because I needed him as much as he needed me.
My scar, the incident—it all paled and blurred when he was around.
I didn’t feel broken, cut apart, shattered.
I hadn’t thought about that night since I told Roman all about it.
Even when my dad did his whole bullshit apology—
It hadn’t ruined me.
I was whole. I was a person again.
Because of Roman.
And I wanted to give that gift to him if I could.
“Let’s get out of here.” I tugged on his hand and he followed. We walked back down the steps together, the building smoldering behind us. Erick paced nervously next to the SUV.
“What’s the plan?” he asked, eyes darting around.
“Make sure everyone’s evacuated from down below,” Roman said. “Get more muscle to replace what’s lost. But first, drive me to the airport. We have a wedding in Atlanta in two days and I want to be prepared.”
Erick nodded and climbed behind the wheel.
Roman kissed my neck then followed him.
I allowed myself one more look at the corpses littering the ground like fallen leaves.
This was the world I stepped into.
The world that made me feel like a human again.
I didn’t know what that said about me—and didn’t care.
I got into the back and Erick drove off.
