He dropped his gaze.

“So, you have to try.”

He kept his eyes on his plate.

“You can’t change the past. But you can change the future. You can save so many people…”

“This conversation is over.” He lifted his chin and looked at me, his eyes cold and lifeless.

“It’s not over. Do this for me—”

“No.”

“Fender—”

His voice grew louder. “The same blood that ran in my father’s veins runs in mine. I’m evil—down to the bone. There is no hope for me.”

Tears splashed down my cheeks. “That’s not true—”

“Don’t make me leave. Because despite how furious I am right now, I still want to stay with you. I never want to march out of here and leave you alone. I never want to abandon you again. So, drop it now—so I can stay.”

Twenty-Four

It’s Just Business

Fender

She was on my chest, her arm tucked around my waist, her leg on top of my thigh.

I held her against me, one arm around the deep curve in her back with my hand on her stomach. My fingertips grazed her shoulder lightly, feeling the skin that felt identical to the rose petals that had been on the bed the night I’d asked her to marry me.

Conversations were nonexistent. We spent time apart. But we came together every night and loved each other like there was nothing wedged between us. She still wore her ring. She was still mine.

I would always be hers.

Loving Chérie was like living with my heart outside my body.

It was always vulnerable. It always ached.

I kissed her before I slid out of bed.

She propped herself up and watched me go with disappointment in her eyes. She hated my actions. She hated my business. But she still loved me anyway. She still showed it in her eyes every time she looked at me.

That was how I knew this was real.

“Shower.” I leaned down and kissed her before I stepped into the bathroom. Warm water washed down my body, flashbacks entering my mind whenever I wasn’t actively doing something.

I remembered the way I’d killed my father.

Brutal. Cruel. Vengeful.

That was exactly how I would go someday.

My sins would catch up with me.

And then Chérie would have to live without me. Unprotected. Unhappy. Widowed.

I would never see her again—because I was going downstairs, and she was going upstairs.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, Gilbert greeted me. “Magnus is here to see you.”

I scanned the bedroom, no sight of Melanie.

He read my look. “She’s speaking with him downstairs.”

I pulled on my sweatpants then made my way downstairs into the parlor.

Melanie sat across from him, the two in deep conversation.

I approached and looked down at Melanie, silently telling her to dismiss herself.

She read that look and excused herself.