Chapter 53 THE BAD SIDE OF LOVE
Ginnie
CRACK!
The sound thundered through the room like a gunshot—sharp, final—echoing off the stone walls of Varkos’s bedroom. My palm burned instantly from the sheer force of the slap, the sting racing up my arm, but I welcomed it.
“What the hell are you saying to me right now?”
Varkos Froze.
“You’re getting married,” I said, the words tasting bitter as they rolled off my tongue. “The day after tomorrow? You’ve got to be kidding me right now, Varkos.”
“Say something!”
My chest rose and fell too fast. Too hard. But Varkos stood there, he didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t even flinch at the tone of my voice.
“I was going to tell you,” he said quietly.
That was it.
That was the moment everything inside me broke.
A bitter laughter tore out of my throat—raw and jagged, wrong in every way. “You were going to tell me?” I repeated, my voice climbing higher, cracking. “You were going to tell me that the wedding must have taken place right? Or maybe…After I must have heard it whispered behind my back like a joke?”
“Ginnie—“
“No,” I snapped, stepping backwards before I would land another slap across his face, jabbing a finger into his chest. Hard. “Don’t you ever say my name like it means something to you. Don’t try to use that voice to make it seem like you care about me when you’ve already made your choice.”
His jaw tightened, clenched so tightly I swore I heard his teeth crack.
“I did this to save us, to save you.” He exhaled sharply, nostrils flaring. His eyes flashed—not with guilt, but with irritation of being challenged because of his decision.” You very well know that Maria saw you in my room,” he continued, lowering his voice as if the walls themselves might be listening.
“What you didn’t know is that she was about to expose you at the dining. To my mother. To Kenna.”
A laugh escaped my chest again, short and bitter this time around. “So?” I shot back, “You panicked and decided the best solution was to marry the woman who wants me dead?”
“If she had spoken,” his eyes darkened, something lethal flickering beneath the surface. “You would have been executed.”
The word hit me like a blade straight through the ribs.
Executed?
That’s the silly excuse he made for such a stupid decision?
I grabbed the edge of the table to keep myself upright as my vision blurred, my fingers gripping the wood as if it could keep me from collapsing right here and now.
“You of all people already know that in Bleeding Rose,” Varkos’s voice shattered through my thoughts, his voice coming out as a low, dangerous whisper. “A human and a Lycan can never be together. Never. What we did…what we are doing right now… is treason. It was always a death sentence for you. Not me.”
I shook my head violently. “So you think that makes this better?” My voice dropped to a whisper, then shattered into a scream, “That it excuses what you have done?”
“I did it to save you, Damn it!”
That was the moment something ugly rose inside my chest.
“No,” I snapped. “You did it to save yourself,” the words landed hard and final. I saw it—the way his shoulders stiffened. “Varkos Draven couldn't stand the scandal of being exposed for having an affair with a human,” I went on, my voice shaking but relentless. “You couldn’t stand the consequences. So you took the easiest way out. Tradition.”
“That’s not true,” he growled.
“You used me!” I barked, the sound tearing out from my throat before I could stop it. “You took everything from me…my nights, my trust, my body…and now you walk away with your perfect Luna while I’m supposed to what? Smile? Be grateful I’m still breathing?”
His hand lifted, just slightly, like he wanted to reach for me but couldn’t. “That’s not what this was,” he said, more force in his voice now, command seeping through every ounce of his tone.
“It isn’t?” I shot back. “Then tell me—tell me what it is because maybe I’m the crazy one here, right?”
For a moment, none of us spoke a word. Silence slammed down between us, heavy and suffocating as it filled the whole room. “You’ve been nothing but cold-hearted to me since the night our paths crossed six years ago, Varkos,” I took a shuddering breath, tears spilling freely now.
“I’m so stupid for thinking someone like you would ever change. You were cruel then. And you’re even worse than cruel now.”
Pain flickered across his face, but then he quickly masked it. Wearing his usual nonchalant demeanor, “You don’t understand—”
“I understand everything!” I cut in, “ I understand that you will always choose your power and position over someone like me. Just like every Lycan always does.”
My chest felt like air was being ripped out forcefully from my lungs. But I forced my mouth to open, making sure that I made the final decision that was going to change everything.
“Stay away from me,” I continued. “I don’t want to ever see you near Lily.”
His head snapped up instantly. “Don’t bring her into this.”
“I will,” I said coldly, “Because she’s related to me and not you.”I straightened, forcing strength into my spine even as my knees trembled. “From today henceforth I will resign. I’m done being your personal slave and I’m being a maid in this Villa.”
Without waiting for him to utter a word, I turned. The door was only a few steps away. But then his hand closed around my wrist in a heartbeat iron-tight, unyielding way.
“You’re going nowhere,” he growled. “Not until I say so.”
“Let go of me!” I screamed, pain shot up my arm as I struggled, panic and fury colliding inside my chest. “Let go of my hand, Varkos!”
He didn’t.
I twisted harder, my nails digging into his skin so that he would finally release his tight grip. Varkos stepped closer, his presence swallowing me whole until there was no inch of space between us.
“I’m not letting go,” he murmured. His breath brushed my ear—warm, steady, terrifyingly calm. His grip tightened just enough to remind me.
Who he was.
Who held the power?
“…What are you going to do about it?”