Chapter 190 Oath

Chapter 190 Oath
Serena's POV

The words didn’t just hang in the air. They kept ringing loudly behind my head

Over and over again, like something with life—something that refused to settle.

Cause I love you.

My fingers curled slowly at my sides with my nails digging into my palm as if pain would ground me—steady me—make this make sense.

But it didn’t. Nothing did.

My heartbeat stuttered, then raced, loud in my ears, drowning out everything else.

The room felt too tight, too small, like the walls were closing in on me.

Love?

Nico?

No. No, that didn’t—that couldn’t—

“What?” My voice came out hoarse, barely recognizable even to me. I shook my head slightly, blinking at him like if I looked hard enough, he would take it back. “What?”

But he didn’t. He didn’t even hesitate.

If anything, something in him snapped.

“I’ve always liked you,” he continued, rushing out the words.

My breath caught as Nico ran a hand through his hair, pacing once like he was trying to keep control and failing at it.

“From the moment I saw you,” he continued with his voice tightening. “From the first time you walked into that house—I noticed you.”

I pulled my brows together. “What are you—”

“Nico, what are you saying?” Marcus cut in sharply, stepping forward, his eyes darting between both of us.

Nico barely spared him a glance. He was fixed looking at me. Only me.

And there was something in his eyes I had never seen before.

Not his usual calm or collected look. This one was raw, different.

“I knew you before Dante did,” he said, quieter now—but somehow still heavy. “Long before he ever found you.”

My stomach twisted. “That doesn’t make any—”

“I used to keep an eye on you,” he cut in, his voice steadier now, like he was forcing the words into order. “Back when I still dealt with Luca—I mean, Marco’s side. When I visited for meetings, arrangements… whatever excuse I used to set my eyes on you.”

His gaze didn’t leave mine. “And you were always there.”

My chest tightened.

“With Marcos,” he added softly.

And the name hung over me, sending chills down my spine.

A distant, buried part of my life I have been forced to believe will forever remain my life.

“I saw you,” Nico continued, almost like he was talking more to himself now. “Not once. Not twice. You were just… there. Moving around like you didn’t even realize all eyes were on you.”

A strange chill ran down my spine.

“You were always Marco's pride, he bragged about you anyway he had the chance to,” he added.

I stood only because my legs had frozen in the right manner.

“I wasn’t supposed to care,” he admitted, his voice dipping. “You were just supposed to be another girl in the background.”

His jaw tightened. “But you weren’t.”

Silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.

“And then, Dante found you.”

There was something sharp in the way he said it.

“That day,” he exhaled slowly, shaking his head. “That day messed me up more than I expected.”

My lips parted, but no words came out.

“I didn’t like it,” he said bluntly. “Didn’t like that he took you. Didn’t like that suddenly—you weren’t just someone I saw from a distance anymore.”

His voice dropped. “You were his.”

Something in my chest twisted painfully.

“That’s insane,” I whispered, my voice trembling now. “You’re saying all these like—like it makes sense, like—”

“I know it doesn’t,” he cut in immediately, his tone softer now, almost pleading. “I know how it sounds.”

Marcus let out a quiet, disbelieving breath beside me, but neither of us looked at him.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt him,” Nico continued quickly. “Or you.”

I let out a sharp, humorless laugh.

“Really?” I replied. “Cause from where I’m standing, that was exactly what you did.”

His face tightened. “I didn’t leak everything,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s not what this was.”

“Then what was it?” I demanded.

There was a pause. A brief hesitation.

Then—

“I leaked just enough,” he whispered carefully, like he knew exactly how much damage they would do.

“Small things,” he continued. “Information that wouldn’t destroy everything—but would shake things. Create pressure. Make situations worse than they needed to be.”

My heart sank. “No way,” I murmured.

“I needed him to see it,” Nico said, his voice rising slightly now. “Needed Dante to realize that being with you wasn’t safe. That as long as you were with him—with us—you were a target.”

“It was never your choice to make!” I snapped, stepping forward, anger finally breaking through the shock. “You don’t get to manipulate things and all of a sudden label it as protection!”

“I know!” He fired back immediately. “I know that now!”

Silence slammed into the room while Marcus shook his head, running a hand down his face.

“That’s not cool, man,” he muttered. “You don’t play with people’s lives like that. That’s messed up.”

Nico exhaled slowly, dropping his shoulders down just slightly.

“I thought I was doing the right thing,” he admitted, quieter now. “Or at least… the necessary thing.”

I stared at him, my chest rising and falling unevenly. “You thought hurting us would fix things?” I asked, my voice breaking despite my effort to hold it steady.

His gaze softened. “No,” he said gently. “I thought… if things got dangerous enough, he’d let you go.”

“You didn’t know him well enough then,” I whispered.

“I did,” Nico said immediately. “That wasn't the problem.”

He ran a hand over his face. “But I didn’t know you,” he added, looking back at me. “Not really.”

Something shifted in his expression. “I had been watching,” he said. “These past few days… everything you have done. The way you handled things. The way you stepped up…”

His voice softened. “You aren’t who I thought you were.”

I swallowed hard.

“If I had known,” he continued, shaking his head slowly, “if I had known you were this strong—this capable—I wouldn’t have done any of it.”

Silence.

“And now?” Marcus asked quietly.

Nico’s jaw tightened. “Now?” he repeated and looked at me again. “My only goal now is to fix it.”

My hands twitched by my side.

“To save Dante,” he added carefully.

“He was my friend,” Nico continued. “More than that—he was my brother. I had known him longer than any of this. Longer than you. Longer than the mess I created.”

Every word he spoke at this point carried a weight that sank into me.

“I can’t leave him there,” he said firmly. “I wouldn’t.”

“And if he doesn't forgive you?” I asked quietly.

A small, bitter smile tugged at his lips. “Then I will live with that,” he said. “But I will make sure he is alive to hate me for it.”

Silence followed. Then—

“Come with me,” he said suddenly and I blinked.

“What?”

“Come with me,” he repeated, already turning towards the door.

Something in his tone made whatever was holding me back melt away.

And before I could think too hard about it, I followed.

He led me outside the base and by now, the sky has grown pretty dark.

The men nearby turned as we stepped out with their conversations fading as Nico’s presence pulled attention towards us.

“Everyone,” Nico called out with his voice cutting through the space.

More heads turned while bodies began to gather up

A circle slowly formed around both of us.

I stopped a few steps away from him, my heart still unsteady and my thoughts spinning.

What is he up to now?

Nico reached into his jacket and pulled out a knife.

My breath caught. “Nico—”

But before I could finish—

He dragged the blade across his palm.

“Stop—!”

The word tore out of me too late as the blood spilled instantly, dark and thick, dripping onto the ground.

Gasps rippled through the men. “What the hell is he doing—?”

I stared, frozen, as he lifted his bleeding hand, his expression unflinching despite the pain.

“I, Nico DeLuca,” he began, his voice loud, steady and commanding. “Swear by my blood, and by my life—”

The men fell silent completely now.

“I swear to serve and protect Dante… until my last breath.”

The blood continued to drip, hitting the ground in slow, steady drops.

“And I swear,” he continued with his eyes locking onto mine, “to protect Serena Russo.”

My heart stuttered.

“To stand by her. To fight for her. To let no harm come to her—as long as I live.”

The air felt charged.

“I will correct my mistakes,” he finished. “And I will see this through… in life or in death.”

Silence crashed down as no one spoke, made to speak or move.

I myself could barely breathe.

Then Nico picked up a portion of the dirt the blood fell on and gripped it tightly, squeezing his eyes.

Then he opened his hand and let it pour to the floor.

The men made a sound and Nico stepped away.

Marcus handed a towel to him and he wrapped it around the injured palm.

“What was that for?” I whispered with my voice shaking.

He lowered his hand slowly and looked at me. “You needed to know how serious I am.”

My chest tightened painfully. “You didn’t have to go that far,” I said, softer now.

A small, tired smile touched his lips. “You wouldn’t have believed me otherwise.”

I didn’t respond cause he was right.

“There’s no time left,” he added, his tone sharpening again. “We need to move. We need to get Dante out.”

A murmur spread through the group behind us, then one of the men stepped forward, shaking his head.

“We can’t commit again,” he said. “We’ve already lost too much. That last fight—”

“I’ve lost more than I planned for,” another added. “We lost our leader too.”

Then I stepped forward instinctively with my fingers tightening around the ring before pulling it out.

“But she gave me this,” I announced and Nico's eyes went wide while murmurs spread out.

“You have the ring,” one of them spoke up. “But you can’t just wave it and expect us to follow blindly.”

The words hit harder than they should have.

“You’re backing down?” I asked, my voice tightening.

The man hesitated. “I’m saying we need to think—”

A low chuckle cut through the tension from Nico.

“Yeah,” he muttered, shaking his head slightly. “Guess loyalty costs more than we think. Let’s see how you explain that to Dante when he holds that ring.”

A few of the men shifted uncomfortably as the humor didn’t fully land.

But

“We are already in this,” Nico continued, his tone sharpening. “We’re halfway through a war you agreed to—and now you want to cut loose?”

No one answered.

“Then what do we do?” someone muttered. “Even if we stay, we're badly outnumbered. Left for the sacrifice last time, we would have been swallowed whole.”

“We need more men,” another said quietly. “This isn’t enough.”

Silence stretched again.

And just when I was about telling them we have no choice.

A low dark voice that I had never heard before cut in.

“That’s where I come in.”