Chapter 100 Her Answer
Nico POV
The words tasted bitter the moment they left my mouth. “If I am… would you stay?”
I wanted her to say yes. No, I needed her to say yes, somewhere deep inside me, buried beneath years of violence and pride, lived a fragile hope that maybe, just maybe, she no longer hated me and that she didn’t still hold me responsible for shattering her world into pieces, because I had shattered it.and now, I was trying to rebuild it but in my image. In my way and my world where she belonged to me.
God, I was a selfish bastard, i knew it but when it came to her, I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop wanting, needing and taking. I had destroyed everything she once knew, yet somehow she had become the center of my universe.
The irony was almost laughable, the longer my skin brushed against hers, the more her warmth seeped into me her scent wrapped around my senses like a drug, sweet and dangerous and in that moment, I realized something terrifying.
I didn’t just want her body, I wanted everything, her heart, soul and every shattered piece of her. I wanted to be the center of her broken world the way she had become the center of mine.
“Would you stay, Lila?” I murmured, dragging my fingertips slowly up her arms. A shiver ran through her, and heat flared inside my chest. I loved that I could still do that to her and that her body still answered me.
She leaned forward, resting her face close to mine, ger breath ghosted over my lips.
“You already know the answer to that, Nico.”
“Do I?” My voice was rough, almost desperate.
“Yes.”
I pulled back just enough to look into her eyes.
Those eyes, clear blue they had no right to look like that after everything she had endured. Yet they burned like twin suns in my otherwise dark world. “Then say it,” I whispered. “I need to hear it.”
Her tongue slipped out, gliding slowly across her lips the faint shine it left behind nearly undid me and every instinct inside me screamed to claim her mouth, to devour her whole but then she stepped back and my heart stuttered.
For the first time, I couldn’t read her, her face which was soft, oval, breathtaking was completely blank, there was no anger or pain
and It unsettled me more than any weapon ever could.
Maybe it was my own fear twisting reality, making me blind to whatever storm brewed inside her mind. I hated not knowing. I hated feeling powerless.
Her gaze dropped to the arm wrapped in protective bandages. “You had me kidnapped.”
She looked back up at me, “And you tore me away from my life.”
The words hit like bullet and I swallowed hard, but she gave me nothing no expression, no mercy. “You starved me,” she continued quietly. “Humiliated me.”
My heart began slamming violently against my ribs. Memories I had buried clawed their way to the surface images of what I’d done, the monster I’d been and of how badly I had wanted to destroy her.
I couldn’t speak or even breathe. All I could do was stare at her and silently beg for something, just anything in her eyes.
Then she reached for the zipper beneath her arm.
“You spent days trying to break me,” she said softly, pulling it down inch by inch. “You twisted my mind. Made me believe I would die by your hand.”
“Lila—” My voice cracked.
The dress slid down her body and pooled at her feet.
I froze.
Her nakedness clashed violently with the accusations spilling from her lips. One part of me burned with desire, raw and uncontrollable. The other felt like it was being ripped open from the inside.
“You degraded me,” she went on, stepping closer. Her shoulders were straight, her posture fearless. “Forced me onto my knees. Made me act like your pet.”
“Lila, what are you doing?” I rasped, completely lost.
She didn’t stop.
“You let your brother beat me. You let a room full of men watch while I hung naked and chained from your ceiling.”
“Stop.” My fists clenched painfully at my sides. My chest felt ready to explode. Regret churned violently inside me, threatening to turn into something darker. Something I didn’t want to unleash.
She moved closer again until she stood right in front of me.
Her bare breasts hovered inches from my chest. Her nipples tightened in the cool air, taunting every dark instinct I had spent months trying to cage.
“Do you know what else you did, Nico?” she asked softly.
I dragged a hand down my face, struggling to breathe. “For God’s sake… just stop.”
Then she touched me her palm pressed gently against my cheek and the softness of it confused me more than anything she’d said.
I looked down into her eyes and she smiled.
“You set me free.”
Everything inside me shattered and a violent wave of relief crashed through my body so fast it left me dizzy. My fists loosened instantly and my lungs filled for the first time in what felt like hours.
I grabbed her face, my hands trembling despite myself. “Damn you, woman.”
I crushed my mouth against hers, the kiss was desperate and explosive. My tongue forced its way into her mouth, devouring her like a starving man, relief, anger, love and everything I had bottled up poured into that kiss. I needed her to feel it, needed her to understand what lived beneath the cold armor I wore. I whispered against her lips. "I love you."
The words were barely audible, but inside me they roared like thunder and I wanted her soul to hear them, salt touched my tongue.
I opened my eyes just enough to see the tears streaming down her cheeks and my chest tightened painfully. Still kissing her, I wiped them away with my thumbs. “My heart is yours.”
A small sob escaped her. “And mine yours.” .
Her words tore through me, after everything I had done and every cruelty, every sin, she was still giving me her heart. I didn’t deserve it. I knew that but I would die before breaking it again.
A silent vow formed deep inside me. I would spend the rest of my life making sure she never regretted this moment.
Sliding my hand beneath her, I lifted her easily. She wrapped her legs around my waist, clinging to me as if she belonged there and my lips never left hers as I carried us to the bed.
The second her back touched the mattress, I was between her legs, desire hit me like a freight train.
My erection strained painfully against my pants as I ground against her, desperate for friction, for relief, for her. The barrier of fabric suddenly felt unbearable.
With a growl of frustration, I tore my pants off in seconds. “ Nico?” she whispered, her hands pressing against my bare chest, her touch sent sparks racing down my spine. “What are those?”