We stare at each other, both breathing hard, caught in this endless cycle of blame and pain. I realize then that there is no going back. He’ll never be able to look at me and not see his home and family burning to the ground. That loss will always make me a target for his rage.
I wipe tears from my face. "This is getting us nowhere. You want your revenge? Take it. But stop pretending this is about justice when it's just about making yourself feel better."
I turn away from him, exhaustion settling deep in my bones. I reach for the doorknob, desperate to escape this room, this man, these impossible feelings that refuse to die despite everything.
"Keira." His voice is softer now, stripped of its earlier venom. "Wait."
I pause but don't turn around. "What more could you possibly want from me?"
His hand touches my shoulder. I flinch but don't pull away.
"Just… stay. Please."
The word 'please' catches me off guard. It's the first time he's asked rather than commanded since his return. Slowly, I turn to face him.
What I see nearly steals my breath. Phoenix's mask has slipped, revealing something raw and unguarded in his eyes. Confusion, pain, and something else I dare not name. The cold calculation is gone, replaced by the shadow of the man I once loved.
"Why should I stay?”
He doesn't answer with words. Instead, his hand slides up to cup my cheek, his touch unexpectedly gentle. I should pull away. Every instinct screams at me to protect myself, to remember what he's done, what he's capable of doing. But I remain frozen, caught in his gaze.
Phoenix leans in slowly, giving me time to retreat, to refuse. I don't. Perhaps it's weakness or exhaustion or the foolish heart that never learned to stop loving him. Whatever the reason, I stay perfectly still as his lips meet mine.
The kiss is nothing like the brutal claiming of before, but neither is it gentle. It’s like he’s trying to recapture something he lost. My eyes flutter closed against my will, my body remembering what my mind wants to forget.
He deepens the kiss, drawing me closer until I can feel the rapid beating of his heart against my chest. I shouldn't respond, shouldn't show him this power he still holds over me. But for a moment, I do.
When you behave like a whore—you dress like one.Eliza’s words from Phoenix come back to me and with them, the horror of what I’m doing. He’s not the Phoenix I once loved. He’s made that clear.
I twist away from him, disgusted with myself that for a moment, I wanted him.
“What’s wrong?”
I look up at him. His confused expression suggests he’s truly clueless as to why I might not want to kiss him.
“I won’t fight you, Phoenix. I know I can’t. But I’m no whore no matter how badly you want to make me one.” I hold my hands out to my sides, offering myself like a sacrifice. “Take me if you want. I won’t fight it. But I won’t forget either. I’ll never forget what you did to me tonight.”
14
PHOENIX
My chest feels like it's being torn apart. I've spent ten years building walls around my heart, constructing justifications for my hatred, for my cruelty. But Keira throwing it in my face is shattering everything. It’s pissing me off, making me feel like a fucking abuser, and breaking me apart all at once. Worse, it makes me doubt myself. What if I've been wrong? What if she was clueless to her father’s plan a decade ago? What if she’s as much a victim as I am?
“You think that this is what this is? That all I want is to fuck you and humiliate you?”
She laughs derisively and gestures to the dress. “Come on, Phoenix. Why else would you have put me in this? Showed me off like I’d go to the highest bidder?”
Her accusation makes me sick even as I know she’s not wrong.
I remember her entrance tonight. How she navigated the room full of predators with her chin held high despite the dress I forced on her. My first thought had been she's fucking magnificent. The crimson dress clings to her body like a second skin, revealing more than it conceals. I meant to break her, tostrip away her pride, yet she's maintained more dignity in her humiliation than I have in my revenge.
"I can't do this anymore," she says, her voice breaking. "Just let me go."
But I can't. I've never been able to let her go, not really. Even when I thought she'd betrayed me, her ghost haunted every quiet moment, every dark night.
A pounding echoes through my door. “Phoenix!” Blaise’s voice follows.
“Go away.” I can’t hardly think with Keira stripping away everything I thought I knew. I can’t add dealing with my brother on top of it.
