Lyov
I used to think I was unbeatable…indestructible. But every man has a weakness.
Sometimes, I wanted to curse the day I met Maria. The day I gave myself to her, the very soul of me—I placed it in her hands. I wanted to hate the day I gave her my heart and felt her body under mine. I wanted to forget her warmth, her shivering skin underneath my wandering touch. I wanted to forget to laugh. Her smiles. Her love.
I wanted to go back to the beginning and wished I hadn’t laid eyes on her…hadn’t looked into the blue eyes of a tempting siren. Because then, I wouldn’t be here—utterly broken and weak.
She was the light that shone during my darkest hour. My Angel became my Queen, who stood by me as I built a stronger empire. And now…everything was burning into ashes. I was powerless to stop it.
But even though I wanted to curse the day I laid eyes on my Angel, I really couldn’t. No matter how much I wanted to hate it all…I really couldn’t.
Our memories were all I had left. They kept me alive, even when I was dead.
You are in my arms right now, and I don’t need anything else. I can feel your love in the way you touch me. The way you look at me.
You are mine, Maria. And I will always be forever yours. I. Love. You. Fuck, those words aren’t enough.
Then show me. Show me how much you love me. Don’t let me forget, Lyov.
I knew she wasn’t coming back. I knew I would never catch a glimpse of my Angel again, would never hear her laugh or drown in her eyes…or feel her touch on my skin. But there was a hole inside my stupid heart. It made me hope…that for the briefest moment, if I closed my eyes and opened them again, she would be here. My Angel, in front of me, opening her arms for me so I could sink into her embrace.
It was a hopeless dream, yet I couldn’t help but close my eyes.
I remembered when she would look at me, my heart would beat wildly. When she would smile at me, there was something that deep within me, feeling that smile all the way down to my toes. I didn’t want this moment to ever end. A fragment of imagination was what kept me going. I held on to those moments even when they hurt and left me even more pain afterward.
So I closed my eyes and hopelessly dreamed that when I opened them again, my Angel would be here. That our fairy tale wasn’t bloodily tainted.
My eyes opened.
Silence.
Emptiness.
Nothing.
Just…empty. Alone yet again. It fucking hurt, and I clenched my eyes closed again, choking back a horrible sob. The droplets of tears slid down my cheek, almost burning in realization.
My Maria was never coming back. No matter how many times I closed my eyes and dreamed of her…it was all broken.
Her blood had flowed…red as roses.
My palm laid over my bandaged chest, feeling my heartbeat. The bullet I took to save my family, it didn’t kill me. It almost hit my heart, but it missed.
I thought I had died. I remembered seeing my Maria, but then she disappeared, and I was thrust back into the present, alive, breathing.
It wasn’t my time to go yet. It wasn’t my time to reunite with my Angel yet…but one day soon. Maybe I was kept alive all this time for this. A purpose. Maybe I was meant to be here, to save Alessio and his family.
So many years ago, I failed mine.
This was my second chance.
I hadn’t had a chance to save my Angel, but I saved my son’s Angel.
I couldn’t save my Princess, but I saved Alessio’s,
A full circle of life. I found my redemption, and it felt like I could finally breathe a little.
My gaze found our portrait on the wall. My Angel was smiling down at me.
I miss you in ways that nobody could comprehend. No even words can understand.
I wanted to beg her to come back. Come back, Angel. Stay just a little longer. Let me kiss you one more time. Let me feel your arms around me. Let me love you. One last time.
But I knew she was somewhere so far, far away, way beyond my reach.
What a funny way to live our vows…till death do us part.
No. Not even death could separate us.
Maria was mine. Always would be. And I was hers. Till my last fucking breath.
There would be no other. For my Angel was the only one.
And that was my vow.
My Angel had wanted a fairy tale. I had given her that. I was her salvation. She was my redemption. Except as much as our fairy tale was beautiful and mesmerizing, it had a sick, twisted ending.
Angels deserve happily ever after.
Monsters like me don’t. My darkness became hers, and our life became tainted.
We didn’t live happily ever after.
I touched the portrait and traced her beautiful, smiling lips.
But when I did have her in my arms…when we had each other, when we were together, we were happy. Love stories like ours didn’t have endings.
It lived on forever. As beautiful and as flawed as it was.
Until we meet again, Angel.
THE END
Or is it?
You can turn the next page for an excerpt of the next book in the Tainted Hearts Series.