Page 81 of Torn By Fate

The same warmth lulled me deeper into its embrace until my eyelids grew too heavy to fight, fluttering once before finally slipping closed.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ADRIAN

The violence etched onto her flesh had vanished, leaving only faint amber shadows that my eyes alone could discern, marks that I had obsessively recorded in my memory. The swelling in her hands had receded completely. Even the delicate cut on her lip, born from her own desperate teeth during that brutal struggle, had closed into a whisper of a pale scar.

She was healed. Whole. Alive.

And it was time for my wife to come home.

“The time has come, Serafina,” I declared softly, fully knowing that she would put up a fight and preparing for that fact.

Serafina remained facing away. “Time for what?”

“To return home.”

The words landed between us like a stone dropped into still water. I watched the tremor ripple across her body, the subtle tension in her shoulders, and the slight stiffening of her spine in a defensive arch.

“No.”

One word. That was all she said. A simple refusal.

“Serafina.” I closed the distance between us, hovering directly behind her. Close enough to inhale the sweet vanilla fragrance of her hair, yet exercising restraint, denying myself the satisfaction of touching her skin. “Your wounds are healed.”

She whipped around, her hazel eyes blazing with a dangerous fury that had been smoldering beneath the surface for weeks. “Healed? Is that how your twisted mind sees it? Now that I’m healed, I can seamlessly resume playing the role of your dutiful little wife?”

“An assassin nearly took your life two weeks ago. A bounty hangs over your head. You are exposed out here and in any other city you flee to. The only place where you are truly safe is—”

“Let me guess, the only place I will be protected is back at your estate.” A sharp, mocking laugh escaped her lips, hollow and devoid of warmth. “How poetic, Adrian. Truly. The very man who dragged me into this hell now claims his gilded cage is my only salvation.”

“I never claimed—”

“You didn’t need to say it aloud.” Her tone was razor-sharp, and it frustrated me how low she thought of me. Fuck, have I not proven myself enough? That I would never fucking hurt her. “That has always been your objective, hasn’t it? Ensuring your property remains undamaged before locking it back away.”

The venom in her words sliced through me, exposing a raw, ugly truth I had desperately tried to bury. Darkness pulsed violently beneath my ribs. “You are not a property.”

“Don’t lie to me.” She raised her hand, her fierce gaze locking onto mine. “Don’t offer me false promises. You’ve deceived me enough since the day we met.”

I stepped closer, my patience fraying. “I’m not deceiving you. I don’t see you as less than a person. You’re not a commodity, though the men in our world like to believe that women like you are… but you’re not. But you’re my wife. You belong by my side.”

“I belong to no one!” The scream erupted from her chest, raw and drenched in absolute fury. “Not to you, not to my father, and certainly not to this damn marriage that destroyed my life!”

“Your life was ruined long before you ever walked down the aisle to me, Serafina.” The words tore from my throat before I could stop them, and she physically flinched from them, as if I had actually struck her.

All color drained from her face before a flush of pure rage consumed her, her chest heaving as she dragged a breath through her lungs.

“You know nothing of my life,” she rasped, her voice trembling under the weight of her fury.

“I know enough.” I crowded into her space, towering over her. “I know you’re running from a ghost that has nothing to do with me. I know you’re terrified of the dark secrets you carry.”

“Back away from me.” She bared her teeth at me, like a kitten would. Cute, very fucking cute. But as much as I liked her defiance, now was not the time for it.

“Give me the truth. Tell me the real reason you pulled that trigger.”

Her eyes widened, and for a moment I wondered if I had pushed too far, too soon. A momentary flicker of vulnerability broke through her mask before I saw something physically inside her snap. A complete, absolute fracture of her composure.

“You want the truth?” She lunged at me, shoving forcefully against my chest. “The truth is, I despise you. I loathe every shadow of your existence, your family, your goddamn bloodied empire, and your suffocating control.” Her words, unhinged and laced with every ounce of her fury, slammed through me, each one a painful lash through my body. “I will never return to being your wife. Never.”