Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
“Tonight?” I startle, a sobbed chuckle escaping. I let the answer rise from somewhere honest and irrevocable. I cup his face. “Yes,” I say, firm as a blade and soft as skin. “Yes, Sin. Yes, us.”
He bends his head and presses his mouth to mine, slow and claiming and gentle all at once. “My family will never forgive me.” I say.
“Then we’ll make them remember who you are,” he breathes, words folded around me. “Not a bargaining chip. Not a casualty. As the woman I love.”
Love. Dangerous. Reckless. Whole. It fills me up and makes my ribs ache in the best way.
I wrap my arms around his neck without thinking, and he tilts me back so the moonlight paints the curve of my cheek.
We stand there in the small park until the chill finally steals our breath away, until the city noise leaks back in and we are forced to remember there is a world beyond these trees.
I rest my head on his shoulder, and he presses his cheek to the crown of my head like protection.
The ring on my finger catches a stray beam of lamplight and throws a thin, steady line of light across his knuckles.
Some vows are whispered in cathedrals; ours is whispered under a halo of stars. It’s not perfect. It’s not polite. It is ours, reckless and tender and brave. And as he folds me into him, I know that even if everything after tonight fractures, I have chosen.
His lips find mine in a kiss so deep, so consuming, that I don’t think I’ll ever surface.
His hands frame my face, his body pressing into mine like he’s trying to mold us together, to erase the space that’s kept us apart.
I clutch his jacket, pulling him closer, letting the warmth of him chase away the fear that’s been clawing at my chest for weeks.
This.
This is what’s real.
Not the Rusco estate.
Not the life they’re trying to build for me.
Not the future Cameron has so carefully designed.
Just this.
Just him.
When we finally break apart, Sin presses his forehead to mine, his breath uneven.
“You’re mine now.”
A shiver runs down my spine.
“Always have been,” I whisper.
His grip tightens on me like he doesn’t want to let go.
“We don’t have much time.”
Reality slams back into me, the impending wedding, my wedding, that’s set for tomorrow. “What do we do? We can’t just walk into a courthouse and sign papers in the middle of the night.”
Sin smirks, a glint of amusement cutting through the intensity. “Who said anything about a courthouse?”
I raise a brow. “Sin.”
His smirk grows. “Let me handle it.”
I exhale sharply, nodding.
He threads his fingers through mine. “We do this, there’s no going back.”
I hold his gaze, steady and unshaken.
“There was never any going back. The moment they decided to marry me into another family, is the same moment they lost me.” I will love my family, but only on my terms.
He squeezes my hand. “Then let’s go.”
The drive is a blur of streetlights and shadows, the city stretching out around us as Sin’s driver takes us somewhere I don’t recognize.
My heart hammers as I look at him. “Where are we going?”
Sin glances at me, his hand still tangled with mine. “Somewhere safe.”
The weight of what we’re about to do presses down on me.
My fingers tighten around his. “I should be scared.”
He turns fully to face me, his thumb tracing absent circles along my skin. “Are you?”
I exhale softly. “No.” A smile beaming from my lips, I’m going to be Sin Donati’s wife. What a better way to unite the families, that is the root of what Cameron wanted after all. An alliance. I hope one day he sees that this is what I wanted, this is what is best for me.
His lips curve into something softer than a smirk but not quite a smile. “Good.”
The car slows in front of a gated house, nothing grand, nothing extravagant, but secure. Safe.
Sin steps out first, then reaches back for me.
I take his hand without hesitation.
Inside, a man waits, someone older, his presence steady and familiar to Sin.
He nods at me before turning to Sin. “You sure about this, Donati?”
Sin’s grip on me tightens. “Never been more sure of anything in my life.”
The man eyes us for a long moment, a smile trailing his lips. “Then let’s make it official.”
I swallow hard, my heart pounding as we step inside.
And just like that, with ink, paper, and whispered promises.
Magnolia Rusco becomes Magnolia Donati.