Chapter 79
ADELINA
We arrived home. Cezar was forcing me inside with his brothers, cautiously following behind. Naturally, we went straight to the kitchen because he was hungry.
Should have thought about that.
“Nope, none of this. I want a good burger.” Cezar frantically searched for food.
“I’ll go grab one.” I turned to get my keys, but he stopped me.
“That’s ok, I will get it.”
I nodded.
I walked back to the brothers, who were standing in the middle of the kitchen. “You’re welcome here. If you stay, I could use your help to rebuild the Crimson Roses. If not, you’re free to go. Your choice.”
Codrin stepped forward. “I’ll stay. For him. And for you.”
I shook his hand.
Darius took longer. He looked at me, then at the doorway Cezar had walked through. “I’ll stay for them.”
Good enough. They all needed time to repair what their father ruined.
Cezar returned with paper bags. Food for everyone—even Dorin and Vali, wherever the hell they wandered off to.
“What’s behind your back?” I questioned, trying to sneak a peek. “Another dagger?”
He practically glowed with mischief. “You’d like that, but no. Not this time.”
Then he pulled out a full bouquet—black and red roses interlaced like a confession he couldn’t put into words.
“Oh my god… I love you.” I wanted to launch myself at him, but I tried not to crush the roses or the wounded man holding them. He wrapped me up anyway in a warm hug.
“I have something else I’ve wanted to give you since the night I found out who you really were.” He slung an arm around my shoulders and ushered me down the hall to our room.
Once the door closed behind us, he grabbed his phone and removed the case. He pulled out the other half of my mother’s heirloom—the piece I’d believed was lost to my bloody nightmares.
My lungs forgot how to work. A sob ripped out of me. Cezar caught me before I hit the floor. “It’s ok to lean on me.”
Just like that, I fell into him.
I’ve never felt so safe.
We stayed like that until the world steadied again. Then I pushed off him gently and went to the drawer where I had hidden my half for years. The two pieces fit together like time had never passed.
I lifted the chain and fastened my half around my neck.
Then I took the piece Cezar returned to me and placed it around his neck. It settled against his skin, and his shirt shifted just enough for the little red rose on his ribs to peek through. I’d seen it a hundred times, traced it with my fingers, licked it.
I never thought twice about it.
Until now. My father’s voice echoed, that nickname he always used for me.
My little red rose.
It all clicked into place. That tattoo wasn’t random. Cezar marked himself with me long before he even knew my name, carrying a piece of my father’s dying promise.
Before my hands could trail down his body, he seized my wrists, holding me there, watching me with that familiar danger—the same look he had the first time we crossed paths.
We were hooked on each other’s violence. Now bound together by the very thing that once tore our hearts apart.