Chapter 44 Vince
Vince
I stepped inside and it felt like walking into the wrong life, one I no longer deserved. And there she was.
Madeline.
On her stomach across my bed in one of my shirts. The TV was paused on some dynasty gossip show, screen frozen mid-frame. She must’ve paused it the second she heard the elevator.
Her face lit up the instant she saw me. Like the whole day had been a countdown to that door opening.
“Hi,” she smiled, pushing up on her elbows and opening her arms. “You’re back.”
Fuck.
Something tore in my chest so hard my knees almost went out. I could still smell her shampoo on the sheets from this morning. I could still feel her asleep on my chest. I’d told her I loved her with my mouth pressed to her hair, and now I was about to do this.
She sat up fully, excitement all over her face, and that was the moment I knew I was about to destroy her. And she had no idea.
“Vince?” Her smile dimmed when I didn’t move toward her. “What happened?”
I swallowed the truth until it burned.
Damius. The chamber. That girl on the floor. The cousin screaming. The way my brothers had looked at me. The message I could hear under every word.
If he thinks you love her, you’ll watch her die.
“Madeline.” My voice came out rough. I forced it flat. “You should go.”
Her forehead creased. “Go? Go where?”
“Home.”
Confusion flickered first. Then something like dread.
“I don’t understand. Did something happen?”
“Yes.” More than you will ever know. “Go pack your things.”
She flinched like I’d struck her. “Did I… do something wrong?”
No. You’re perfect. You’re everything.
“No.”
“Then just talk to me.” She slid off the bed, standing in front of me in my shirt, bare legs, looking small and soft and mine. “Vince, please. Just tell me what happened. You’re scaring me.”
Don’t keep looking at her. If I did, I’d cross the room. I’d pull her into my arms. I’d tell her I’d burn the whole dynasty down before I let anyone touch her. And Damius would drag her into that chamber.
I turned away. “Madeline,” I said, making my voice harder, colder, “go pack your things.”
“No. I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on.”She stepped closer.
Fuck, she was brave.
“Madeline. You need to go. Now.”
She didn’t move.
“I’m not stupid,” she whispered. Her voice shook. “Something happened. You’re not… you’re not like this unless someone threatened you. Or your brothers. Or—”
“Stop.”
“Then tell me,” she pushed. “You can’t just walk in and—”
“I said stop.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “You promised you wouldn’t do this to me. You promised. You literally lay in that bed this morning and told me you loved me. You said you weren’t going to switch me off.”
Knife, straight through.
I kept my jaw locked. Kept my hands at my sides when every instinct screamed to reach for her.
“I’m done. Okay? We’re done.”
She stared at me like I’d spoken a language she didn’t know.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
Her throat worked. “No, you don’t. I know you. I know when you’re lying. You’re doing that Crow thing—” she gestured toward my face with a shaking hand “—where you shut everything down and act like a stranger. I told you this scared me. You said you wouldn’t—”
“Madeline—”
“You promised you wouldn’t switch me off,” she cried. “You promised.”
Fuck, baby. I know. I know.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, tears finally dropping. “I will fight for you. I will say it in every room if I have to. I will stand next to you in front of anyone and—”
“You won’t,” I cut in. “You’re not going to stand next to me in any room.”
The panic in her eyes twisted into hurt so sharp it looked like pain.
“You think I’m just going to give up because you said a few cold lines? I’m not. I’m not walking away because you had a bad day and decided to play executioner with our relationship.”
Executioner. Yeah. That’s exactly what this was.
I stepped back, putting more distance between us. If she touched me, I was gone.
“Madeline, don’t make this harder.”
“You’re the one making it harder,” she shot back. “You’re the one who came in and decided we’re done. Five minutes ago, I was your girl. Now you can’t even look at me.”
I looked.
I shouldn’t have.
The shirt hem had ridden up; there was a faint shadow along her thigh, a bruise I hadn’t seen yet. My stomach tightened. Someone had put their hands on her. Again. And instead of destroying them, I was standing here dismantling the only place she’d ever been safe.
“I don’t want you,” The lie scraped my throat raw. “I’m not doing this anymore.”
“We can change the dynamic,” she whispered. “If being my dom is too much, if the rules are too intense, if I’m too intense—”
“You are too much work.”
The words tasted like acid. I dropped my gaze to the floor because if I saw her face while I said it, I’d fold.
“I have a syndicate,” I went on, forcing every syllable flat. “A dynasty. My brothers. My family. I don’t have the time or energy to look after you too.”
Fuck, listen to me. Listen to what I’m saying to you. I’m poisoning you on purpose.
The silence that followed felt worse than being shot.
Her breath stuttered. “You’re… bored, is that it?”
“Yeah.” I swallowed down bile. “I got bored. It was fun for a while. But I don’t have the attention span for this level of maintenance.”
Maintenance.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.” A tear slid down her cheek. She wiped it away angrily.
“Because two weeks ago you flew to another capital to drag me out of my best friend’s penthouse.
You tracked my period so you could order me snacks, Vince.
You designed whole systems to know if I sleep. That is not someone who gets bored.”
“Maybe I was entertained for a while,” I said. “The challenge. The control. But there’s nothing left to fix. You’re trained. You follow rules. I like the beginning of things, not the upkeep.”
God, I hated myself.
She put a hand over her heart like she needed to hold it inside her chest. “Oh fuck,” she whispered. “This is going to hurt.”
Her eyes closed tight for a second.
“You’re just going to treat me like a stranger now,” Her eyes went glassy. “I knew you’d do this. I told myself you would and I still—Why am I so fucking stupid.” She shook her head. “I will never forgive you for this. Ever.
“You’re not stupid,” I almost snapped, instinct flaring. Don’t talk about my girl like that. Don’t you dare—I shut it down. Swallowed it.
“This is what it is. You’ll get over it. You’re young.”
She flinched like I’d slapped her. Then my girl just stood there, frozen. As if she was ready to wake up from a nightmare.
“So you found a new submissive?” Her voice was so soft.
Don’t break Crow. I could see it in her eyes. If I didn’t push her away firmly. She would keep fighting for us. I loved her for that.
I exhaled slowly. “No.”
“Someone better? Someone easier? Pretrained? Less ‘work’?”
“No.”
“Then what?” she demanded. “You got bored when there was nothing left to control because I gave you everything? You spent months telling me you wanted every part of me, and now that you have it, you’re—what—over it?”
You gave me everything. I know. I know, baby.
“I don’t want a submissive who falls apart if I don’t look at her for a week. That’s not devotion. That’s dependence. You’re too much work Madeline.”
“Too much work?” Tear built in her eyes. “I can be less. I can—”
“No.”
She sucked in a breath like I’d punched the air out of her.
“I gave you everything. Every part of me, my life. I let you hold me through… through stuff no one else even knows about. I let you stay inside me while I—” She cut herself off, tears spilling again. “And now you I’m too much?”
Fuck. Daddy’s sorry. I’m sorry, angel. I’m so fucking sorry.
Her shoulders trembled. She turned away, moving toward the dresser. She dressed without looking at me, pulling on the clothes she’d left folded there. Dynasty training holding together something shattered.
“Madeline,”
“Stop. You don’t get to say my name like that anymore.” She grabbed her bag, stuffing things.
When she turned back, her eyes were red. Her face was calm in the way only dynasties know how to be when they’re bleeding.
“Is that all?” she asked quietly. “Any other revisions to the story I get to tell myself about us?”
My chest felt like it was being crushed.
“This is it,”
Her chin lifted. “Then hear me. Right now is your last chance to say anything true. Because if I walk out that door and you haven’t taken this back, I’m done. I will never forgive you. No excuse, no ‘dynasty reason,’ no sob story about your enemies will ever make me trust you again.”
Say something. Tell her the truth. Tell her Damius saw you today in that fucking chamber and you’re terrified. Tell her you’re doing this to keep her alive. Tell her you love her so much it’s making you sick.
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because if I said even one real word, I’d break. I’d drag her back into the bed.
And she’d be dead within the year.
So I stayed silent.
Her eyes searched my face one last time. The split-second where I watched it happen — the moment she saw I wasn’t going to save her from this, felt worse than anything Damius had ever done to me.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Got it.”
She walked past me toward the door.
Panic punched straight through my ribs.
You idiot. Stop her. Move. Say something. No. You will have a lifetime to fix this. You’ll put your crest on her back. You’ll get your name tattooed into her skin and hers into yours. You’ll earn forgiveness every day until you die. Just let her walk now. Get her out. Get Damius’ eyes off her.
Her shoulders stiffened. She hit the elevator button again. She didn’t look back.
“The part that hurts, is I already know what it is like to be forgotten by you. Now, its not for a week. It’s forever.” She gulped back tears, and hit the panel for the elevator again.
The elevator doors closed behind her. Silence flooded the apartment.
I stood there, useless, staring at the empty space she’d just occupied. Her perfume still clung to the air. The sheets were still rumpled. My shirt lay on the floor where she’d dropped it to get dressed.
My hands shook.
Fuck. I killed her. I killed us. I watched my baby break and I didn’t move. What the fuck have I done.
I forced myself to breathe. In. Out. Repeat. I pressed my fists to my thighs so I didn’t punch a hole through the wall.
All I could see when I closed my eyes were her bruises, blooming yellow and purple under her skin. Her hand over her heart. The way her mouth trembled when she said I promised.
I staggered to the window and braced my forehead against the cool glass, lungs burning like I’d been running for miles.
If I wanted her alive, I had to end it.
For now.
I told myself I’d find a way back to her. That this wasn’t forever. That one day she’d stand on a Crow island balcony with my crest inked across her back and my name on her skin and I’d spend the rest of my life begging her to forgive this night.
I told myself I’d have time.
Because the alternative—that this was it, that I’d just watched the love of my life walk out for good—felt like a bullet lodged in my chest.