Page 35 of Twisted Vows

It doesn’t smash.

My husband catches it mid-air, his reflexes fast as lightning. His hand is steady as he lowers the vase, placing it on the nightstand with infuriating calm. But his eyes—just for a second—flicker with something I can’t place. Anger? Hurt? He masks it quickly, his voice cool and measured. “Are you done?”

“Not even close,” I snap, the fire in my chest roaring hotter.

He takes a step closer, setting the vase down carefully on the nightstand. His movements are deliberate, restrained, and when he looks at me, his blue eyes are anything but calm.

“You can fight me all you want, Ari,” he says, his voice low and quiet. “But out there? They won’t give you the chance.”

His words hit harder than I want them to. My fingers curl into fists at my sides. “Better out there than in here with you,” I mutter, but the words don’t feel as strong as I want them to.

Maxsim takes another step closer, and I can feel the heat of him, the tension radiating between us like a live wire. His voice softens, but the edge is still there. “This isn’t about you anymore. You think you’re the only one at risk? Every move you make puts a target on both of us. On my men. On the alliance holding this whole thing together. You think this is a game? If you fall, Ari, we all fall.”

Before I can answer, his phone buzzes in his pocket.

The moment shatters like glass.

Maxsim answers it. “What?” he barks into the receiver, his tone sharp. I watch as his expression darkens, his free hand clenching into a fist.

“Double the patrols,” he snaps. “And I want every perimeter checked. Find out who’s missing.”

Missing?

A shiver runs through me, but I push it down. This is his problem, not mine.

He ends the call, already heading for the door. Pausing at the threshold, he keeps his back to me. “I won’t lose you, Ari.”

The door clicks shut a second later and I’m alone again. My hands tremble from the argument. I look at the vase I threw—it’s back on the nightstand, gleaming under the muted light like nothing happened.

That’s how he wants me to see it.

But last night was something.

I sit on the edge of the bed, staring at the crumpled note still on the tray. Maxsim thinks he can control me, that he can wrap his rules around me like chains. But what scares me isn’t the rules—it’s that a part of me almost wants to follow them.

Not because I trust him…or need him.

Because maybe—just maybe—he’s right.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Bound by duty.

Maxsim

The tires crunch over the gravel as the car slows to a stop, the engine purring into silence. The estate stands before us—stone and glass rising from the earth like it was carved into existence, not built.

Every line, every corner is deliberate. Unyielding. Like me.

I move without hesitation, stepping into the cool air and circling the car to open her door. Ari doesn’t move at first. Her eyes, sharp and unreadable, drift slowly over the house. The towering windows. The iron balconies. The immaculate gardens designed to impress. To intimidate.

I watch her closely, searching for any crack in that carefully built facade of hers.

Nothing.

Come,” I say, extending my hand. She doesn’t take it.

Instead, she steps out on her own, her heels clicking sharply against the stone driveway. A sound too loud in the stillness.

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