Page 166 of Vicious Addictions

“No,” I say before kissing her lips, craving to silence her in any way I can. I kiss her long and hard, but when I feel the salt of her tears touch my lips, I pull away to stare at the misery swimming in her eyes.

“That wasn’t an induction, Jude. I may not have witnessed anomertàceremony before, but I know what a successor reveal looks like. And what happened back there was exactly that.”

“No… no… no,” I repeat, going back to her lips and hiking her leg over my hip.

This time, Mina doesn’t stop me and lets me use her body as a balm to soothe my aching soul.

Is she right?

Did I forsake true love for a crown that was never meant to be mine?

Desperate to dull my pain, Mina wraps her arms around my neck, jumps up, and locks her legs around my waist. And I, in turn, take full advantage of her sacrifice, running my hand up her skirt and shoving her panties to the side. Mina whimpers into my mouth as she hurries to unbuckle my belt and unzip my pants, my angry cock in her hands in no time.

With little to no foreplay, I thrust my cock into her pussy as deep as it allows.

Tears continue to fall from her eyes as I lick each and every one of them off her cheeks.

No.

No.

It can’t be true.

It can’t be.

My father wouldn’t play such an ugly game with my life.

I gave her up.

I gave her up.

I… gave up on our love… for what?

Shock hits me over the head when I feel Mina kiss my tears away.

Bereft, mourning the loss of a love that meant more to me than life itself, we come undone on a low whimper, clinging to each other with desperate intensity, knowing this is the last time we’ll ever be like this.

Time passes by as we stay still, neither one of us wanting to be the first to let go.

“Jude—”

“Don’t go,” I plead. “Please, love… don’t go.”

Her eyelids shut, agony and misery evident on her face. When she opens them back up, my Mina… my love… has been replaced by the woman she had to become when I took my love away from her.

“Your life is still here. Mine is still in London,” she starts before shifting in my embrace, her silent command to let her go. I don’t fight her, and instead, I help her back to her feet, gently fixing her clothes and hair that my restless hands had mussed and ruined. “There was a time that I would have jumped at the chance to be with you,” she continues, her voice sharper than it was a minute ago. “But that was then. This is now. I have obligations, Jude. Obligations that I will not turn my back on for a man who is so fickle with his love.”

She then steps to the side and begins to put as much distance from us as possible.

“I hope you know I never really hated you.” She lets out a sigh. “But I can’t love you either. It hurts too much. I can’t trust my heart with you. I just… can’t.”

I stay rooted to the spot as she turns away from me to walk back toward where her driver and cousins await her.

I want to call out her name. Say anything to her. Beg for forgiveness. But I don’t.

Right now, I’m a wounded animal. I’m no good to her. Maybe I never was.

“You know,” she says mid-step, turning her head over her shoulder just to have one last look at my face. “You never told me you loved me back then. Not once,” she laments. “I poured my heart out to you while you kept yours at a safe distance. Maybe one day, you’ll understand why I have to do the same to you now. Goodbye, Jude. Take care.”

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