Page 112 of Taken By the Convicts
“Oh, Zev, I’ve wanted you for a long time. I love you. Don’t you see that?”
His face twisted, and she could see the longing and the hurt there. “You’ve always believed in me, and I can’t say that didn’t affect me because it did. You want the man who befriended Reece, who watched over you. But that’s not me. That was me playing a role, using all of you to get access to places I needed to on a prison planet.
“I can’t ring you. I want to, very much, but I can’t. I’m not who you think I am.”
She stepped closer, forcing the tears back. Despite his words, she’d seen the truth in his eyes many times now. Zev, despite all his secrets and lies, was a good man, and she would never stop loving him.
“I know who you are inside,” she said, placing her hand over his heart.
He swallowed, a rare display of emotion from Zev. He usually made light of circumstances, made her laugh when she wanted to cry, but not this time.
“I’m leaving soon, and I’m not coming back.”
“Leaving? You mean the bunker? To live elsewhere above ground since you don’t like it down here,” she said, hopeful that’s all he meant.
His frown said enough. “I’m leaving Veenith. I can’t tell you when or how. And I can’t take you.”
“The Company,” she said. No one got on or off Veenith without the right connections, and that meant The Company. “You’re here, working for them.”
He didn’t confirm or deny, but he stepped forward, threaded his hand through her hair, and drew her against his chest. He whispered in her ear, “I never meant to fall in love with you, but I did. I can’t give you what I don’t have. I don’t control my fate.”
She couldn’t accept that. “I love you, Zev. Please don’t leave. Not again.”
His arms tightened around her. He had no more words because they wouldn’t change the outcome.
“When?” Ivan said, breaking the silence.
“Soon. And I must leave the bunker, too. I have to be aboveground.” Zev pulled apart, cupping her cheeks until she met his eyes. “I love you, Mel. I think I have from the day I saw you stand up to Ivan. I hope one day you can forgive me for everything I’ve said, and for leaving you here.”
Tears streamed down her face.
Jayce cleared his throat. “Melina, I don’t think Ivan finished.”
“Finished what?” she asked, wiping the tears from her face.
Ivan stepped forward. He’d taken his shirt off and ripped a thin strip from the dark blue fabric.
“I don’t have a ring to give you, so for now, this will show you belong to me.”
Even though her heart was breaking knowing Zev was leaving, she smiled as Ivan stood there with the makeshift ring in his palm. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted more at this moment than having Ivan’s ring beside Reece’s and Jayce’s, except Zev saying he was staying.
“Does it matter which finger, little bird?”
“The first goes on the thumb,” she said, stroking Reece’s ring on her thumb as she leaned forward to steal a kiss from her gentle giant. He kissed her, making her head swim with the taste of him.
She gathered her courage and let her happiness shine through. She wouldn’t let the dark cloud of Zev’s departure ruin this moment for Ivan.
“After the first ring is placed on the thumb, the rest generally follow the order of claiming, but it doesn’t have to.” She traced Jayce’s ring on her index finger and caressed his jaw, smiling. “I love it, Jayce.”
“So, any empty finger, then?” Ivan asked.
“What matters is that the rings connect, to reflect the connection of the men to one another and the woman.”
“Good.” Ivan took the fourth finger and tied the cloth to it, leaving her middle finger bare. “You’re frowning,” he said.
“You’re using the ring finger, the only finger that mattered in ancient ceremonies, before the plague, when a woman only had one husband. I love you all, Ivan. Equally. You must understand that, or this won’t work. The rings should be equal in importance.”
He kissed her forehead. “I wouldn’t do that to Reece or Jayce, or you, little bird. I’ve left a space for Zev, nothing more. If I ringed your middle finger, then it would be as if Zev weren’t returning.”
