Page 6 of Unleashed
Sobs rip through me like they’ve been waiting all this time, buried under shock and guilt and denial, and now there’s nothing holding them back. I cry like I did the day I was told he was dead—loud, ugly, shattering cries that leave me gasping for air.
It’s the same pain. The same soul-crushing grief.
Because when I thought he was gone, it felt like something inside me died with him. A piece of me I couldn’t name, couldn’t touch—just gone. And then an hour ago, I saw him.Alive. That missing piece clicking back into place like it never left. Like I could finally breathe again.
And now?
Now it’s ripped from me all over again. Not by death. But by the truth. By the pain I put in his eyes.
Helovesme.
Not with obsession or possession or the violent chaos that lives in Isaia’s touch. But with something quieter. Something clean and pure. Something thatshouldbe safe—but only hurts more because I’ll never be able to give it back.
Because love doesn’t work like that.
And mine? Mine belongs to a man who carved his name into my soul with blood and vows. Ripped into my heart and branded himself so deep I’ll never claw him out, no matter how hard I try. A man who drives me fucking insane. Hurts me. Heals me. Haunts me. He’s the poison I drink like water—and the only cure that’s ever soothed the emptiness I’ve carried before he stormedinto my life. He’s the violence and the calm. The reason I scream and the only one who can silence the noise.
He destroys me with his mouth, stitches me back together with his hands. He shatters me with one look and then holds every broken piece like it’s precious. He kisses me like a man drowning in me. Married me like he was claiming a kingdom. Fucked me like he needed to tear the truth out of my bones.
And I let him. God, I let him. Again and again. Because I love him in a way that defies logic. A way that bends reality.
A way that doesn’t stop even when it hurts.
Chapter 3
ISAIA
Iknow where she is.
I know what time his plane landed in New York. The names of his cabin crew. The motherfucking blood type of each and every bodyguard he had her surrounded with.
I know what time his car left the airport. The exact fucking timestamp when he carried her through the back door of his apartment building.
And where am I? In Chicago…with my brothers…because Alexius said so. Understandably, he wants all of us at the estate, around the Dark Sovereign table so I can give a full rundown of what the fuck happened on the island.
I’m a selfish prick, the youngest sibling, the one who cares less about the family business and decorum than the rest of my brothers. But I do understand the necessity for this. Paladino created a lot of shit for the Dark Sovereign with the attack now on everyone’s lips, and we need to get a handle on it before it spirals out of control, feeding the frenzy of the media, theopposition, and the countless noses that never belonged poking into our affairs.
Now, usually, when it comes to Everly, I don’t give a shit about my big brother’s orders. Do I have the unfathomable urge to fly to New York, barge into Paladino’s apartment building, tear his spine out of his ass, carry my wife out of there, and then burn the city to the ground?
Yes.
Yes, I do.
But there’s this annoying, unwelcome calm that’s got my finger on the pause button. As much as it fucking kills me to admit, I know he won’t hurt her. He’ll probably try to touch her, which is why I’ll cut his fingers off and feed them to him before I slit his throat the next time I see his ugly face.
The second I kill the engine, the front doors swing open.
I glance at Luna sitting restlessly in the back seat. “Here we go.”
Caelian’s already smirking as he strolls out, sleeves rolled, a drink in one hand and that smug I’m-the-coolest-asshole glint in his eye.
“You don’t write. You don’t call.” He leans against one of the porch columns, eyeing my car like it insulted his wardrobe. “And then you roll up in the world’s loudest cry for help. Was the ‘I’m-emotionally-unstable’ license plate sold out?”
“I just figured it was time to remind you what a V12 sounds like.” I open the back door, Luna jumps out, and I slam both doors shut.
Caelian scoffs, mock-offended, lifting his glass. “Loud, obnoxious, and unnecessary. Just like its driver.” He watches Luna as she pees on the gravel. “You brought a dog?”
“Figured you needed a friend.”
