Page 15 of Illyria

“There is no other way. He knows about her. The longer she is with me, the more danger I put her in. She is young. She will recover. Get me a whore. Now.”

“Boss, she will never forgive you. You know that?”

“I don’t care. I don’t care about anything anymore.”

“Do you want me to call her and tell her not to come?”

I turned to my second, my best friend, the man who knew me best, and slowly shook my head. “No. She needs to see the real me.”

And she did.

I knew there would be no coming back.

There would be nothing I could say.

No reconciliation. I had made my bed and now I had to lay in it.

For a small time, I was happy with my decision. She was safe. I tried to tell myself we would never work. We were too headstrong, too independent. Neither of us wanted to give an inch. But the truth was, the second I met her, I knew I would give her anything, do anything to make her happy.

The passion between us ignited a fire so dangerous, the only recourse was to douse it before she got hurt. And she would have. I barely stopped the coming destruction.

If it was just me, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but there were my men, brothers who meant more to me than my own flesh and blood and she had the same. Then there were the alliances our families shared. No one would be unaffected by the coming slaughter.

So, I did what I had to do.

“Maxim?”

Turning, I saw Mercy standing in the doorway. Saying nothing, I stared at the man, waiting for him to say what he came to say.

“She made it safely to Davenport Tower. I attended everything, per your request. I just wanted to stop by and wanted to give you this.”

I said nothing as Mercy walked over and handed me the black key fob. Only two people would have access to my private penthouse. Illyria and me.

“Does Montana know?”

Mercy shook his head. “No.”

“Good,” I muttered, pocketing the key fob. “Let’s keep it that way.”

Mercy nodded before walking away, only to stop at the door. “Max, are you sure this is how you want to play this?”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“Yes, you do. Come clean to Montana. If anyone will understand, it’s him. He will help you.”

“No one can help me now. What I did...” I said, shaking my head. “There is no coming back from that.”

“The offer still stands. When you’re ready to end this, let me know.”

“Thank you, Mercy.”

“She’s hurting too, Max.”

Narrowing my eyes, I stiffened my shoulders and stood straight. “Thank you for your help, Mercy. I will call you if I have further need of you.”

Mercy shook his head but said nothing more as he walked away.

Alone once more, I turned back to the window and stared out into the dreary city. Rain slowly fell on the glass like tears before me. Closing my eyes, images of her beautiful face filled my mind of a time when we were truly happy.

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