✓ WICKED VOWS| JAKE (Book II )

60-My Ruins Are Yours

Anastasia's pov

"Really, are you going to do this again? Shoot me just as you did before? If so, do not waste a single second. Just make sure this time you complete it. Make sure your bullet connects, because I am not going to try and take another half-hearted shot. Kill me now; make sure there isn't some kind of comeback, some torturous dance we are stuck with."

I shook my head, and my grip on the rifle immediately tightened. "You are not going to take her from me," I finally said, and my voice was steel with resolve. My gaze went hard into his, a silent warning that I would do whatever it took to protect my daughter, to protect that little bit left of my shattered world.

Then I saw it, Jake's eyes softened, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly as he digested my words. For a moment, the fierce anger that had driven him waned and gave place to a deep, aching sadness. "We have a daughter," he whispered, the words heavy with impossibility. It was as if he could not possibly grasp what he was saying, as if the truth of it was too unreal for him to fathom.

He moved a slow, cautious step closer to me, his movements deliberate. The room thickened with tension, the heaviness between us growing with every inch he closed between us, his gaze never leaving mine. The soft cries of our child continued softly behind him, a haunting reminder of the life we had created together, now caught in the crossfire of our fractured love.

When he reached me, he didn't stop. He walked straight into the barrel of the rifle, pressing his chest against the cold metal, forcing me to either step back or lower the gun. I didn't move, but neither did he. I pressed harder against his chest.

"You're still deceiving yourself," Jake said, his voice low, his breathing warm against my face. "Do you really think you can pull the trigger after everything we've been through? After everything we had? Perhaps you love destroying things, Anastasia, but I have always been ready to pick up the pieces. I'll always be up for your ruins because I'll mend them back together and make you my home for eternity." I inhale deeply, the air filling my lungs as I breathe him in, his presence wrapping around me like an accent scent. It's as if I try to capture every part of him and hold onto the essence of who he is, even just a moment longer. The air feels different-charged with everything unsaid between them.

His words cut like knives through the walls around my heart, tearing down the defenses with which I'd hoped to keep him at arm's length. I felt a sting of tears, hot and unwelcome, burning behind my eyes, but forced them back, refusing to let him see how deep he had struck.

"Leave me alone," I said, the command breaking as the tsunami of emotion swirled inside me. I leaned the rifle more heavily against his chest, but he didn't move. He leaned down further, taking up all my space and leaving me with no room to be, with his immovable will.

"Until death do us part, Anastasia," he breathed, full of violent conviction. "I took my vows, and I will never take them back."

"Leave me alone, Salvatore," I said again, the begging breaking free from the armor I had desperately tried to maintain. "Please. I don't want you here and you don't want to be here, we need to divorce."

"Don't play games with me," he growls, stopping mere inches away, his chest heaving to labored breaths. His voice is low and rough, edged with the sort of fury that only comes from deep pain. "If this is your way of getting back at me-"

"Tell me you'll love me," I cut him off, my voice sharp, commanding. "Tell me you'll try, no matter how long it takes. Promise me that your care, your obsession, will somehow turn into love someday, tell me tha-"

'Stop, fucking stop." He slowly shakes his head, and immediately, my heart plunges deep into the chasm like a boulder. "There's no reason to wait," he whispers, his hand reaching up to stroke my cheek. The touch is electric, firing my skin like a brand. "You've had my heart, my body, my soul, Anastasia. I do not know when this happened, but somewhere along the way, my possessiveness, my need to control you, spiraled into this inferno where I was willing to lose everything if it meant keeping you safe but you did break my heart. That is when I knew I was in love with you. All of you. Even the parts that torment me."