Forbidden Fate (Crowne Point 3)

His face collapsed as he realized what I was implying. Back to what had started all this. He paced back and forth, dragged his hands through his hair.

“Goddamn it, Snitch.”

“We’ll take them down from the inside. I’ll get West to trust me, you get the coin—”

He tugged me back to him, glare harder than I’d ever seen before. “There’s a cost to using a coin. Every time you use one, you’re giving power to the person you demanded a favor from. They can’t take back the favor you demanded of them, but they can demand something else, something darker. There’s a reason no one has used five coins. That’s an insane amount of power to give someone. I’m not putting my faith in fairy tales. Not when it comes to you.”

“This is our last hope for a happily ever after Grayson, a real one, don’t you see? I’m not putting my faith in fairy tales, I’m putting it in you. In us. In trust. If it’s not real, we’ll figure it out—together. West cares for me, and we can use that—”

“You want me to let you fucking seduce him?” he snarled.

I saw the fear in his eyes, and I realized I needed to show him why this time was different. I wasn’t leaving him.

Not really.

“I’ll kill my grandfather,” Grayson said, nodding to himself like a light bulb had just gone off. “I’ll kill West. I’ll kill—”

“I finally understand the weight on your shoulders. I know you want me.” I stepped to him and grabbed his hands. “I know you don’t want to let me go. I’m telling you, you won’t lose me.”

His jaw clenched, eyes shadowed with distrust.

“We have something they don’t have. Something they don’t see coming. Something they can’t steal.”

His brows drew deeper together as he waited for me.

“Trust—I don’t have to be by your side for you to own my heart.”

He dragged me closer, pressing my hands to his chest.

“You own it, Grayson,” I whispered against his lips. “You owned it before I even knew you’d taken it. You owned it when I hated you. You owned it while I was married to another man. You could be a thousand miles away and it would still be yours.”

I kissed him.

Trying to let him see the truth of my words on my lips.

He kissed me back feverishly, as if he was trying to change my mind or maybe glue me to the spot with desire. I pulled away on a breath, and he tried to pull me back.

“Grayson.”

He ignored me, dragging me back, thrusting his tongue into my mouth.

I shoved him off, taking a few steps back.

“Let me shoulder some of your weight, Grayson. Let me carry that world with you. You didn’t fight this hard for your family to give it all away to West du Lac. Let’s cut our thread. Choose where our fate ends.”

Grayson exhaled, running both hands through his hair.

“I don’t want you to have to choose between your children. I don’t want them to grow up like you did. Vying for love like it’s a competition. I don’t want us to be on the run our whole lives or have our relationship ruin everything it touches. Do you think we can have that?”

“I will give you anything, Snitch,” he gritted.

“So then give me your trust. We’ll get that happily ever after. You said you wanted to be a hero for your sisters. A good man. A good father. We just need to fight fate a little while longer. But…together this time.”

He eyed me. “Can you tell me you don’t love him? Can you promise me you won’t, Snitch?”

“Do you trust me? Because I trust you, Grayson. I trust that we can do this and get through to the other side. No matter what happens. What he puts me through. What he does to me. What I have to do. What you have to do. Where we end up, what happens to our souls in the process. We’ll find that happily ever after as long as we stay truthful to each other.”

Another long, soul-crushing stare, then Grayson rush