“I came here to tell you that you need to stop sending me things. Stop buying me things. It’s not going to change anything.”
I didn’t dare take my eyes off Salvatore as he took a step toward me, closing the distance I had purposely created a second ago, both for my sanity and my safety.
“Why do I need to stop?” Salvatore asked in a lowered voice as he tilted his head to the side, his face taking on a look of confusion, as if he didn’t understand what he was doing was wrong. That I didn’t want these gifts from him. These token apologies. “I’m not touching you,” he said, and it was unfair the way his voice was a caress all on its own. “I’ve left you alone. And it doesn’t hurt you. So why do I need to—”
“It does hurt me,” I exploded, and a collective gasp rose around us.
Salvatore didn’t even flinch. It was as though no one else was in the room. “How, Jesse? How does it hurt you?”
“Because every time you send me something new, I’m reminded of why I can never be with you.”
“But you can be,” he said, and this time reached for, and caught, my arm. “I know you were scared by what you learned about me. That you were shocked. But I can change, I can stop if that’s what will make you happy.”
I glanced down at the strong fingers surrounding my arm and felt my resolve starting to waver. I wanted to believe him. I wanted him to be able to change for me. To get better for me…
I raised my eyes back to his, and as everyone in the Lair faded from my view, I swayed toward this magnetic man.
He brought his other hand up to cup my cheek, and I closed my eyes and leaned into it. Nothing had ever felt so right as Salvatore’s breath washed over my lips, and yet…
“You won’t ever stop,” I whispered, my eyes opening and locking on to his. “If all it was was this here…this world and what excites you? I could maybe look beyond it. But Salvatore,” I said, and brought my hand up to place my palm on his chest. “It’s in your soul where you are truly troubled. And that can never be fixed, can never change. It runs too deep.”
As my words lingered between us, Salvatore slowly raised his head and released his hold on me. “I told you who I was.”
“And you also told me that when I no longer wanted to do this, you would stop. Was that another lie?”
Salvatore flinched as though I’d struck him, and then he shook his head. “No. If what you want is for this to be over, then it will be over.”
I took a step toward him and peered up into his face, running my eyes over every detail, memorizing it, because after tonight, I knew I would never see it again. “If only you were telling me the truth.”
“I am.”
“And how do I believe that? From the second I walked into your life, you have manipulated me, tricked me. I gave my trust, my body, and my heart to you blindly, Salvatore—all based on a lie.”
He shook his head, denial warring with the truth being laid at his feet as I whispered, “The only way to escape you is to leave the world you run. Leave the city you own. Because how else will I ever free myself from you?”
“Jesse—”
“No, Wolfe,” I said, and I knew what it meant for me to be publicly defying him in his Lair. He would either allow it or have me removed. And when he didn’t call security, I made the next move. I reached for his wrist, and as I held it in one hand, I dug in my pocket with the other, and when I pulled the antique key free, I placed it in his palm and curled his fingers around it. “I would’ve loved you,” I whispered.
The silent crowd watched in morbid fascination as their leader then did something I knew none of them had ever witnessed before. The Wolfe fell down to his knees in front of me, his head lowered in a beautiful act of submission, and I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
He didn’t belong down there. He never would. Just as I would never belong here with him. I released my hand from around his clasped fist and drew a finger down his chiseled jaw line, then I tipped his face up so his eyes met mine.
“You don’t belong on your knees,” I told him, and then finally relinquished all physical contact with him. “You are the Wolfe, and you don’t submit to anyone.”
As I backed away from him, a piece of his black hair fell down across his forehead and Wolfe’s piercing eyes found mine. “No one except my little wolf.”