Chapter 004: The Price Of Survival.

Nico’s POV.

She was smiling.

That cruel, mocking smile that used to be mine.

And the second I saw it, I just could not help but feel like she was lying.

“Why chase the pup when I can have the beast?” she said, mouth curving like this was all some sort of cosmic joke. Like I was just the idiot in her carefully orchestrated plan. “Seriously, you, Nico, can’t compare to your father.”

The fuck?

Her eyes glittered like she’d won something. And maybe she had. Maybe this was all a game to her—fuck the son, marry the father and just walk away like she didn’t set fire to everything in her path.

I should hate her.

But all I could think was: God, that smile.

I wanted to wipe it off her face.

No. Actually, I wanted to steal it. I wanted to lock it away. Make it something only I got to see. Something only I got to ruin.

“So Nico,” she added, “you don’t have to cling to that one night like you were some sort of scared virgin. Or should I have sent you a thank-you card for taking mine?”

My blood turned to acid. I couldn’t take her annoying words and that was the moment I snapped.

“You seem to be enjoying your new role as Salvatore Moreti’s wife,” I said, my voice a razor. “Almost like you’ve been training your whole life to be a trophy on his shelf. Or maybe a stepmother fetishist?”

Her face twitched. Barely. But I saw it.

That flash of pain. Of guilt. It was gone in a blink, but I’d already seen it.

Good. I wanted to hurt her. Just a little. Just enough to remind her I was still inside her.

However, she laughed, soft and slow, and then spread her arms like this was a play and she was taking a bow.

“In a world like ours, women like me just play the role we’re handed. We just have to survive however we can, right?”

Bullshit.

This wasn’t survival. That is pure betrayal and nothing else.

But for a second—just a second—I thought I saw it. That hesitation in her voice. Like she didn’t want this either.

I looked at her. Really looked at her. And something sick inside me wanted her to say it.

Tell me you didn’t want this. Tell me to get you out of here, and I will burn the whole fucking city down for you.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she smiled and said, “It’s not a bad position at all, you know? Queen of the Moreti empire. Free to do whatever I want. The most important woman in the city. That’s every woman’s dream, isn’t it? I hope you didn’t think I was any different?”

And there it was.

The slap. The spit in my face.

She was taunting me. Mocking me with her new ring, that stupid dress, that smug little smirk like I hadn’t touched every inch of her less than twenty hours ago.

She wanted a game?

Fine. We’d play.

But she forgot one thing, I never lose. Ever.

We stared at each other in silence. Not like strangers. Rather like ex-lovers at war.

I tried to keep my breathing steady. To remember who she was now. My father’s wife. That should have been enough to make me walk away.

But how the hell was I supposed to forget the way she sounded under me last night?

How was I supposed to treat her like she was just another one of Salvatore’s rotating whores?

Just how?

I took a step forward.

“Do you really think Salvatore will ever take a little girl like you seriously?” I asked. “you had better not flatter yourself nor get ahead of yourself either. You won’t even be able to control yourself much more control any darn thing. And most especially not him, nobody controls Salvatore.”

He didn’t like women with opinions. He liked silence. He liked obedience. He liked brainless porcelain.

And Sapphire?

Sapphire was fire. Sharp. Reckless. The kind of woman who’d slit your throat mid-kiss.

She lowered her eyes. Played with the oversized rock on her finger like she needed something to do with her hands.

The ring didn’t suit her. None of this did.

She looked like a doll in the wrong box. A queen trapped in a cheap glass castle. And I really wish that she knew it.

When her eyes lifted again, that smile was still there, but now it was strained.

“Who said I want to control him or anything like that?” she said. “Just being his wife puts me ahead of every other woman in the city. It puts me in the position to simply point at anything I want and get it immediately. And that’s enough for me.”

Liar.

She couldn’t meet my gaze.

That’s when I knew—she’s still mine whether or not she admits it.

And that thought? It broke me.

“Do you seriously enjoy this?” I asked, stepping in closer. “Standing there like last night meant nothing? Do you like pretending I didn’t make you come thrice while you begged for more?”

Her eyes didn’t blink, but her body flinched.

She remembered.

I leaned in, wanting to make sure that she feels my breath on her skin.

“Do you really think I’ll just let you erase me?”

She didn’t say anything but her mouth parted. And that was all I needed.

I grabbed her chin, gently, but firmly. Forcing her to look at me.

And when our eyes locked, I saw it again. That flicker. That soft, haunted thing that had no business being in her eyes now. That used to be just for me.

I shouldn’t have touched her. I Shouldn’t have even wanted her right now.

But I do want her.

So I let my thumb drag across her bottom lip causing her to gasp.

And just like that, I was hard.

I remembered everything. Her moans. Her thighs. The way her mouth stretched for me like it was made for sin.

But she suddenly shoved me away.

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed, her voice sharp but her hands were shaking.

I didn’t back off. I leaned in instead.

“Or what?” I asked, in a lazy voice.

“I’ll scream.”

My lips curved. “Go ahead.”

I let those same lips barely brush hers. Like it was a warning. Or maybe a promise.

“Let them hear what you really sound like when you want me.”

“Nico—” she breathed.

My name was out of her mouth and not like a threat, but a moan.

And I snapped.

My hands grabbed her waist, as I yanked her into me like she belonged there. Like she’d never left.

She tried to push me off again but failed so I laughed.

“You gonna scream again?” I murmured, voice dragging against her lips. “Then scream.”

I pinned her to the wall, pressed into her so close she couldn’t breathe.

“Scream,” I whispered. “Let the whole city here know that Salvatore’s bride actually moans for his son.”

Her breath hitched. Her fingers clutched at my shirt.

One second more and I would’ve kissed her like I meant to break her.

But then —

Knock knock.

“Sapphire? Are you in there?”

A voice interrupted us.

Sapphire went stiff in my arms as her eyes flicked to the door.

I didn’t let go.

Rather, I leaned in again, slower this time, brushing my mouth over hers one last time like a threat.

“Go ahead,” I whispered. “Scream now, stepmother. Let them hear how much you want your fucking stepson.”