CH. 3

Zavian was beyond livid. A nun. His Emmeline, the woman who'd burned in his arms with a passion that set his very soul on fire, had become a nun. The woman who'd once surrendered everything for love had instead surrendered everything to God.

He could barely contain the manic laughter bubbling up from the depths of his chest.

Fate wasn't just cruel. It was vindictive. It had taken the woman who once whispered his name like a prayer in the darkness and turned her into the absolute embodiment of everything she'd abandoned for him.

And she was beautiful… so beautiful it physically hurt to look at her.

The same hazel eyes that once looked at him with desperate love now shone with divine purpose. The same lips that had whispered his name in ecstasy now spoke prayers and blessings. The same hands that had clutched at him in passion now folded in prayer.

And the worst part? She didn't know him when their eyes met across the cathedral. There was no recognition. No spark of memory. No echo of what they'd shared. She looked at him the way she looked at any other member of her congregation. With kindness, with compassion, but without any personal connection.

That final realization broke the last of his restraint.

She didn't remember him. Didn't remember their love, their passion, their promises. She'd been reset along with everything else, turned into a virgin bride of Christ who'd never known the touch of a man, never experienced the fire that once consumed them both.

The rage filling him was beyond anything he'd ever experienced. The fury of a man who'd lost everything. Who'd been given a glimpse of paradise only to have it ripped away and replaced with the cruelest mockery imaginable.

She was his. She'd always been his. And if fate thought it could steal her from him by wrapping her in holy vows and sacred promises, it was about to learn just how wrong it could be!

Thus, he threw her over his shoulder before she could further aggravate his already frail nerves.

Emmeline's world turned upside down, literally, as she found herself staring at the floor while her legs kicked uselessly in the air.

"PUT ME DOWN!" Her voice rose to a near-shriek. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

She beat her fists against his back, kicked her legs, struggled with every ounce of strength she possessed. But his grip on her was absolute. She might as well have been fighting against a statue for all the effect her struggles had on him.

Zavian's arm across the backs of her thighs held her in place with ease, as though her desperate attempts at escape were nothing more than a minor annoyance.

The muscles beneath his suit were like iron, unyielding and impossibly strong. Emmeline could feel the power in his frame, the casual way he carried her weight like she was a child rather than a grown woman. It was both terrifying and, in some dark corner of her mind she didn't want to acknowledge, thrilling.

"Please!" Emmeline gasped with desperation. "I'm a servant of God! You can't do this! You CAN'T!"

The remaining congregation members watched in horror as their beloved mother was whisked away, unable to help her.

"STAY BACK!" Emmeline screamed from her undignified position. "IN THE NAME OF CHRIST, I COMMAND YOU TO LEAVE THIS SACRED PLACE!"

Her voice cracked on the words, but she forced them out anyway. It was all she had. Her faith, her belief in the power of divine protection. Surely God wouldn't allow this violation of His house to continue. Surely the forces of heaven would intervene to protect one of His faithful servants.

But her captor's only response was a sound that might've been laughter if it hadn't been so devoid of humor. It was the bitter sound of someone who'd long since stopped believing in divine intervention, who'd been abandoned by the universe and learned to make his own way through hell.

The sound chilled Emmeline more than any cold ever could.

"Even the Creator knows you're MINE!" Zavian said through gritted teeth. "He abandoned me long ago. And now He's about to lose you too."

The words carried a weight of disappointment that made Emmeline stop struggling for a moment.

There was something in his tone that spoke of personal betrayal, of prayers unanswered and faith rewarded with suffering.

"God doesn't abandon anyone," she whispered with tears she couldn't explain. "He's always there, even when we can't see Him. Even when we think we're alone."

The man carrying her went completely still for a moment, his entire body tensing as though her words had struck a nerve.

"Then where was He when I needed Him most?"

The question was heavy with pain and accusation.

"I don't know," Emmeline's voice broke. "But I know He loves you. I know He hasn't given up on you. It's not too late. It's never too late."

Zavian let out another laugh that was even more broken than the last. "You have no idea what I've done. What I've become. The things I've had to do to survive, to find you."

His voice dropped to a whisper that somehow carried more weight than a scream. "I am so far beyond redemption that even God couldn't save me now."

"That's not true," Emmeline said desperately, tears streaming down her face as she hung helplessly over his shoulder. "God's mercy is infinite. His love knows no bounds. Whatever you've done, whatever you think you are, He can forgive. He can heal. He can—"

"ENOUGH!"

The word exploded from Zavian with such force that the entire cathedral walls shuddered under the weight of his anguish and rage. Several more congregation members fainted outright, unable to process the unexplained fury being unleashed before them.

Without another word, Zavian resumed walking toward the cathedral's exit, leaving his men to handle the humans inside.

Emmeline lifted her head one final time to look back at the cathedral that'd been her sanctuary, her home, her entire world. The sight that greeted her was heartbreaking.

Her congregation huddled in their pews like frightened sheep. The altar she'd preached countless sermons from was now empty and somehow diminished. It felt cold and violated.

Tears streamed down her face, feeling lost and utterly unworthy of her responsibilities.

Outside, the streets were eerily empty. The few pedestrians who'd been in the area were gone, either evacuated or had simply vanished. Even the usual city sounds seemed muted, as if the very air was holding its breath. It was as if a bubble of silence and emptiness had been created around the cathedral, isolating it from the rest of the world.

The car door opened as they approached, revealing a luxurious interior. Zavian deposited her in the back seat.

Emmeline immediately pressed herself against the far window, putting as much distance between them as the confined space allowed.

Her hazel eyes were wide with terror and confusion. They darted around the luxurious interior, looking for an escape that didn't exist.

The strange recognition she'd felt in the cathedral was still there… an inexplicable sense of familiarity that made no rational sense, but it was now overshadowed by the reality of her situation.

"You're making a terrible mistake," she managed to say. "I'm nobody important. I have no money, no political connections. My congregation isn't wealthy. Whatever you think to gain from this—"

"Quiet!"

The single word hit her with the force of a physical blow. There was no anger in it now, just bone-deep exhaustion.

Zavian looked at her with mixed emotions.

For a moment, they simply stared at each other in the dim interior of the Maybach.

The silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken history and impossible recognition. She could see the war raging behind his eyes, fury and anguish battling for dominance in depths that seemed to hold the weight of eternity.

"Twenty-four human years," he said finally in a voice barely above a whisper. "Do you have any idea what twenty-four years of waiting, searching blindly does to a man? What it costs? What it takes?"

Emmeline shook her head mutely, afraid to speak, afraid to break whatever spell held him in check.

"I've torn apart governments looking for you. Toppled corporations. Destroyed lives. All for the chance to find the one person who could make me whole again." His hands clenched into fists on his knees. "And when I finally do find you, I find you in a fucking convent, preaching about purity and redemption."

The bitterness in his voice was so profound it made Emmeline's chest ache with sympathy she didn't understand.

"I chose this life," she retorted quietly. "I chose to serve God, to help people. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Nothing wrong?" Zavian's voice rose slightly. "You chose to lock yourself away from the world. To deny yourself everything that makes life worth living. To waste the gift you were given."

"It's not a waste," Emmeline protested, finding her voice despite her fear. "I've helped people. I've brought comfort to the suffering, hope to the hopeless. I've made a difference."

"You've hidden!" The words were flat, final. "You've buried yourself in ritual and prayer and convinced yourself it was noble. But all you've done is run from what you really are."

"And what am I?" The question burst from Emmeline's lips before she could stop it. "What do you think I am that's so important you'd violate a house of God to take me?"

"You're mine!" Something flickered in his eyes. Something that might've been tenderness if it hadn't been wrapped in so much pain.

The simple statement hung in the air between them like a declaration of war. Not a request, not a plea, but a statement of absolute fact. The certainty in his voice was terrifying, yet what frightened her more was the way her heart skipped at the words, the way something deep inside her responded to the claim.

"I don't belong to anyone," Emmeline finally argued. "I belong to God. I've taken vows. I've made promises."

"Promises you were never meant to make." Zavian leaned forward slightly, his deep eyes boring into hers. "Vows that go against your very nature. You feel it, don't you? The emptiness. The longing for something you can't name. The sense that something vital is missing from your life."

Emmeline opened her mouth to deny it, but the words wouldn't come. Because he was right. There'd always been something missing, a hollow ache in her chest that no amount of prayer or service could fill. She'd attributed it to the natural longing of the human soul for divine connection, but now...

"That's not... I don't..." she stammered.

"You do," Zavian said with quiet certainty. "You've felt it your entire life. The sense you're living someone else's existence, playing a role that doesn't quite fit. The dreams you can't remember but leave you aching when you wake. The certainty that somewhere out there is something you've lost, something you need to find."

Tears sprang to her eyes because every word he spoke resonated with truth she'd tried so hard to deny.

The dreams were the worst part. Fragments of images and sensations that faded the moment she woke but left her feeling bereft, as though she'd lost something precious all over again.

"How do you know?" she whispered. "How can you possibly know?"

Instead of answering, Zavian swiftly pulled her into his arms. The moment she came into contact with the invisible energy pulsing around him, Emmeline's body went limp. Her eyes fluttered closed as consciousness slipped away, leaving her motionless in his embrace.