“Do it,” I ordered. My eyes remained fixed on Max, burning with intensity.
Max hesitated only briefly before collapsing onto one knee, then both, his palms flat on his thighs like a man awaiting judgment from the gallows. His gaze never wavered; it was fierce, defiant, desperate. Those beautiful blue eyes pleaded for salvation as he looked up at me with a grimace.
“Good boy,” I said softly, menace lacing my voice. I stepped closer, forcing him to tilt his chin up to keep me in sight. “Now say what you mean. Not vows, not promises—say what you really feel. And if you screw up, Max—” I leaned in, whispering into his ear, “—this marriage ends here, and I’ll tear you apart.”
He inhaled sharply. Then, slowly, his words escaped in a hoarse, raw whisper.
“I promise,” he rasped, “I’ll never trap you in chains youdidn’t choose… ever again. I’ll bleed first. I’ll kneel before you and worship the ground you walk on until you’re sick of me, and even then, I’ll follow you into hell. I’ll protect you, fight for you, burn the world down for you. You’re mine, Mackenzie. Always mine. But I’m yours first.”
The chapel was silent except for the crack in his voice at the last word.
I exhaled slowly, feeling the power shift, the control sliding into my hands where it belonged. Then I extended my hand, palm up.
“Get the fuck up.”
He rose suddenly, towering over me with an imposing presence. But I wasn’t afraid of him because I had him. I had the entire dark, sinister essence of him. The justice of the peace cleared his throat nervously, breaking the tense silence. “Uh… shall we continue?”
My lips curled into a victorious smile. “Yes. Now we can.”
I didn’t realize we had rings, but when the officiant said we could exchange them, Max produced two black boxes. He must’ve worked with West overnight to prepare this. When Max slipped the ring onto my finger, I drew in a sharp breath. It was actually perfect. A slender band of tarnished white gold, a single diamond set in delicate filigree that shimmered, as if it had been made just for me.
Even amidst the chaos, Max somehow managed to pick something that truly represented me. He knew me too well.
I turned my hand in the dim light, marveling at how it caught the flickering sunlight streaming through the stained-glass window. He slipped the matching band onto my finger and looked down at me, a strange glint in his eyes.
“He sent me a couple of texts last night with options. I knew it was this one the moment I saw it. Your mom… your mom agreed this was the one.”
My mom.
I hated that she couldn’t be part of this. Max knew what I was thinking because I could see it all on his face.
“I’d die before letting you wear something that doesn’t feel like you,” he said, his voice low and steady. “Also, I paid for it, not the FBI. I just wanted to clarify that. I used my money from baseball lessons during the year.” His finger brushed over my rings, and I felt branded, like a scar repeatedly reopened. But for some reason, it felt good, right, like it was the way it was supposed to be.
His ring was nothing fancy — a plain, sturdy band — but it suited him, rugged and understated, just like him. Together, the two rings were chaos and elegance, fire and earth, just like us.
The officiant cleared his throat and pronounced us husband and wife. Max didn’t wait. His hand slid to the back of my neck, careful not to press too hard on my wound, his mouth crashing against mine with something halfway between hunger and relief, echoing with a raw desperation.
When we finally pulled apart, we walked out together, hand in hand, hearts pounding. The chapel doors swung open to the empty hallway beyond, the air thick with the scent of stale coffee, replacing the faint, lingering traces of incense and wood polish.
Yet, there was an eerie silence hanging in the air.
I could almost feel it.
25
MAX
Ipulled into the hotel parking lot, and she shot me a look like I’d lost my mind.
“Where are we even going?” she snapped.
I turned off the ignition, my jaw clenched.
“You were out cold for the first thirty-six hours of our marriage,” I muttered, teeth grinding. “Then I spent two weeks going crazy because I couldn’t touch you. We need to consummate this marriage now, or I swear I’ll lose it.”
“You’re basically kidnapping me,” she scoffed with a forced smile, though I caught the faint curve of her lips.
She was calling me out, technically, but since she was legally bound to me, it wasn’t kidnapping.
