Page 106 of Vows of Ruin

I shake my head at them both but don’t bother hiding a smile. We step into the hallway, the door clicking shut behind us.

Elias crosses his arms. “He’ll crack,” he says quietly. “But not with straight questions. The more you talk like this is business, the more he will keep shutting down.”

I arch a brow. “So what do you suggest?”

“You need to hit where he’s raw,” Elias says. “The past. Your relationship. The part he hasn’t let go of. He’ll respond to you, but not if you talk to him like a soldier. Talk to him like the girl he thinks he lost.”

Max and Liam grunt in almost perfect unison—the kind of sound that would make a lesser woman nervous.

Elias winces. “No offense.”

“None taken,” I say.

Max crosses his arms. “This is bullshit.”

Liam’s jaw ticks. “He doesn’t get to weaponize your past.”

I step between them, resting a hand on each of their arms. Their muscles are tense under my palms, coiled tight with possessiveness and hate and a love they don’t know how to hide.

I look between the two of them, letting a slow smile spread across my lips. “Don’t worry.”

Their expressions don’t change. Protective. Angry. Beautiful.

“I’m the one who’s going to weaponize it,” I say softly.

I hold their eyes for another heartbeat, then add with a wink, “I’ll make it up to both of you later.”

Liam exhales hard through his nose. Max mutters something under his breath, like unfair. But they let me go. They always will. Because the storm I’m about to walk back into? I’m the one who commands it.

The war room falls silent the second I step back inside. Riot leans against the wall, Torque stands near the door pretending he’s not thoroughly entertained. Noah’s still in the chair, shoulders tight, gaze pinned to the floor like the answers he doesn’t want to give are hiding there.

I drag my chair closer, just a few inches, but the scrape of the legs against the tile is loud enough to make him flinch. I sit. Lean forward. Lower my voice to something softer, something that sounds like a memory, not an interrogation.

“You know…” I murmur, brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear, “There were good times between us too.”

His head snaps up. His eyes lock on mine. Not warm. Not nostalgic. Still cold. Still angry. But he’s listening. So I keep going.

“You remember that time we drove out to the middle of nowhere just to go to that county fair?”

A flicker. Barely there. But I see it. His jaw tightens, and something behind his eyes shifts, hate wrestling with the past he’s been trying to bury. I lean back slightly, letting the memory paint itself between us.

“You were so proud of that truck… until it started overheating twenty miles from the highway.” A small ghost of a smile tugs at the corner of my mouth. “And Margot came with us—remember? She damn near ate her weight in fried everything. I thought she was going to die on the Tilt-A-Whirl.”

Torque snorts behind me. Riot cracks a grin, shaking his head. I ignore them. Noah’s staring at me now, eyes dark but no longer dead. I keep going.

“And then the Ferris wheel broke down, leaving us stuck at the top.” I shake my head. “You were terrified. You tried to play it cool, but you held onto the bar so tight you almost bent it.”

A breath leaves him, sharp, and shaky. His eyes soften. Just a fraction. Only someone who knew him this well would notice. I lean in, voice barely above a whisper. “That was the first night you kissed me.”

For a moment, there’s peace. His throat bobs once, hard. A crack appears in the armor, thin, fragile, but there. That’s my opening. And he knows it. I watch him break, slowly, painfully, like his chest is collapsing in on itself. He whispers, barely audible. “Yeah. I remember.”

The room holds its breath. I let the softness linger just a second longer, my tone gentle. “Noah… that mattered. You mattered. I’m not pretending you didn’t.”

For half a heartbeat, I can see the man he used to be. The one who laughed too loud, drove too fast, loved too hard. But then something snaps. His expression fractures, pain curdling back into fury. His eyes narrow, sharp with accusation.

“I fucking told you,” He spits, voice rising. “You use people. You twist them. And then you toss them aside when they’re empty.”

I feel Max stiffen behind me. Liam’s breath goes low and dangerous. But I keep my attention on Noah, letting him burn with anger.