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JEWEL
Nicu raised himself off me. Lying down and stretching out on my narrow twin bed, he maneuvered me until I was draped over him. Considering his size, it was the only way we could both fit.
Stroking my back with light brushes of his fingertips, he murmured, “Nothing’s going to happen to me, Jewel. I swear I will never abandon you. And you will become part of my family. You will be one of us, and they will take care of you.”
I lifted my eyes up to him and saw the hard determination swimming in his crystalline blue eyes. If anyone could force the world to do his bidding, it was Nicu. I loved how his brittle cold irises burned for me. I loved his passion and his untamed nature, his loyalty, and his unrelenting devotion to anyone he loved. His intensity never flagged. Unlike me, he’d never entertain the idea of giving up. Ever. The concept didn’t exist for him. If he wanted me, he’d have me, regardless of my fears or anything else that might come up. He had the unwavering courage to strip himself bare for me. He never faltered when it came to expressing how he felt about me, how much he wanted me, or how far he was willing to go to keep me.
His voice hardened. “Do you understand?”
I melted when his tone got rough and demanding. He peered down at me with a severe expression on his face. My father’s and Cat’s words came back to me, reminding me of what was at stake here. It also didn’t help that the man played me like a maestro, leaving me limp with pleasure. Between his words and his actions, I didn’t have the energy to fight him.
But that didn’t mean I no longer had misgivings.
One thing confused me. “How do you know your family will accept me, much less bring me into the fold?”
“Because I know them, and if I love you, that will be enough for them. There’s no way they wouldn’t love you on their own, anyway,” he said, as if it was a done deal.
My brows drew together. I wasn’t so sure. The Popescus were certainly not this easygoing. I couldn’t believe the Lupu family would be that different. Mafie was mafie.
“Hmm, don’t they want you to marry someone of their choosing and from their world? I can’t forget the grief Cat went through with her family. She would’ve never been able to choose just anyone, regardless of whether she fell for them or not. It just so happened to work out because Luca is a Lupu.”
“That’s the Popescus for you. Not only are they strict, but she’s their only princess. My situation is different,” he replied.
My eyes narrowed on him. “It’s not fair that because Cat’s a woman, her burden is heavier than yours.”
“It’s a double standard, if that’s what you’re suggesting, but it’s not solely about her gender. She happens to be the Popescus’ one and only daughter. It would’ve been different if she had a couple more siblings to share the burden with. The pressure wouldn’t have been so intense. There’s no denying that there are discrepancies between men and women. Men must be inducted and women must get married. The system is exploitative of everyone, but in different ways.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Try dismantling it, and you’ll get pushback from young women who see marriage as a way of solidifying their futures or pulling their families up the ranks.”
“It didn’t seem that way with Ioana,” I noted.
“Ioana’s case is complicated. I won’t deny that the tradition of arranged marriages is a thorny issue. Once you have your Lupu tat, have at it. Let your inner feminist out and bring on change. I’m not attached to this practice. God knows it’s created a lot of stress for us lately.”
My eyes fell on his tattoo, the Lupu wolf head with bared teeth. Every member of the Lupu clan had this tat, whether it was after an induction or a marriage. Cat was due for hers any time now. Technically, she could’ve already gotten hers since she and Luca were secretly married, but she was waiting after the ceremony to get it. Part of the rite of passage was a party held by the women of the bride’s new family. It was only attended by women, much like a bridal shower, but the gifts were replaced with lots of drinking. As I glanced at the wolf head on his chest, with red marks from my nails slashed over it, a part of me wanted a matching image on my skin.
“Would they really be open to it?” I pondered out loud.
“Romanians are resilient and adaptable,” he relied confidently, as if that accounted for everything. I, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure. I couldn’t get the suffering Cat had undergone with her family out of my head. And I’d never forget the stark misery I’d witnessed in Ioana’s eyes.
“Seriously, though, doesn’t Alex expect to pick out who you’ll marry?”
He gave me his signature little shrug. “Not necessarily.”
“He picked Cat for you,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but there was a pressing need at the time. I’m not a figurehead, like he is, and I can argue that he opened the floodgates with his own choice in a wife.”
“And he can counterargue that he’s ?ef and can do whatever the hell he wants,” I pointed out.
“He can, but he won’t. It was one thing when he needed me to buttress the flagging contract with the Popescus and I didn’t care who I married. Right now, I’m in a sweet spot, and it’s imperative we take advantage of it.” He cupped my pussy and growled near the shell of my ear, “Not only that, but I have no intention of being starved of this luscious treat ever again. That’s another crucial difference.”
My lips twitched. I arched a brow at him. “This is just about sex for you. I see…so that’s how it is, huh?”
He snorted. “Baby doll, if you had any idea how deep this goes for me, you’d leap out of bed and run down the hall, screaming at the top of your lungs. You think I’m letting you go? Think again. That’s never going to happen. If you thought I was obsessed before, our brief separation taught me that I didn’t go hard enough. Otherwise, you’d never have questioned my commitment for an instant. I regret not putting a hidden cam in this room, for instance,” he mused.
A spike of jealousy shot through me. I inhaled sharply. “Then you’d see Sofia naked, not only me.”
He scoffed, “Sofia who? I’ve only got eyes for you, baby girl.”
