Theirs to Claim | 18+

C h a p t e r 66

"I already have a plan." Xavier says, his tone so numbing I could see him dissociating his emotions from everything else.

I wasn't sure our stories held a happy ending for us anymore, but there was one's who still could.

"You're going to propose?" Alec says with slight disbelief in his voice, but we didn't judge nor did we interrupt. We simply stayed still, desperate for anything that could shed a little light to this horrible tunnel we've trapped ourselves in.

The grim look on his face confirms Alec's suspicions, and I couldn't help but feel a little despair because of it.

This was not how any of this was supposed to be.

"In a little under three weeks, I'm going to take Madelyn to Jolene's for lunch. I'm going to ask her to trust me and say that she needs to help me pretend for a while."

She's a smart girl, and I know it won't take her long to realize this is about something serious.

Madelyn will play along perfectly because she trusts us, and it's going to make everything that needs to happen afterwards so much harder.

"And then?" I prob, my heart racing at the noticeable clench of Xavier's jaw in response.

He's quiet for a torturous moment, and I watch as he shuts everything inside of him down, forcing himself not to feel what he's about to say.

I used to fear how effortlessly he could do it, but right now, I was envious.

"And then we say goodbye."

We say goodbye.

"No." I protest almost instantly as my voice threatens to break beneath the pressure of my fear.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Alec stiffen across from us, but my focus was on the man at my side.

"Goodbye, Xavier?" I challenge, "You think letting her go is going to be safe for her after the entire world learns she's to be the future wife of a mafia Don? You've got to be out of your fucking mind."

"Doing this is the only god damned way to keep her alive." Xavier snaps, reaching to the tray on the table across from us to pour himself something strong.

I was too angry to even want to drink, though.

"She's going to get killed the second she steps out of our protection." I argue, hating how helpless I feel right now.

I know I was missing something here, but even if we had people watching her for the rest of her life, I couldn't bring myself to let her go.

Maybe that made me selfish, but I would selfishly be hers until death and then some.

"Not unless the rest of the world believes her to already be dead." Alec says quietly at my front, but it felt loud enough to ring through me until the truth of its vibrations rattled my bones.

No.

"Why are you both so insistent on pushing her away?" I ask, taking Xavier's glass from him and drinking it for courage, "Madelyn is strong and can handle this by our sides if we just let her in."

I knew this, and I don't understand why they're all of a sudden acting otherwise.

If I could offer Madelyn a normal life with us, I would in a heartbeat, but that simply wasn't the way the world worked.

"You really think she'd still want us after we murder her father." Xavier says, and those few words were enough to piss me off.

"Screw Marcus." I shake my head, praying to god they had better reasoning for leaving Madelyn than something as stupid as revenge.