Page 149 of Lawless Rivals

“But the land,” I say. “My name. My father. Your father. My aunt. Sera. Every time I ask a question, another lie opens underneath it. I don’t know what’s true anymore.”

“Me and you, Keira…that’s true.”

“How could it be?” I shake my head. “The way you turned so cold on me… You just cut me off.”

“You wanna know where I was earlier?” He holds out his hand, turns it, and closes his fingers into a fist, the dried blood on his knuckles cracking. “I went to your fancy mansion across the heath to get ya. I almost put a bullet in your brother’s head when he told me you’d left.”

“You spoke to Fionn?”

“And your da,” he confirms. “I told them you’re mine now.”

I step back, my pulse thrumming. This wasn’t the plan. He’s doing that thing again…pulling me in and making me feel things I’ve no business feeling.

Saint walks into the space I’ve made as if he’s all out of patience. He stops before me, toe to toe, his chest almost brushing mine, close enough that I have to tip my chin up to meet his eyes.

“Goddammit, princess,” he says, voice rough and deep. “Put the bag down.”

My fingers tighten until the strap bites into my palm.

“No.”

His eyes darken as he leans in. “You’re here instead of up in the sky because we’re not over.”

I swallow hard.

“Be a good girl and put the bag down.”

“I only came here to say goodbye,” I whisper.

He exhales a long sigh through his nose. “No, you didn’t.”

His hand closes around the strap near my shoulder and drags it off. The bag hits the floor with a thud, and Saint closes the last inch, his hands settling on my shoulders.

My body answers before my pride can stop it, spine drawing tight, breath catching high in my lungs, every nerve under his palms waking at once.

I tell myself not to lean into his chest, that I’m about to leave.

Saint lowers his head until his eyes are level with mine.

“Me and you happened long before the plan went to shit,” he says. “We both tried to stop it and couldn’t. Fuck, princess, I’m not giving up on us without a fight.”

Us.

I shake my head because standing so close already feels like a surrender. “But I’ll never know if this is you pulling another move.”

His fingers dig in a little deeper.

“And this is how you get what you wanted all along.”

For one second, he isn’t looking at me. He’s looking through me, past me, back to whatever stretch of Black Heath carries his father’s blood and his family’s future. I see the fight in him. The old one. The one he fought before I ever came into his life.

Then his gaze comes back to mine and something in it ruins me.

“You’re everything I want, Keira.”

My throat tightens.

“But the land⁠—”