Page 152 of Forbidden Forget-Me-Not

“He was going to make sure you rotted in prison. I couldn’t let that happen,” Kaylani whispered, still not meeting my eyes.

Terror crept under my skin, settling deep in my chest.

“You don’t get to decide what I’m willing to suffer,” I shot back.

Kaylani whipped around, hands balled into fists.

“I was protecting you.”

“And I was protecting you by not telling you. Lani—” She froze. The unfinished words hung between us. “What did he make you promise,” I asked, softer this time.

Unshed tears shimmered in her beautiful eyes.

“You don’t understand,” she pleaded, shaking her head.

“Then explain it to me.”

She dragged a hand through her hair. The movement was frantic, nervous, and deep down, I knew. I had seen her handle thousand-pound horses with steadier hands.

“Lani, don’t shut me out. What did he make you promise?”

Her shoulders went rigid.

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Sadness morphed into anger. I could see she was trying to hold herself together, but the cracks were already forming.

“You can’t stand in the line of fire for me. Not with this.”

“And you don’t get to sacrifice yourself without talking to me. You’re my wife. We’re a team now. You made it that way when you put this ring on my finger.” I held up my hand, the band catching the light. “My job is to protect you, not the other way around.”

“It’s my life.”

“It’s our life.”

Silence crashed between us as we stared each other down.

Her lower lip trembled. We were both damned by the same cause.

Dimitri knew it when he walked into that room. He knew that I would do anything to protect Kaylani, and she would do the same for me. And we would sacrifice our souls to do it.

It was our greatest strength, and he’d turned it into a weakness.

“Goran, I know you would’ve endured whatever he threw at you. But he was going to make your life hell. And in hurting you…he would’ve crushed me. We would’ve been trapped in pain for as long as he wanted.” Her voice faltered. “I couldn’t let that happen. He offered a solution.”

My stomach dropped.

“What solution?”

She remained quiet, pacing three steps one way, then three back.

“Lani…” A knot formed in my throat. “If this is about marrying someone else⁠—”

“It is,” she cut in, and those two words landed like a punch to my gut.

“No. I won’t allow it.” I stepped toward her.