Rox’s body is barely recognisable now, hunched and stumbling with more bone and blood than the man himself. His knees buckle with every step, skin split open in places flesh shouldn’t be exposed. He looks like a cracked porcelain doll someone tried to stich with fists instead of gentle hands.

Massimo stands in front of him, as glorious and terrifying I’m afraid for Rox.

The skin has torn from his knuckles too, but it’s just rage. But he’s no more grinning or smirking.

He looks… terrifying and otherworldly.

Like sin sculpted into his face, hair sweat-drenched and wild. There’s something feral in his stance. A stillness that makes my pulse roar.

The crowd is still mayhem.

“Look what you’ve done,” Someone hisses as I feel something sharp on my skin. Turning around, I find Sienna standing close to me with her nails digging into my flesh as stares at where Massimo is. I wince. “He was perfectly monstrous until you came along.”

I blink at her. “What are you saying?”

She finally turns to me and her eyes are blazing green. “He is supposed to hate you, you little fool. Break you for what you did to him. You should be in your damn house playing damsel not here.”

“I didn’t do anything to him,” I whisper trying to yank my arm off her grip but she’s reluctant.

“Keep lying to yourself,” She leans in close and her perfume cloy around me. “Monsters like Massimo doesn’t fall in love. And when he’s done pretending with you, he’ll come back to me.”

I get Sienna has been Massimo’s fling over years. And honestly as much it used to hurt me in past, they do look good together. Perfect if I have to voice out. But I’d never go to the point of playing schemes to have Massimo Bianchi. As much handsome he is, he’s deadly for likes of me.

I recoil, glaring at her. “You’re out of your head. I don’t want him.”

She snickers. “He will never be. He’s mine. He belongs to the fire.”

I shake my head slowly. “He’s a person. Not someone’s property.”

She growls. “Be grateful for now, bitch.”

She lets go of me suddenly and I stumble back only to hit a body. Turning around to find Nico staring where Sienna leave. “Stay away from her, if you want peaceful.”

I blink. “What she meant by that? Grateful for what?”

Nico doesn’t reply instead he murmur. “I guess she’s the last person you should be worried about.” He says as I stare at him in confusion. He tilts his chin to the front.

And I turn. Only to hear the bell. Rox crumples to the ground with a thud that echoes through my bones. A silence falls for a half-second before the crowd explodes again.

Massimo doesn’t even look at the man he half-killed. Doesn’t glance at the crowd or anyone. His eyes are already on me. Locked and loaded with darkness and fire Sienna mention.

Before I know, he leaves the ring, and strides towards me like a predator who’s just marked the only thing in the room that still matters. People part for him instinctively. Like fear lives in his shadows and no one wants to get too close. They cheer his name, scream like a goddamn anthem.

“Bianchi! BIANCHI!”

Nico leans close, almost lazily, cigarette still burning between his fingers. “Smile for the monster, Krystina.”

I’m too stunned to move. Too frozen to breathe.

Massimo stops in front of me. Blood-streaked face and knuckles. Breathtakingly merciless in his own violent way. His chest is heaving and fist twitch at his sides. But his eyes… they’re on me.  Like I’m the next round.

Run.

That’s he first thought.

Run, Krystina.

But my legs won’t listen. As if he’s holding the strings.

He reaches for me slowly and a hand circles around my waist, the other threading through my short hair, fingers tangling until it aches.

And like universes colliding, his mouth crashes on mine.

Like waves crashing against the rocks. It’s not a kiss, it’s an ambush. His lips are fire and tongue pushing past my lips as if he’s determined to consume me.

And I… I panic.

My hands press against his bare chest. My body screams for escape and space. But the space doesn’t exist anymore. It’s just him. All of him. Everywhere.

I feel the crowd around us erupt, gasps, cheers whistles and the echo of his name. But it all sounds so far away.

What is happening? Why is he doing this? Why me? Why now?

I feel mascara burning at the corners of my eyes. My skin’s too tights. My lungs too small. I can’t breathe… I can’t.

But I can feel.

God, I feel everything.

His mouth, bruising and relentlessly cruel, the calloused pads of his fingers on my spine. The way his body cages mine as if he’s daring anyone to look at me and forget who I belong to.

When he finally pulls away, it’s like being dragged up from the depths of drowning. Air floods in, but my lungs don’t thank me.

I’m shaking.

“Look at you,” he murmurs. “Addicted to the very thing you swore you’d never need.”

“I hate you,” I choke out.

He grins. “Good girl,” he whispers back, eyes darkening as his thumb teases my lips. “Now open your fucking mouth and show me how much.”

Before his mouth claims mine again.