Sweet Hatred
Chapter 109: You act like you’re gonna die

Chapter 109: You act like you’re gonna die

~(Constellations by Jade LeMac(⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠♪) if you care ~

Cont’d

He kissed me like he was starving, but tongue clashing with mine furiously. Like I was the only thing keeping him alive. And when he broke for air, his mouth didn’t stop. It found my cheek, my jaw, my throat. I bit down on my bottom lip to stifle the moan building in my throat.

I hated how easy it was to fall apart for him.

And then... he stopped.

Just like that. Still close, breathless. He pressed his forehead to mine, eyes shut tight like he was in pain.

"I missed you so much," he said, voice barely a rasp.

I scoffed, but my chest felt tight. "You act like you’re gonna die every time we’re apart for a while."

His eyes opened, locking onto mine. There was something raw in them. Something fragile.

"Maybe," he said quietly. "Because that’s what it really feels like."

God. How could he say that so casually?

That look in his eyes—half angel, half devil, like he was begging me to understand something he didn’t know how to say. And in that moment, I felt it. I knew it.

I was too late. Too late to stop any of this.

I was already in love with this man. And I couldn’t even stop myself from falling harder. Was I about to ruin our contract?

The thought alone made my chest tighten. It was terrifying—utterly terrifying—to feel something so deep for someone like him. Someone who could discard me without a second glance, destroy me without even trying. And yet, lying there tangled with him, his breath brushing my skin, his hand still resting over my heart... I’d never felt more safe.

Or more tempted.

The words sat heavy on the tip of my tongue. Do you love me too Kael?

But I didn’t ask. I couldn’t. No matter how brave Aria Thorne was, she too had many fears. Fear that I— that my carelessness would end whatever this was between us and I didn’t want that to happen. Not ever. Not until Kael himself said to my face that he no longer wanted me.

I bit the inside of my cheek, hard, the sting grounding me just enough to stop it from spilling out. Asking it was extremely dangerous—and without doubt would shatter this delicate moment between us. So I kept it buried in the silence, tucked between the beats of my heart, and let myself hold him instead.

The silence after that was heavy and soft and oddly safe. His breathing slowed, matching mine. His fingers curled around my wrist and didn’t let go.

Eventually, while the jet hummed in the sky, slicing through the clouds, I fell asleep tangled up with the world’s most emotionally constipated billionaire in a bed that probably cost more than my entire apartment.

God help me, I think I liked it here.

At last, we arrived at Rome.

The drive was long from the airport. Quiet. Not the awkward kind, but the kind that pressed in on you. Heavy. Still. Like the air itself knew something I didn’t.

I stayed curled in my seat, watching the landscape bleed past the window. City lights faded into hills, and hills blurred into endless darkness. The roads narrowed. Trees thickened. And then...

Then I saw it.

Rising like something out of a dream—or maybe a goddamn gothic fairytale—Kael’s castle stood against the night. Not a penthouse. Not even a mansion.

A fucking castle.

Dark stone. Towering spires. Archways and courtyards. Endless windows glowing with soft amber light. Surrounded by hundreds of acres of untouched land, forests thick and wild, and in the distance... barns. Stables. A silhouette of horses under the stars.

"What the hell," I whispered. "What do you even do with all this?"

Kael didn’t answer. Just watched me. Like this was what he’d wanted—to see my disbelief, to see how far he could still push the line of what I thought I knew about him.

And of course, he succeeded. Again. The doors creaked open, and the inside stole my breath all over again.

Vaulted ceilings. Chandeliers that dripped crystal like frozen rain. Polished marble floors, dark wood, oil paintings that looked like they belonged in a museum. Every inch screamed old money. No—ancient money.

Staff moved through the halls in silence. Men in suits. Women in crisp uniforms. Everyone bowed slightly when we passed.

And Kael? He looked like he belonged there. Like he had been born in stone and shadow and power.

I touched the cool wall as we walked. "How the hell did you build something like this?"

He glanced at me. "We didn’t."

"What do you mean?"

"We bought it," he said simply. "It belonged to the House of Grimaldi. Sicilian nobles. Bastards, the lot of them. The story says they were blood-bound to the Romanovs through a secret marriage. A few centuries ago, the entire family was executed during a coup. No heirs. No mercy."

I blinked. "And you just... bought it?"

He smirked. "We Romans are good at acquiring things."

Of course he’d say that.

We passed through halls, libraries, a damn courtyard with a fountain, until finally—he pushed open a grand wooden door.

The inner bedroom.

It was large enough to be a ballroom. A roaring fireplace. A massive bed dressed in velvet sheets. Floor-to-ceiling windows with the countryside glowing faintly beyond them.

I didn’t even get a full step into the room before his arms wrapped around me from behind—hot, strong, unrelenting.

"Kael—" I gasped, laughing breathlessly, trying to turn. "I haven’t even showered—"

"I don’t care." His voice was low, rough against my neck. "I don’t care about anything right now except touching you."

His mouth was already on my skin, kissing the side of my throat, dragging down to my shoulder where my pajamas slipped loose.

"Kael," I said again, softer this time, trying to breathe through the sudden heat crawling over me. "At least let me—"

"No." His grip tightened, not painfully, but like he was afraid I’d vanish. "Don’t leave me. Not even for a minute."

I turned in his arms, finally facing him—and it hit me.

He looked wild. Desperate. Like something had been chasing him and he barely outran it.

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