Until You Beg
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📖 Until You Beg
Chapter Fifteen – Until You Beg
By Peace Lovie
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The fire didn't stop when the bullets did.
It burned in Zariah's chest.
It burned behind Cassian's eyes.
It burned in the silence they shared as they stood over the wreckage of Luca's empire.
And yet… the war wasn't over.
Not until Zariah confronted the one person who started it all.
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Her mother.
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The room in the old estate was dim. Dusty. Echoes of a life Zariah no longer recognized.
Mrs. Obianuju Black sat at the edge of a velvet chair, elegant and cold.
"You shouldn't have come," she said.
Zariah didn't flinch.
"You sent them to kill me."
Her mother sipped wine. "I sent them to protect the family."
Zariah's laugh was bitter.
"By trading me to Luca? By lying about Dad's death?"
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The woman's face didn't change.
"Your father was weak. He got involved with Cassian's people and paid the price. I did what I had to do to survive."
Zariah stepped closer, voice low and shaking:
"You let me grieve a lie for six years."
"And look what it made you." Her mother's voice was ice. "Strong. Powerful. Feared."
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Zariah blinked. Swallowed. Her hands trembled.
"I'm not proud of what I've done," she whispered. "But I'm not like you."
Her mother smiled faintly.
"No. You're worse."
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Cassian waited outside, fingers twitching near his gun. He hated leaving her in there alone — but Zariah had asked for this.
"I need to end it my way."
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Inside, Zariah reached into her coat and pulled out a silver envelope.
"This is the last of the evidence. Financial records. Kill orders. Everything tying you to Luca."
Her mother's smile faltered.
"You'd destroy your own blood?"
Zariah's voice was soft.
"I already did. The moment you chose greed over love."
She lit the envelope with a match.
Watched it burn.
Then turned and walked away without another word.
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Cassian met her at the gate.
"You okay?"
"No," she said honestly. "But I'm free."
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That night, they didn't speak much.
Not at dinner. Not after.
They sat on the rooftop, watching Lagos glow beneath them — a city of secrets, survival, and second chances.
Zariah leaned into him.
"I think I need to leave for a while."
Cassian's arm stiffened. "Leave?"
"Not forever," she said. "Just… to breathe. To remember who I was before this."
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He stared ahead.
"I thought I'd lose everything in this war," he murmured. "But I didn't expect it to be you."
Zariah turned to him.
"You never lost me."
She pressed her fingers to his chest.
"But if I don't find myself again… I'll destroy us both."
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Cassian nodded. Slowly. Reluctantly.
He pulled her into his lap, buried his face in her neck.
And whispered the truth she'd waited weeks to hear.
> "I'd beg for you."
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She pulled back, startled.
"What?"
His eyes met hers.
> "If you ever left for good — I'd beg. On my knees. With blood on my hands and your name in my mouth."
> "Until you begged me back."
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Tears welled in her eyes.
But this time, she let them fall.
Because finally—someone had chosen her without needing to own her.
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They didn't sleep that night.
They made love slow.
No dominance. No games.
Just pain and passion and apologies whispered into skin.
And when Zariah left the next morning, she didn't look back.
Because she knew Cassian would wait.
Not as her captor.
But as her beginning.
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Two months later
The sky over Morocco was endless.
Zariah sipped coffee on the balcony of a quiet villa, sunlight kissing her bare skin.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from Cassian.
> "Still breathing. Still bleeding. Still yours."
She smiled.
Typed back:
> "I'm almost ready to come home."
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And she meant it.
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