Updated Apr 20, 2026 • ~4 min read
Chapter 21: Ask Me Again
Riot
The morning of the operation, Riot wakes before dawn and spends thirty minutes watching Nadia sleep, memorizing the peaceful expression on her face and trying not to think about all the ways today could go wrong despite the planning and the backup and his absolute determination to keep her safe.
“You’re staring again,” Nadia murmurs without opening her eyes, and there’s amusement in her voice despite the circumstances. “It’s creepy.”
“It’s affectionate observation,” Riot corrects, pulling her closer. “There’s a difference.”
“Not when I can feel your creepy affectionate eyes boring holes in my face.” She opens her eyes, and the fear he sees there breaks his heart. “What time is it?”
“Early. We don’t move for three hours.” He brushes hair back from her face. “How are you feeling?”
“Terrified. Nauseous. Determined.” She rolls to face him fully. “Ready to end this so we can actually have a life that doesn’t involve constant death threats and hiding.”
“We’re going to have that life,” Riot promises, and means it with every cell in his body. “Today, we end Viktor. And then we figure out what comes next.”
“And what does come next?” Nadia asks it carefully, like she’s not sure she wants the answer. “For us, I mean. When I don’t need a bodyguard anymore and you don’t have a professional reason to stay.”
This is it, Riot realizes—the opening he’s been waiting for, the moment when he gets to ask the question that’s been building in his chest for weeks.
“Marry me,” he says, and watches her eyes go wide with shock.
“What?”
“Marry me. Not today—after. When this is over and Viktor’s dead and you’re safe.” He cups her face, needs her to see how serious he is. “Marry me because you love me and I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life making sure you never doubt that you’re the most important thing in my world.”
“Riot—” Her voice is shaking, and he can’t tell if it’s fear or joy or both. “You can’t propose to me three hours before I walk into a meeting with a man who wants me dead—”
“Yes I can, because if something goes wrong, if the plan fails, I need you to know that this isn’t casual for me. That what we have is everything.” He’s not ashamed of the tears in his eyes. “So I’m asking you now, Nadia Volkov—when we survive this, when Viktor’s dead and you’re free, will you marry me?”
She’s crying too, and her laugh is half-sob. “You’re insane.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Ask me again when we survive,” she says, and kisses him with a desperation that tastes like fear and hope and promises neither of them is quite ready to make. “Ask me when Viktor’s dead and I’m safe and we’re both still breathing. And then I’ll give you an answer.”
“I will,” Riot vows, and spends the next three hours making love to her like maybe touching her enough times will keep her safe, like mapping her body with his hands and mouth is armor she can wear into battle.
And when it’s finally time to go, when Marcus calls to say the team is in position and it’s now or never—Riot holds her face in his hands and makes her a promise he intends to keep even if it kills him:
“I’m bringing you back alive. Whatever it takes.”
“I know,” Nadia says, and Riot believes that she actually does.
Reader Reactions