Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Her being here, keeping her, and not wanting to let her go. I knew the reality of the situation. She was a weakness. The only weakness I’d ever had in my godforsaken life.
Oh, I already knew the answer to Luca’s question. But I stayed silent, rolling it around in my head repeatedly.
“She’d be a target.” Luca was staring into his glass, zero emotion on his face.
I was pretty sure the fucker was a sociopath. He never showed empathy. He’d always been a cold-blooded killer. Just like me.
“They’d use her to get to you.”
Again, this was all shit that I replayed in my head.
“I see the way you look at her.” Luca stared at me, his eyes such a light blue they were almost translucent. “She’s too good for you.”
That was an undeniable fact.
“And I know you’re a selfish man when it comes to what you want, but…” He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his thighs. “I want you to think long and hard about if your enemies got a hold of her. What they’d do to her…how they’d take out their hatred for you on her.”
I felt a fire in my veins at the very thought. I wanted to jump over the table and slit Luca’s throat for even bringing that up. I knew what he was doing, how he was trying to make me see reality. He knew there was a small amount of doubt, and he was worried I wouldn’t make what he deemed was the “right” decision.
“Stai attento, cazzo,” I gritted. Fucking watch it. I might not kill the bastard, but I’d beat the shit out of him just for uttering her name.
“Just pointing out the obvious.” He leaned back, finished his drink, and set it aside. “If it hurts this bad at just the hypothetical thought of it…” He paused, as if trying to really let the fucking words sink in.
I curled my lip at him.
“Then think of the kind of pain you’ll feel if it’s made a reality.”
I knew what I wanted to do and what I should do. And those two things were at war. It was a fight to the bloody death, fists slamming into flesh, weapons tearing out chunks.
I’d always been a selfish motherfucker, had always just gone after what I wanted. I’d never thought anything of it, never saw my life where I didn’t gain every fucking thing I desired.
But with Liliana…it was different. Because I’d had nothing I cared about losing.
She was different. She made me feel different, feel more…alive and hopeful.
Free.
She was that sliver of light—the only thing that could penetrate the darkest part of my soul.
So, as I looked at Luca, I knew exactly what I had to do. And I had to convince myself it’s what I wanted.
This decision wasn’t for me.
It was for her. To protect my girl.
Because making sure she was safe was the only thing I fucking cared about.
I finished my drink and said in a voice that was hard, unyielding, and one I used for everyone around me, “I’m going to let her go after the two weeks are up because she doesn’t belong here.”
Chapter 18
Liliana
For the next two weeks, the sex with Matteo was constant. Intense.
He introduced me to sexual experiences I didn’t even know were possible.
My body was covered in light bruises from his firm grips. The impressions of his teeth marred the sides of my neck.
I couldn’t help but feel they were a mark of ownership. I stared at them in the mirror and ran my fingers over them.
And the closer it got to the end of our agreement, the stranger I felt. I couldn’t describe what exactly it was, but it consumed my thoughts day and night.
With each passing day, I got caught up more in his web. And a part of me knew he felt the same. The way he looked at me, especially when I caught him off guard, or when he didn’t think I was watching.
The way he touched me…as if he were afraid I’d be taken away from him.
And then there were the whispered words he said against my ear right before I fell asleep. I never understood what he said, the phrases in Italian, but sounding proprietary, as if they sealed that moment in time.
And here I was, at the very end of those fourteen days, I felt anxiety claim me in a chokehold.
But my time here had finished, and I knew I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
I wanted Matteo and I would tell him just that. Today. On the day I was to leave and never look back.
Luca, the big and burly guy, who I learned was Matteo’s most trusted man in his underground army, had come and gotten me.
We said nothing to each other as I was led into the library. The significance of this space—where Matteo had fucked my ass for the first time—wasn’t lost on me. I knew it wasn’t an accident Matteo wanted me here.