My lips part, but before I can speak, he adds, "Best alibi." Then he winks, and somehow, in the middle of murder counts and police searches, it’s… adorable.
Against my will, the corner of my mouth curves.
It could be so easy. It could be a dream come true, it could be everything I’ve ever needed, especially after last night. This is the man I’ve loved since I was eighteen. And he’s nothing like Roberto. Nothing. Just thinking their names in the same breath feels like a sin.
Isn’t this what I always dreamed of? To be rescued. To be cared for. To finally feel safe, protected?
Deep down, I know Raffael would give me all of that without hesitation.
But at what price? What will it cost him?
My eyes catch on the lines etched into his skin, the scars, and before I can stop myself, the words spill out. "Where did you get the scars?"
His hand moves to the off-kilterXetched into his skin. "This?" He tries to smirk. "You don't like it?"
I don't reply, just tilt my head and wait.
"It's a long, ugly story."
"We've got time, don't we?" I encourage.
He sighs. "Your fathergave it to me."
"My father?" That takes me by surprise; it shouldn't. But it does.
He nods, "A few years ago, I asked him to let me out. I had a business plan." I can't fight the feeling that there is something he isn't telling me. But I don't interrupt him. "His answer was to carve me as a warning that I washis." He chuckles depreciatively. "The joke is on him, because I've built my business anyway."
So that is how he was able to afford this house. "Your business?"
He nods. There is pride in his features, and an arrogance that wasn't there the last time I saw him. "Not many people know this, but I built Omertà Infernale, and then turned it into Umbra Arcana." He says the names like they should mean something to me, but I have no idea what.
"Are you sure you want to hear this?" He leans back in his chair.
I nod, even though I'm not.
"Let's go into the family room, where it's more comfortable." He suggests.
Proposingto her hadn’t been part of the plan. Not really. But maybe it had been buried there all along, some subconscious itch I couldn’t ignore. Because I had the perfect plan mapped out, didn’t I? Divorce papers. Alibis. Nevada. Marriage.
It slipped out of me too easily for it not to have been festering somewhere inside.
The truth is, I don’t know which way she’ll go. If she’ll accept what I’ve offered—acceptme—or if she’ll vanish into some new life, under another name, faceless and untouchable. I tell myself I’ll give her the choice, that I’m not Roberto, that I won’t take her freedom from her. But deep down, I know that’s a lie.
I can’t let her walk away from me.
I’m not that type of man. I’m not noble. I’m not a hero. I’m not pure or self-sacrificing, all the things she deserves.What I am is a scarred monster. A killer who has blood ground so deep into his hands it will never wash out.
And yet… she is the only thing in this world that makes me wish I could be more.
But even if I can’t be, I can give her what no other man can.
Security.
The kind that doesn’t come from locked doors or guards outside. The kind that comes from knowing the devil himself will tear the world apart before letting another hand touch her. She may not believe it yet. She may not even believe in me. But I’ll make damn sure she knows one thing: Nobody will ever hurt her again. Not while I still breathe.
We move to the couch, the plates forgotten in the kitchen, the world outside fading into nothing. She lets me guide her down beside me, and then—God help me—she leans into me. Just a little. Just enough that her arm brushes mine, her leg tucks close to mine, her warmth seeps through my shirt.
It shouldn’t undo me like this. But it does.
