But it was more than physical desire. I longed to heal him, to erase the pain of his devastating losses. He’d been alone for so long, ever since his brother had been killed. I couldn’t bring myself to abandon him.
“But how can you feel anything for him?” Giana asked, voice soft with horror. “He’s a monster, Nora.”
I bit my lip. Yes, I’d thought of him as a monster, my own personal Devil.
“I used to think that too,” I said quietly. “I’ll never be able to forget some of the things he’s done, but I understand him now. He’s been devoted to me from the very beginning.”
Even if that devotion had been fervent to the point of obsession, it didn’t frighten me anymore. He’d been overbearing and controlling, but everything he’d done had been out of a desire to possess me completely. He’d apologized and promised to change, to be a better man for me.
“I’ve forgiven him,” I admitted, the truth clicking into place in my heart. “And I forgave Luca a long time ago.”
Giana cocked her head at me, studying my face as though she could read my soul. “Luca wants to kill Dante,” she said, reasoning with me. “Dante is trying to steal his birthright. In the end, one of them will die.”
“No!” My denial was immediate and vehement. “Neither of them will die. I won’t allow it.”
She looked deep into my eyes, trying to impress the truth on me. “There can only be one Boss. You can only have one of them, Nora.”
My eyes stung, and I blinked rapidly to clear away the tears of frustration before they could fall. “I don’t think I can choose.”
“But you love Luca.”
I shook my head. “It’s more complicated than that. I can’t bear to see Dante hurt. Not after everything he’s done for me.”
Both men wanted me, and I wanted both of them. I owed my life, my sanity, to Dante and to Luca.
It was an impossible decision.
I took a deep breath and gathered my resolve. The two mortal enemies would sit down and talk about what happened on the night Dante’s brother died. The truth would be revealed, and I could only hope that it would be enough to set Luca free. Once he was no longer a prisoner, we could all come together as equals.
No one would die.
I wouldn’t lose either of them.
I couldn’t.
Chapter 11
Dante
My freshly stitched shoulder wound ached, but that pain was nothing compared to the agony of knowing that Nora loved Luca, not me. I’d agreed to a talk with my enemy because I couldn’t deny her anything, but I already knew it’d be useless. Nora was goodhearted and a little naïve; she thought words would be enough to mend the bloody rift between Luca and me.
She was wrong.
I’d planned my revenge for fifteen years. A single conversation wouldn’t sway me. Nothing could ever make me stop hating Luca Vitale. He’d taken my brother from me, the only person in the world who had loved me.
I’d done terrible things to Luca, but he hadn’t even begun to suffer the full extent of his punishment. I’d never use Nora against him again, but there were so many other ways to crush his will and shatter his soul.
I paced across my bedroom, not deigning to look at the bastard where he lounged on the bed that I shared with my wife. And him.
I ground my teeth at the thought of him holding her. The hands that’d ended my brother’s life now caressed the woman who was meant to be mine forever, and she melted at his touch.
Any minute now, she would return from getting Giana settled in, and she would go to him, not me. She would cuddle up to him but shoot me those secret, wide-eyed glances: the ones that gave me foolish hope that I hadn’t completely broken our marriage.
She appeared in the open doorway, floating toward me with her remarkable grace, the dancer’s poise that’d first captured my attention years ago.
I expected her to fling herself into Luca’s arms, but she came to a stop between us, as though she could use her slight body as a shield.
Luca sat up straighter on the edge of the bed, and I stopped pacing. Our keen attention fixed on her, and for a moment, she squirmed at the scrutiny. Then my brave wife took a breath and lifted her chin in the defiant way that made my blood race for her. Pride and possessiveness heated my chest. This stunning, strong woman was my partner, and I would never surrender her to my enemy. No matter what she might say next.
