I had no right.
Not in this world. Not with the kind of men I dealt with. The hacking jobs I ran. The bratva loyalties I couldn’t just walk away from. The secrets I carried. The blood on my hands.
The mafia wasn’t a life. It was a slow death—one full of tailored suits, dangerous lies, and frequent funerals.
And women?
Women didn’t get freedom in our world.
They got silenced. Married off. Traded. Watched. Owned.
Even the ones we loved.
Especially the ones we loved.
They lived under lock and key. With bodyguards. Rules. Shadows trailing their every step. They were always at the mercy of the man they belonged to, and their safety was dependent on obedience and politics.
That wasn’t a life.
It was a gilded fucking cage.
I couldn’t do that to her.
Ishouldn’tdo that to her.
But fuck me, the thought of another man ever touching her—
I would kill him.
No hesitation.
Maybe the only way to keep her safe was to keep her asmine.
To make it clear to everyone—Delgado, the bratva, the syndicate, the fucking world—that she was under my protection.
Untouchable.
Claimed.
Not for sale. Not to be harmed.
Marked.
By me.
And if anyone eventhoughtof hurting her, I’d rip them apart and spread pieces of their bodies throughout the five boroughs.
Fuck! My little lamb had my thoughts all jumbled.
The girl who should’ve run from me the moment she saw me.
The girl I should’ve let go the second she walked away from me at Cipher.
We were both trapped in a situation where there were no good options.
And now? I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t keep her.
I had to cut her loose, but I didn’t know if I could.
