He reaches behind me and shuts off the water.For a moment, we just stand there, dripping, shivering, breathing each other in.
Matteo snatches a towel off the rack and wraps it around me.Then he grabs another towel, barely drags it across his chest and arms before tossing it to the floor like he couldn’t care less.
And just like that, he’s on me again, closing the space—refusing to let distance exist between us, as if even air is too much separation.
His eyes lock onto mine.When he speaks, his voice is low, certain.
"If we do this, Em," he says, brushing the wet strands from my face with a touch so gentle it wrecks me all over again, "we do it together.No more fucking distance between us.”
I blink up at him, and he continues, the words tearing out of him faster than he can stop them.
"I don’t give a shit if we’ve only got a few days left or a few fucking hours," he says, voice rough, savage with emotion."I’m choosing you, Emery.You."His hands frame my face, holding me steady.“If everything goes to shit tomorrow, I want to go down knowing I had you next to me.Fuck it all, Em," he snarls, voice cracking open."Your father.My father.The blood.The fucking legacy.None of it matters if I don’t have you."
I press my forehead to his.My heart is pounding so loud, I swear he can feel it crashing against him.
"Then don’t let me go this time, Matteo," I whisper, voice shaking.“Not like before.”
His breath shudders against my mouth as he leans in, brushing his lips over mine. "I promise I won’t," he breathes against me."Not ever fucking again."
Chapter Sixteen
Matteo
Sheisasleepnextto me, naked, wrapped in the sheets, her face half-hidden in the pillow.Her breathing is slow, steady, like whatever war she’s been fighting has finally gone silent.Her skin’s still warm, lips slightly parted, hair a beautiful disaster, still wet, wild and perfect.
And fuck, she’s so beautiful.It’s almost cruel.Because now that I finally have her back, I realize just how easy it would be to lose her all over again.
I can’t fucking lose her.
I can’t let that happen.
I won’t.
Not this time.
Carefully, almost reverent, I brush my thumb along her cheek, memorizing the feel of her under my hand like I’m some addict who knows his next hit might be his last.
She sighs quietly, shifting closer, instinctively seeking me out even in sleep, like some part of her needs me here.
Loving her fucking hurts.It always has.But knowing tomorrow might never come for us… that guts me.The second we step out of this house, it all slams into place—my father, hers, the blood between us, binding us in chains that threaten to tear us limb from fucking limb.
But tonight… Tonight, she’s mine.And I swear to God, I’d burn the whole world to ash before I let anyone lay a hand on her.
She shifts against me, it’s just a small, sleepy movement, her hand drifting across my stomach.
She has no idea what she does to me.How the simple brush of her fingers calms the chaos.How she silences the storm without even trying.
My arm tightens, pulling her closer until her leg drapes over mine and her head fits perfectly into the curve of my neck, like it was made to be there.Maybe it always was.Maybe every fucked-up road, every wrong turn, every scar etched into me was just leading back to this moment.Back to her.
I press a kiss to her forehead, a vow etched into her skin, silent but deadly clear.
If anyone comes for her, they don’t walk away.I won’t flinch.I’ve killed for less.And if it ends with a bullet in my skull?So be it.It will be worth it.As long as she’s still breathing.
The sky outside is still dark, just that deep, ink-blue stretch before sunrise.The kind of silence that feels like the whole damn world is holding its breath.
I shift carefully, sliding out from under her, moving slowly, careful not to wake her.
She murmurs something soft, curling tighter around the pillow, and fuck I let myself look at her.
