‘What happened last night?’I asked, finally settling back against his chest with a huff.
‘The man we met used to work with Volkov. In fact, he paid for that entire underground lab.’
Elio’s words sent a shiver of fear down my spine.
‘None of it was a coincidence,’I realized with a jolt.
‘No,’Elio agreed.‘It wasn’t. From the moment your father chose this spot for the honeymoon we were playing right into his hands. I’m sorry.’
‘But what was his goal?’
I couldn’t understand it. We were doing everything he’d asked of us.
‘Ranieri thinks he was creating a play. We die and you go missing again, probably to go to whatever new lab that Mr. R has set up,’Elio explained, each word more horrific than the last.
Shaking my head with frustration, my fingers dug into Elio’s forearm.‘Why have us get married at all then? What was the point of all of it?’
‘I don’t know,’Elio told me truthfully as he held me close.‘Maybe to get us to let our guard down? I’ve been so happy these past few days that I didn’t even think that those two asshole bodyguards were a threat. That’s my fault.’
‘It’s not. You should be able to live your life without being in danger. It’s my fault you have to deal with this in the first place.’
That was the crux of it all. Had I not been so obsessed with Elio and his pack growing up, then my father wouldn’t have used me against them. Maybe they would have been able to find some sweet omega with no crazy strings attached and actually lived a better, more fulfilling life. But because of me and Alesso, they felt honor-bound to save me. To be with me.
In a flash, he turned me around until I faced him fully. Elio’s expression was twisted into a mixture of anger and desperation as he pulled my face to his in a deep, almost violent kiss.
‘Do not think that. Ever,’he said, his voice booming through my mind and making me wince and apparently my thoughts had been leaking out without me realizing it.
Seeing my discomfort, his next words were much softer.‘From the moment I kissed you on your eighteenth birthday, you were mine. Even though it took me years to truly admit it to myself, I love you. We’re going to figure this out and you will live a long happy life with us because we are a family.’
Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes and I blinked them away.
‘So now what?’I asked once I had gathered my composure again and felt ready to face things again.‘It’s not like we can go back to the Amante estate now.’
‘No, we can’t.’Elio agreed, his dark eyes serious.‘We still need allies to help us and that will take time—especially if we’re going to try and take over the Amante family.’
‘Why do we need to take it over at all? I mean, I get the idea of getting rid of my father in order to be safe, but why do we need the Amante family in the first place?’
Elio seemed surprised by my words, his dark brows rising.‘It’s your legacy, Cini. Yours and Alesso’s. I want to preserve that.’
‘Fuck legacy,’I said vehemently, anger filling me.‘All it’s gotten me is a dead brother and being treated like a science experiment. I don’t care if you burn the whole damn thing to the ground, Elio. At the end of the day, as long as I have you and the rest of our pack, then I’m happy.’
Elio didn’t say anything, but I could feel a shift in his emotions down the bond as he held me close and we stared silently out at the ocean together.
‘I hate the ocean,’Ranieri complained from across the table.
We had been sailing for days now, relying mostly on the winds to get us to our destination in order to reserve our fuel for when we really needed it.
It turned out that the boat had what was basically an entire apartment under the deck, complete with a bed, a little kitchenette, and a bathroom. That meant we didn’t have to getoff the boat at all and that we hadn’t stopped since we left our honeymoon island.
For most of us, it was fine. The guys busied themselves with various tasks, Elio on the satellite phone most of the time, Dante cleaning the armada of weapons he’d brought onto the boat with us, and Nico making sure the boat was going in the right direction and things were running smoothly.
But Ranieri had been seasick for the better part of our journey. The man seemed to be permanently green around the gills as he went in between vomiting overboard and lying flat on the net tryingnotto vomit overboard.
‘Try to eat,’I signed as I pushed a bowl of chicken noodle soup in his direction, worried that he was going to shrivel up completely if he didn’t get some nutrients into his body.
Ranieri took one look at the bowl before getting up and stumbling up the stairs, probably to throw up again.
‘I feel bad,’I told Nico, who was taking a break from steering the ship. The alpha was sprawled out across the bed and reading one of the books that had been on the boat and as I approached I chuckled at the title.
