I hold his gaze.My shoulders are tight, the muscles across my back locked in a rigid line.“This is the only way out.”
Much as they hate it, they know I’m right.
I kidnapped her.
News will travel.
And my actions have sent a powerful message to other families.
Don’t fuck with the Morettis.
Even though Raffaele has passed, we are a formidable force.
“I’ll allow her one emissary,” I continue, ignoring the way my voice has gone rougher.“Giovanni.”
Nico finally speaks.“St.Louis Cathedral.”
He’s reached the same conclusion I did.
When he speaks, his tone is quiet, measured, the way it always is when he’s already three moves ahead.“I’ll talk to the priest.”
I know what that means.
Father Thomas will ensure that the date on the marriage license accounts for the waiting period required by state law.“Two o’clock.”
Matteo rises from behind the desk.The movement is slow, deliberate, each inch of height he gains ratcheting the tension in the room higher.His palms stay flat on the oak for a moment longer, fingers spread wide, before he straightens fully.
The air between us feels thicker now, charged with the scent of old books and the faint trace of my mother’s espresso still steaming on the sideboard.
“You fucked up, Dante.”
I hold his stare.
I took the action required as the family’s former enforcer and current underboss.
“You think this ends the war?”Matteo’s voice is low, dangerous.“You think Fabrizio Russo is going to let his only daughter become a Moretti without burning half of Texas to the ground?”
“No one will fuck with our family again.”I answer.The words scrape out of my throat.
As if to defuse the tension, Nico fills the tense silence.“There are logistics.”
Dario drags a hand through his hair.“Like the fact you’re allowing a fucking Russo to attend.Giovanni’s not going to stand there and smile while you put a ring on his sister’s finger.”
“They will see the ceremony happen.”Hear her vows.See me claim her.Know that she belongs to me.
Anticipation crawls over my skin, prickling at the back of my neck, down my arms.
Every inch of me is attuned to her, even here, even now.And I ache to get back to her.
Matteo rounds the desk fully.He stops less than two feet from me, close enough that I can see the faint shadow of stubble on his jaw, the exhaustion etched at the corners of his eyes.“You’re underboss now.Not the enforcer who solves everything with blood.You answer to this family.”His voice drops.“To me.”
“Understood.”
Dario mutters something under his breath about war and money and stupid fucking decisions, but I barely hear him.
The truth is, I don’t know how to stop wanting her.Not now.Not after the way her body melted against mine.Not after the way she looked at me when I pulled back from that kiss—flushed, lips swollen, eyes dark with the same hunger that’s eating me alive.
My focus has narrowed to the heat in my blood, the relentless throb between my legs, the way every breath pulls in the ghost of her scent.I want to be inside her.Want to pin her to that bed and fuck the defiance out of her until she’s sobbing my name and coming around my cock.
