I hoist her up, wrapping her legs around my waist, ensuring she’s safe. In my arms, he won’t touch her. I won’t let her down, won’t let her ever go.
“Lev…stop,” she murmurs against my mouth.
“No,”I growl, taking her mouth as my hands reposition her dress, pushing it further up her thighs to slot myself between them. “No, you will not do this. You willnotmarry him. You won’t…you won’t…” My arguments fade as I’m left with nothing but my own emotions to battle with. “You’re not walking down the aisle to him.”
“I have to.” The whisper sounds like she’s shouting my demise from a cliff.Herdemise, which will later lead to mine when I go on a rampage and wipe out every Vitale breathing. As long as I get Alessio before others take me down.
“I promised, Fina. I fuckingpromisedno one here would let you marry him. Days ago, when you were in the basement, you remember?”
“I do.”
She just had to usethosewords?
“Then you’ll understand why you can’t. I vowed no one would let you go—thatIwouldn’t let you marry him. I promised to kill him before it came to that.”
I still will. Vanessa will stress about potentially initiating war, and she’ll be pissed, but she’s already angry after realizing I did the one thing with Serafina she asked me not to. At this point, my Pakhan’s anger is at the bottom of my list of concerns.
“I’ll do it,” I mumble into the base of her throat. “I’ll march every soldier in our employ into his territory to ensure you don’t walk down the aisle.”
“The issue is I know you would. He could strike first, and people I care about will be at risk. I won’t loseyou.”
“You’re asking me to do the same.”
Her body deflates in my hold, but I keep her upright; she won’t be going anywhere until the buzzing in my head ends for good. If there really is something clinically wrong, that’ll be never.
“You won’t lose me. Once Alessio is gone, life will return to normal. If we don’t end him, he’ll never go away.”
“You’re asking me to do the impossible.” Finally, I manage to look her in the eyes, to reveal my own agony…to disclose what Ana claimed. Icarefor another person outside the people permanently residing in the mansion behind us. “You’re telling me to release you when he’s hurt you once, and he’ll do it again. To let youmarryhim on the basis that you’ll be able to get him first.”
“Yes.”
Like it’s so fucking simple. Maybe it is. Maybe, in her world, she’s merely giving up her life. In mine, she’s givingup.
“It’ll begin a war. No matter who hits first—you, me, or your brother—fighting is inevitable. Difference is, in your plan, you could become a casualty.”
“And in yours, so can you.” Her eyes squeeze shut with her long exhale. “If Zeno goes after him, the Commission will be forced to act, and who knows what happens then? If you do, it sends the Bratva into battle, and then Zeno’s stuck in the middle of two alliances. If I do it, there won’t be conflict. No one will be around. Him and me, that’s it.”
That’s what makes it worse.
“I refuse.” My hand moves up her back to the base of her hair, wrapping the strands around my fingers. Anything to touch her, to remind myself she’s here with me. “It’s too risky.”
“Not doing this is a risk toyou,” she whispers, cupping my face. “He threatened you. In the storage room, he made the call. You wouldn’t have seen it coming. I-I…I couldn’t—can’tlose you, Lev.” Tears well in her eyes. Once again, he’s making her cry.
If my hatred could be any deeper…
“Yet I’m supposed to entertain the possibility of losing you? Make me understand, Fina.”
This conversation is going in circles without an answer. She doesn’t realize the only answer is to not go through with this ridiculous plan.
Her hand wraps around my neck, and she drops her forehead to mine, shutting out the world. She’s all I see. All I feel. Her breath on my face. Her heart against mine. Her soul caressing mine, like it has been since the moment we met.
She’s all I everwantto feel. There’s silence in and out of my head in her arms.
“You’re always protecting me. Let me protect you.”
“I can’t watch this.” It’s an agonized fact, but what’s worse is, I can’t leave her either. I can’t be around to witness this demise,but walking away and leaving her to this fate isn’t an option either. Because I… What did my sister say? Icareabout her.
Yeah. That.
