She didn’t argue with him. “Okay.” He could tell that she meant it. Maybe she trusted him to come back. And her trust was more dangerous. It was more dangerous than Serge and even more dangerous than the Russians.
Luca Camorra didn’t lose control. He prided himself on that fact, but there was something about Isabella that made him want to give up his control completely. He leaned in and kissed her. Not slow or careful, and not like before. This kiss was different. He was making her a promise without words. He was claiming her and reminding her who she belonged to. He was giving her something to hold onto.
Her hand came up, gripping his shirt, pulling him closer for just a second longer before he pulled back. Because if he stayed, he would never leave, and he needed to leave. He needed to bring down the Romano family so that Isabella would be safe. Luca stepped back, forcing the distance between them, trying to maintain his control.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said, more to himself than to her. Then he turned and walked out. He didn’t look back, but he didn’t have to because he could feel her eyes on him as he walked away.
The shipping yard was exactly what he expected—dark and industrial. It was perfect for a fight. Luca stepped out of the SUV, gun already in his hand, and his men were moving into position around him like a well-oiled machine.
“Thermals confirm movement inside,” Dante said. “There are a lot of men in there.”
“Good.” Luca rolled his shoulders, ignoring the lingering pain. “This ends tonight.” He gave them the order to go, and the world exploded around him. Gunfire ripped through the air as his men breached the building from multiple sides, cutting through Serge’s perimeter before they could react. His men were fast, precise, and deadly.
Luca moved through it like he always did, with no wasted motion and no hesitation. He found his targets and eliminated them, advancing when a man came at him, taking him down too. He pushed deeper into the yard, through the chaos, through the noise, until he spotted Serge standing in the center of the room like he’d been waiting there for him.
“You should’ve stayed out of this,” Serge called over the gunfire.
Luca didn’t slow down as he walked towards Serge. “You should’ve stayed away from her.”
Serge’s smile was cold. “She’s a Romano. You don’t get to change her fate just because you wanted to. She’s ours. You can’t change what we were going to do with her.”
Luca raised his gun. “Watch me,” he taunted.
He closed the distance between them quickly. This wasn’t about men fighting around them, or the guns going off. This was personal.
Serge moved first, and Luca countered. Fists hit flesh as they collided, trading blows like neither of them planned on walking away. Serge was good. He was fast, and Luca could tell that he had been trained to fight. But Luca was built for this. He was born for war.
Serge swung again, and Luca caught it. He turned and drove him back. “You think a ring and some vows change anything?” Serge spat.
“It changes everything,” Luca insisted. Luca drove him into a steel beam hard enough to crack bones, and Serge grunted, but didn’t drop. He didn’t stop.
“You took what was promised to someone else,” Serge growled.
Luca’s grip tightened. “She’s not yours to promise to anyone. She’s a person, not an object that you can just give away.”
Serge laughed. “She was never yours to take.” That was it. That was the line he wouldn’t let Serge cross. Luca ended it with one clean shot to his center mass, and just like that, silence followed as Serge’s body hit the ground.
Luca stood there for a second longer, looking down at him, and making sure that he was going to stay down. When he was satisfied, he turned to shout orders to his men. “Clear it,” he ordered.
His men moved fast and efficiently until his orders were carried out. It was done, and now, all that was left was to tell Isabella.
By the time Luca got back to the house, it was quiet again. It was almost like nothing had happened—nothing had changed, but that wasn’t the truth. Everything had changed tonight, and he just hoped that his new wife would see it as him wanting to protect her.
He walked straight to the bedroom that they shared. He didn’t knock, just opened the door. She was there—exactly where he left her. She was waiting for him to come back to her, just as he promised.
Her eyes snapped to his the second he walked in. She was scanning him, as though trying to make sure that he was in one piece. “You’re back,” she said.
Luca stepped inside the room and closed the door. “Yeah, and you don’t have anything to worry about. Serge is dead.”
Her chest rose slowly and then fell. “Okay.” She stepped closer and stopped right in front of him. “Is it over?”
Luca looked at her. “Yes.” It was the truth because the war was over. Her shoulders dropped as tension left her body. She wrapped her arms around him with no hesitation.
Luca went still for half a second, and then his arms banded around her, holding her tight. It was possessive and real, and for the first time since he had met her, there was no war for him to fight. The threat was over, and he had no next move to plan. It was just the two of them—just her, and Luca finally let himself believe that he would never lose her. Isabella belonged to him, and no family would ever be able to take her from him again. He’d make damn sure of that.
Isabella
EPILOGUE
