“Anything for you,Tesoro.” Then he’s gone.
And I’m left alone with the echo of him.
The medication pulls at me heavily, dragging me under, but even as sleep claims me, it’s him I feel. Him I see.
The way we circle each other is like something inevitable.
The way he looks at me . The way he is every fantasy I ever buried. Every dark, forbidden craving I never thought could exist in flesh and blood.
A man who calls himself a monster… and doesn’t apologize for it.
A man who protects me with the same hands that destroy.
And maybe… that’s the real reason I’ve been so afraid to let myself fall.
Not because of what he is.
But because of what I am when I’m with him.
Because I don’t run from the darkness in him.
I lean into it.
And as sleep finally drags me under, one thought lingers, sharp and inescapable,
If I’m falling for a monster…
what does that make me?
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Salvatore
The image of my Valentina in that damn warehouse haunts me.
It’s burned into the back of my eyes. Every time I blink, I see her there, seconds away from something I would have burned the world down to avenge.
I barely slept.
Not that I deserved to. I should’ve told her about her father; she’s not the kind of woman to sit and wait. I know that; I knew that going in. It’s one of the things I love so fucking much about her.
I took the sofa instead of the bed because if she moved, if she flinched, if she so much as whimpered in her sleep, I would have torn the house apart looking for something to kill.
The doctor already came by this morning.
Checked her ribs. The bruising. The swelling along her cheek.
“She’s going to be fine,” he said.
Fine.
She’s resting now. Healing. And I’m here. Trying to make sure no one ever gets that close to taking her from me again.
By eight A.M., Raffaele has confirmed what I already suspected. The warehouse was a Volkov operation. The Russians were sent to get Marco Marino, but it was an order. Vladimir took his place. Said he knew he was going to die anyway and had all his affairs in order, so he decided to die a hero. Valentina gave him that choice, so he used it to save her father. He died a respectable death. Volcov knew I released him from the compound, so his days were numbered.
Valentina did not stumble into one of my operations. She walked into a Russian execution.
Someone knew Lindsay was watching, knew she was searching for Marco, and knew that if the intel looked convincing enough, she would pass it along. Someone who wanted Valentina in that building.
