Page 78 of His Forbidden Obsession

“The kind that decides that they need to be noble and send me away.”

“Niko, I won’t send you away, but I also won’t force you to stay. You have to understand you’re always going to be in danger. I’m going to always be in danger. My family… sure, we do some good things, but we’re not the good guys.”

“If you think I’m strong, then why wouldn’t I be able to handle being with your family?”

He sighed. “You deserve a real life.”

“Just because Dante wanted out doesn’t mean I do.” Why couldn’t he understand that?

“But you could have a regular life with someone else.”

“Not after what I’ve been through, the way I was raised, the things I know. I don’t think that’s possible. Did it work for Dante?”

“I keep pulling him back into this life because I need him.”

“Would he have come back if he really didn’t want to?”

“Maybe. No. I don’t know.” He let out a long breath, then held out his hand. “Come here.” I scooted even closer, and Lorenzo pulled me over his lap so I was straddling him. “If I had my way, I’d never stop touching you. I’d hold you against me all the time.”

I sighed and laid my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me. Nothing had changed for me after his confession. In Lorenzo’s arms, I still felt safe, relaxed, and cared for in a way I never had.

30

LORENZO

Time seemed to slow as the next day creeped along. We were all tense, knowing that once it was dark, the attempted infiltration of Ivanov’s compound would begin. Every hour dragged past, except the ones I spent showing Niko how much I enjoyed pleasuring him.

Ivanov had gone after Dimitri the night before, ready to eliminate him since he was no longer proving useful. Remington had several men working to find out if he’d been caught or gotten away. He assured us Dimitri—or his corpse—would be found, but I couldn’t settle down. I wanted to know if he was dead or to find him and kill him myself. Even Niko’s presence—touching him, kissing him, sucking his cock—hadn’t calmed me like it should.

I checked in with Landry and walked the perimeter of the cabin multiple times. My skin felt itchy and too tight. I needed to know something. Dante had yelled at me when I called him for a third time. He told me they would let me know as soon as they fucking did anything.

I talked to Rafe, and he chatted on about irrelevant things like the new gun Lancelot had gotten or the cool car Corbin and Bo had just restored. Nothing important. No more word on Dimitri. No better sense of whether Ivanov was buying our ruse. Would he believe the man Remington sent to him was a Lopez family contact?

He had agreed to a meeting, but that didn’t mean he didn’t suspect something.

My brothers were going in virtually blind. I didn’t like it. I wanted to be there.

What was I going to do? Somehow keep both of them behind me like they were innocents I needed to protect? They had both killed, and they would kill again. They were full participants in the family, just like I was, but they were also my little brothers. I couldn’t lose them.

“Lorenzo?”

I looked up. How did Niko manage to startle me? I sure as hell wasn’t any use guarding this place if I couldn’t even keep track of the other people who were in the house with me.

“What is it?”

Niko frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing new. I just can’t stand this waiting.”

“Well, I’ve got some good news. Alina’s in.”

Had I heard him right? “What?”

“She’s in. She’s got a view through his security cameras.”

“That’s incredible. I’ll call Remington now.”

“Haven’t we answered enough of your fucking questions?” Remington said when he accepted the call.