Page 66 of Accidental Alliance

The silence that follows is answer enough to send pricks of anxiety racing up my spine. The room seems to shrink around me, narrowing in on the small space left between us.

I hate Alessio Conti more than I ever have his own brother. It is one of the few uncomplicated emotions left in me after everything that’s happened and has never once changed or softened as the years have gone on.

Even eight years ago, I remember he used to look at me like I was a rot spreading through both our family lines, as if my very existence threatened some grand design he had planned.

Alessio has always been the polished blade beside Elio’s darker fire, the one who smiles when he cuts because he believes restraint makes the cruelty he wields easier to swallow.

In my opinion, it is simply another side of the same coin his younger brother occupies.

“What did he say about my son?” I ask.

He says nothing, continuing to just stare at me.

“Elio.” His name leaves me quietly this time. That seems to get his attention because his shoulders stiffen. “What did he say?”

The bruise along his jaw pulses faintly as his teeth clench again. “It isn’t anything you need to worry about.”

I watch him for a moment. “Your brother wants to kill my child. Is that it?”

There would be no other reason for Elio to remain this guarded about it. If Alessio were focused on anything other than my child, there would be no reason to hide it from me. It isn’t as if I’m all that surprised about being threatened.

When it comes to my child, though… that is an entirely different story.

He lifts a hand then, though not to grab me. It hovers in the air near me for half a second as if some instinct in him is compelling him to reach out and touch me, drag the backs of his fingers down my face gently like he used to. I wait, bracing myself for it to come.

He drops them just as quickly. “No one is killing him.”

I frown. “You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“Because why?” I demand, my voice rising. “You gave them an order not to? Silly me, I forgot you Conti men are known to always obey the wishes of others instead of following through with your own agendas.”

His eyes flash again. “It isn’t going to happen because I will stop anyone who tries.”

I stare at him, my eyes widening slightly. My throat tightens until it hurts, the next question leaving me before I can stop it.

“Why?” I whisper.

He swallows, his throat bobbling visibly. “You know why.”

Then he moves.

In two strides, he bridges the distance between us and grabs my waist with a bruising possession. He turns me until I’m backed up against the cold concrete wall. His mouth crashes down on mine without warning. There is nothing at all gentle about this kiss. In the eight years of suppressed hunger and want, all of it explodes all at once. I taste the metallic tang of blood as our teeth clash and our tongues tangle together.

I should push him away and tell him to never touch me again. Scream and kick and fight him until he backs away and slips out that door the same way he’d come. Instead, my hands fist in his shirt, yanking him closer and moaning the second his body molds against mine.

A low growl rumbles from his chest as he lifts me effortlessly, my legs wrapping around his hips on instinct.

The hard length of him presses against my core through our clothes, thick and insistent as it grinds exactly where I need it to.

A broken little moan escapes me before I can stop it, and he swallows the sound, devouring me like a man who has been dying of thirst and finally finding water.

Every clash from the past week and harsh words thrown across a never ending battle field fuels the gasoline lit fire until it burns and consumes everything.

He lifts me away from the wall and carries me to the cot, practically tumbling onto it with me.

His hands tug at my sweater and shove it up and over my head. The cool air hits my skin when its pulled off of me but his mouth follows immediately after, closing over one lace-covered breast.