Page 75 of Revenge on the Mafia

His voice broke into my calculation. “You didn’t get a warning, Nico. They pulled you out of bed and dragged you to Juan’s.”

“I should have stopped it.”

“You tried, and you paid for it. For fuck’s sake, he kept you locked up for a fucking year.” He drew in a ragged breath. “If you want to punish someone, punish me.”

“You did nothing wrong,” I snapped.

“I did plenty wrong,” he growled. “I wasn’t man enough to kill him and set you free.”

“That wasn’t your problem,” I muttered.

“You’re my fucking brother, Nico. Of course it’s my problem.”

I bit back my words of denial. A frustrated sigh huffed out of his chest. “Don’t you think I know why you still sleep with a gun under your pillow?” Of course, he knew. There wasn’t much he didn’t.

I looked into his eyes and made a venomous promise. “They’ll never catch me unarmed again.”

“They’re dead, Nico.” His quiet voice echoed in my chest. “You made sure of it.”

Something thick collected in my throat. I choked it down fast. “It doesn’t bring him back.”

“No,” he agreed. “But his death wasn’t on you.”

He was wrong. That was one thing he’d never convince me of.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ANNA

Ileaned against the balcony railing and searched desperately for a star.

Si no puedes encontrar una estrella, busca lo suficientemente lejos hasta que la encuentres.

I found none. No matter how far I looked, it was a sky illuminated with the glow of the city lights, masking all the stars in the sky.

The agitation that had been building in me for days shifted. The shadows came for my lungs and tightened its grip. My breathing turned into gasps. On the banister, my hands balled into fists. I felt like I might just combust under the pressure of my insanity.

One moment, he was asking me for promises, and the next, he was evading the truth. He’d sucked me into his game. When he went from fire to ice, he took me along for the ride. And I knew as sure as the starless sky that I wouldn’t survive him.

The little truths he fed me hit me like darts. I’d believed Papá had just been an accountant. But turned out he was a genius. Except his murder wasn’t one of an outsider. He’d worked for the Mafia. My doubts had turned into facts. Each fragment of truth left me spinning. Something told me the final truth was going to be as disastrous as a gunshot to my heart.

Two hands braced next to mine. I didn’t know why my heart tumbled into a different beat. Faster. Harder. Louder. More alive.

“What did I tell you about wandering off?” The growl in his tone made the hair on the nape of my neck rise.

Just one star. That was all I needed. Something to guide me to the right path.

His palm brushed my ass. Stilled. Then rose to my hips before wrapping around my waist. “No underwear,” he murmured, his tone half-agitation and half-pride.

“Would have broken the line.” Satin was unforgiving.

He buried his mouth in my neck. Heat zapped to my clit when a rough groan touched my deprived skin.

We stood like that for a few long minutes. His body, his scent, his breath surrounding me. A ripple of heat rushed through my body when his palm inched down. I should have told him this was inappropriate. The hum of voices of strangers still filled my eardrums. We were at a distance with our back to the floor-to-ceiling windows leading out of each room. I wasn’t going to be that kind of wife. But there was a petty demon in me that whispered maybe I’d like it. That maybe I’d be any kind of wife he wanted me to be. Satin scrunched in his fist. My hips rocked of their own will. His hand touched my clit. I was so ridiculously wet that his finger slid down my lips.

“Jesus,” he hissed.

I sank my teeth into my lip.