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Sometimes I forgot who he was. He controlled and ruled New York City and every other part that belonged to him with an iron fist. He was a Boss. One of the most powerful. Even more than the Italians. “The Phoenix is you,” I choked on my words.
I felt his nod again. “Why did you stop touching me?” he asked, flexing his muscles as if demanding my touch.
“Sorry,” I mumbled and continued with my gentle caress, even though I was shaking with sudden dread. “What about the fire?”
“The fire is what I own now. I rise above everything and everyone. I’m the master, the judge, the jury, and the executioner. Everyone else bows in front of me.” His voice was strong and filled with power.
Swallowing hard against my nervousness, I closed my eyes. How was I going to tell him my truth? I trusted him, yet in many ways, I still feared him…his reaction.
“You stopped again.”
My eyes opened again, and I mumbled another quick apology. As my hand moved over his back, I heard Alessio sigh in relief and contentment. “I love your hands on me.”
“I love touching you,” I admitted softly.
“You calm me, Ayla. You calm the fire raging inside of me,” he confessed.
I placed a kiss on his shoulder as my fingers started to trace the chain tattoo on his arm. It started from his neck and curved around the Phoenix before continuing down the length of his arm, stopping right above his elbow.
“What about this one? What does it mean?” I asked, soothing my hand over the heavy, black chains.
Alessio froze underneath my touch.
I froze too. I started to divert the conversation when he answered, his voice low and deep.
“It means I am chained to my past.”
I sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. I didn’t like where this conversation was going, but that didn’t stop me. “What do you mean?”
“It represents my vengeance.”
His words were a blow to my chest, and I felt a crack in my heart. It was almost as painful as the thought of losing everything I had just found. I looked at the chain that marked Alessio’s body, and tears filled my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away.
“Every time I catch a glimpse of it in the mirror, it serves as a reminder. It is a reminder that I need to take my revenge against the Italians. Every time I look at the chain, it fuels my anger and hatred.”
Oh, his voice, it was filled with so much loathing and disgust. His words were laced with years of fury. His body was tense, muscles coiled tight as his words filled the room, his confession weighing heavily around us.
He hated the Italians—the Abandonatos—so much that he had marked his body as a reminder.
“Every time I look at the chain, I see my mother’s lifeless eyes, her blood around me.” Alessio’s voice broke over the last few words, but then I felt him taking a deep breath. He shuddered under my touch, and I pressed my lips together to stop an agonizing cry from escaping.
“I’m consumed by it. It is what keeps me going, all these years and even now. My need for revenge has kept me alive,” Alessio continued in the same tight voice.
I was distraught at the thought of him being in pain for so long. I wished I could take it all away, erase all his pain and the years of suffering.
I didn’t dare lift my head from his arm. I kept my face hidden from Alessio as I soothed him with my gentle touch. “Alfredo is already dead. What will you do? To the Italians?” I asked softly.
“Alberto is still alive. He is their so-called Boss. Alfredo may be dead, but that little fucker has taken over, and he needs to die.” Alessio paused for a moment as my heart accelerated, sweat forming on my forehead in tension.
When he continued, I had to stop myself from shifting away from him. “Every single one of them. I will kill anyone who comes into my path. I will slaughter until I’m their fucking Boss. I will not stop until I have them under my feet.”
Alessio laughed humorlessly, his body shaking under my hand. “That’s the ultimate payback. Making his empire, his army bow down to me, worshiping me as their God.”
I had seen sweet and gentle Alessio. I had seen angry Alessio. But this one…the one who was filled with so much hatred and vengeance, that was the first time I had seen or heard him speak.
And out of all the different shades of Alessio, this was the one who scared me the most.
But even through my fear, I felt sudden relief. And safe in Alessio’s arms.
During his confession, I didn’t miss the one promise he made.
Alessio had vowed to kill Alberto, my tormentor. He didn’t know how much that meant to me, to know that one day, I’d be rid of this man—the devil in my life.
