The peaceful expression that only exists in sleep.
I want to climb in bed next to him, confess my sins, and have him still care for me.
Still protect me.
But I know that wouldn’t happen.
He’d feel betrayed.
He might not kill me, but he’d punish me, and now he has the perfect weapon in our daughter.
The urge to run surges through me.
If I stay, Alessandro will either give me the same ultimatum that his father did or he’ll expose me, and Adriano will know everything, how deep my betrayal truly went.
17
ADRIANO
I glance at my phone again.
Three hours till I can head back to the compound.
Three hours that'll drag like thirty.
For the first time since I was a teenager learning the family trade, I'm rushing through meetings, cutting short conversations, keeping my eyes on the clock like some corporate drone counting minutes to freedom.
Not that I'm sloppy.
If anything, I'm sharper now, more efficient.
Last week, I negotiated a deal in half the time Alessandro expected, walked away with better terms than we'd outlined.
Two days ago, I tracked down Reginelli's cousin who'd been skimming, had him confessing in under twenty minutes without leaving a mark on him, until I killed him.
Yesterday, I reorganized the entire eastern distribution route, cutting our exposure by thirty percent.
All these results and efficiency come from the desire to get home to Eva and Mirabella.
"You're in a hurry," Dominic comments as I check my watch again.
"Got somewhere to be."
“Hot date?”
I ignore him, checking the last crate of weapons personally, making sure each piece matches our manifest.
My phone buzzes with a text from Eva. A photo of Mirabella with chocolate all over her face fills my screen.
Warmth fills my chest. I’m sure I’m smiling like a loon, but I can't bring myself to care.
Four years ago, my father noticed this same distraction. "Love makes men weak," he'd said with contempt. "With your head in the clouds, you'll get us all killed."
He was wrong.
Having something to protect doesn't make me weaker.
It makes me more ruthless, more calculating, more determined that nothing threatens what's mine.
