“Gun it down.”
“No!” My protest erupts from my mouth before I can stop it.
Teo gives me a curious look. “No?”
“Do it, Dante,” Mia encourages anyway.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Please,” desperation floods my words.
It’s Teo’s turn to raise his eyebrow at me, waiting expectantly.
I swallow hard.
“My name is Isabella Natali. I’m here to secure an alliance between the Prince’s Hand and the Guild.”
3
TEO
I’m fairly certain I don’t breathe for about two minutes.
Isabella Natali. IsabellafuckingNatali.
The daughter of my sworn enemy, on her knees before me and requesting my alliance.
Her dark eyes—deep chocolate, my mind unhelpfully supplies—stare up at me earnestly. Her perfectly curled hair drapes over her bare shoulders in a cascade of shimmering gold. Her tight, maroon dress accentuates her chest in the most distracting way.
Especially in this position.
I’ve only been the don of the Guild an hour and already the wolves have descended. It is my first test, and one I'm determined not to fail.
I use the knife in my hand to tilt Isabella’s head toward me.
“Who is in that car?”
The earnestness in her eyes disappears so quickly I would never have thought it was there to begin with.
“I gave you my name. That’s not how this works.”
The knife edge digs into her chin. “Perhaps you are unaware of the precariousness of your situation.”
“That my life hangs on a knife’s edge?” she huffs, glancing down at the blade. “You’ve actually made that abundantly clear.”
“Teo?”
I glance up to see both Dante and Mia waiting on my order.
It’s undeniably a very bold move for the Natalis to try and infiltrate this wedding. The majority of the guests consist of the Guild and our closest allies. But the venue itself has been vetted multiple times.
Defensive measures have not only been planned but routinelypracticedover the last few weeks. And we made no secret of hiding what we were capable of, just in case any of our enemies thought this might be a prime opportunity to strike.
The Prince’s Hand must have known the risks of sending Isabella here, but they did it anyway.
The question is, why?
Why wouldtheLeon Natali risk his own sister?
