Page 60 of Accidental Alliance

“That is not happening,” I snap. “Killing them serves no purpose except to satisfy your delusional paranoia.”

Alessio’s eyes narrow. “Clearly, you’re still too blinded by her cunt to see the real issues at hand. We should have killed her the night Amos fell like I suggested. She should never have been allowed to survive long enough to become Davide’s asset. Or apparently, a living reminder of how close you came to betraying everything our family has built.”

Something inside me snaps and I lunge.

My fist connects with Alessio’s jaw with a sickening crack.

He slams against the wall behind him again for a brief moment before coming back swinging, years of shared training turning our fight into a brutal, mirrored battle.

I drive my knee into his ribs, and he slams an elbow into my temple, both of us quickly colliding with the floor.

While we are evenly matched in every way, tonight I fight with something Alessio has never had. The feral need to protect what is mine.

I land another heavy blow to his mouth, splitting the skin. “You touch her or that boy and I will kill you myself.”

Alessio laughs through bloodied teeth, a manic edge bleeding into his voice. “You would choose her over me? Pathetic. She already has you on your knees begging.”

The sound of our violence echoes down the hallway, drawing the attention from every man within the vicinity.

The ones who pour out of the back room wisely stay just inside the doorway, leaving us to finish what we started on our own.

The fight only ends when our father’s voice booms from the doorway.

“Enough!” He is flanked by two of our senior capos, his face carved with disappointment.

Hands pull us apart within seconds, both of our blood coating the floor as we’re dragged in opposite directions. Alessio spits more of it at my feet, his eyes gleaming with barely contained anger.

I shrug off the hands holding me and swipe at my mouth, feeling blood trickling from the corner of it.

Father’s gaze moves between us slowly. “Violence between us solves nothing. Whatever has gotten into you two, solve it. Or else you will both be getting shipped back home and stripped of your duties.”

The threat hangs in the air.

I meet his gaze without flinching, but inside, something fundamental has shifted. For the first time in my life, loyalty to my family’s name has started to feel like chains instead of armor.

There had been a time long ago when I had asked myself if burning the ties to my own blood would be worth the woman I wanted.

Back then, I had never allowed myself to figure out that answer. Now that the choice is being presented to me yet again, I am left with the knife at my throat.

12

ISABELLA

It’s been three days since Elio stormed out after our confrontation. Three entire days since his mouth on mine felt like a sin being dragged back to the surface from its gravesite.

I slapped him hard enough to make my palm ache and still somehow felt the echo of him under my skin long after he left.

Since then, there has only been sterile silence broken only by the slide of meal trays across my floor and the soft mechanical click of cameras that never stop watching me pace.

Pacing is all I can do to keep myself from surrendering. If I sit too long, my thoughts start to eat away at me. Every step keeps the panic moving through my body instead of letting it settle in my chest where it might finally crush me.

And I refuse to let that happen.

Though no matter what I do, I still feel Elio everywhere, his presence slowly suffocating me from every corner of this small room.

Sometimes, I catch the faint trace of his cologne when one of the enforcers steps in with my food, dark and clean beneath the usual smell of gun oil.

It hits me without warning and yanks me back so violently, I have to grip the wall until the wave passes.