Page 51 of Autumn Ritual

An apparition appeared in the doorway of the den.

I caught the flicker of movement as I continued to pummel the glass. It would yield. I needed to break in! I felt her gaze vanish, and my throat closed. I was a man who’d been forged into a monster by a life of crime. I could be her shadow daddy.

I just needed to shatter the window.

“Cam!” My name cracked through the dusk.

I hung my head and sagged against the unbroken window.

“Stop that!” Sara shivered by the sliding patio door. “You can’t hurt yourself more!”

Was it my injuries that gave me away? Had someone told her my identity? Either way, the game was done. She knew who I was.

I turned to face her. Seeing her profile framed in the shaft of light from the kitchen, sent a visceral pulse through my veins. I stumbled forward before stopping. I had to hold back.

Now was the moment we would see if she truly wanted the enforcer. Or if reality was too monstrous for even her incredible imagination to accept.

“Come inside,” she beckoned. “Use the door like a normal person.”

But you don’t want normal, angel. “I’ve missed you.”

Sara wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing to keep warm. “I was worried about you.”

I lifted my bandaged left arm. “So…you know?”

She nodded, flicking a glance over my body before returning my stare. “Lucian explained everything.”

A stone settled in my gut. I was going to have to beat the piss out of him. A dog turning on the master might be a death sentence, but he needed to stop meddling.

“What did he say?”

Sara winced and adjusted her glasses. “That he spent the summer trying to set you and Maria up.”

I was not expecting that.

“I never wanted her.” My feet were lead, but I managed to take a step forward. “She’s engaged to Giulio Ravello.”

“I know.” Sara nodded. “But why would Lucian still try to keep us apart?”

I cut my hand through the air. “He doesn’t get a say in this.” You do.

My heart thumped hard against my ribs.

Choose me, angel.

“It’s because the risk of the cancer coming back is higher for me, isn’t it?” Her words were impossibly soft. She spoke like they were fact.

But that didn’t matter. Not to me.

“You can’t write me out of your life, Sara.” I inched forward. Dio! The scent of roses made me ache. “I’m just as much a main character as you.”

A sad smile played on her lips.

This was the moment where she accepted Camillo Ravello—or told me that her tryst with the masked devil was all we could ever be.

I had to make her see. “I never wanted Maria.”

“And she wouldn’t want you.” Sara laughed humorlessly. “No offense.”