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Violence crackled in the air, like a spark waiting to ignite. My heartbeat rammed my throat as Vito’s chilly blue eyes filled with contempt now as well as fury.

The threat of annihilation surrounded us, the tension sharp enough to cut. But instead of ramping up my fury, his angry reaction defused it. And the resentment which had consumed me for years faded. As the reality that I could not give Eva back to him tormented me again.

I raised my hand to signal to my men to lower their weapons.

‘Release me,’ I said to Vito. ‘Or we will both die today.’

Vito let go of my shirt, the anger still pulsing through him. But then he raked his fingers through his hair and heaved out a heavy breath.

‘I know you hate me, Dante…’ he said, low enough for only me to hear him. ‘And I don’t blame you. I was not a brother to you when it counted,’ he added, sounding weary, his tone full of regret. ‘I should have stood up for you that day, and I didn’t. But I was a boy too and dealing with my own trauma.’

His apology was unexpected, the admission of a weakness even more shocking. But then his jaw hardened again. ‘But hurting Evie just to hurt me is beneath you. And you know it. She’s innocent and impulsive and she has no real concept of our life. Mia believes she is developing an attachment to you…’ he continued, not aware that I already knew what she had confided to her sister.

I flinched, reminded again by my needy reaction to her statement. A reaction I still did not understand any more than I really understood why I was not ready to give her up. I had become addicted to her, just as I had feared, but somehow it already felt like more than sex.

His eyes narrowed, and I knew I had let him see too much.

My resentment returned. ‘What makes you think I fucked her to hurt you?’ I shot back, knowing I had not been thinking about her position as his woman when I had made her mine.

‘Whatever your motives,’ he said, sighing heavily, ‘can you not see that taking her virginity—and exploiting her innocence and her desire for you—makes you no better than our father, after the callous way he treated your mother? And then discarded her and you.’

I tensed, angered by the reference to my mother. But also shocked by his derogatory comment about our father, Salvatore Rocco—a man I had always assumed Vito idolised.

‘Are you saying what our father did to my mother and me was wrong?’ I asked, not able to believe this was how he felt, after blaming him—as well as our father—for so long for the terrible events of that day.

‘Of course it was wrong,’ he said without hesitation. ‘I told you this is what I believe on Isla Donna when you were in my cell. Why do you think I want to merge the Malvini Syndicate with Rocco?’

I’d dismissed the offer then as a trick. But now I wasn’t so sure. Had he been sincere?

‘Because I made a lawless gang of street thugs into the most powerful syndicate in Sicily. One that will challenge Rocco’s power some day soon,’ I replied, throwing the offer back in his face again—still not willing to believe his offer was about blood, when we both knew he had to control the threat I represented.

But I also wished to get the conversation onto business and away from Eva—and the unsettling thought that by taking her virginity, by still wanting her, I was no better than the man I had despised for so long.

He nodded. ‘True.’ I savoured the bolt of gratification—that he was acknowledging all I had achieved.

But then, to my surprise, his features softened, and for the first time in twenty years I saw the boy I had known, the boy I had once idolised… Silent, stoic but also my companion. My brother.

‘But it is not the threat you represent that makes me want to merge our businesses. It is the knowledge that if we can become brothers again, we can become more powerful than either of us could ever have imagined…’ He sighed. ‘But for that to work, we must establish trust. And the only way to do so is for you to release Eva and let her return to her family.’

I stiffened at the dictatorial tone. But it was the jolt of yearning in my chest, that had been festering for days now, which had me blurting out, ‘And what if I refuse?’

Vito’s gaze sharpened. ‘Her freedom is non-negotiable, Dante.’

‘You talk of trusting me, but why should I trust you?’ I replied, becoming more furious with him by the second, but also more sure that I could not release Eva today. That I did not want to let her go back to him.

The truth was, a merger between Rocco and Malvini would be advantageous for the Malvini Syndicate, because our operation was more exposed. I had no influence outside Italy, and no clue how to conduct the legal businesses which Vito had used to shore up his operations abroad. And launder the money he made in Italy.

But why should I trust Vito?

‘Perhaps there is a way to bind our families which will give us both what we want…’ I murmured as an idea formed which seemed so simple but so perfect I could not believe it had not occurred to me before. Vito had given me the opening when he’d spoken of trust, but it was not really trust I cared about as my fevered mind clung to the solution—as a way to fill the burning hole that had formed in my chest each night, when I held Eva in my arms and thought of letting her go.

‘What exactly are you proposing?’ Vito said, suspicion dripping from every word. Vindication swept through me at his wary expression. It felt validating to finally have the upper hand with him. And to know that if Rocco and Malvini joined forces, as equal partners, I would finally have my revenge against the man who had once believed me so unworthy. But I knew it was neither of those possibilities making my heart thunder against my ribs and the fierce yearning flare as I alerted my staff that Vito and I would be heading into the villa, where a lavish meal had been prepared to accompany our negotiations.

‘Let us eat,’ I said, directing him to follow me. ‘And you can hear my offer.’

Vito hesitated, and his expression became shrewd. ‘If your offer involves keeping Evie as your captive so you can continue to use her in your bed,’ he said, ‘neither I nor Mia will agree to it.’

No doubt Vito was going to hate my proposal. At first. But I knew—however much Vito loved his wife and his sister-in-law—he was also a pragmatist, and he would realise this solution was the only way to make this merger happen. And if he did not, I could simply make it a condition of ending the conflict between us.