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“Good girl.”
I turned out the light and got into the bed beside her. Emilia was guarded and challenging most of the time, but at night, in my bed, she was different. As though here, on this square of foam, the battle lines between us no longer existed. But tonight, she rolled away from me, trying to force space between us. Like fuck was she finally admitting she wanted me, giving herself to me, only to throw a wall between us now. I dragged her against me, realizing my error too late. Her naked body against mine was sheer hell but worth it. After a few seconds, her fingers threaded through mine against her chest, and she held on like I was her damn lifeline. And I would be. Always.
Emilia was a shaft of pure, blinding light in my dark world, and I basked in her warmth. Sometimes she blazed red hot and burned me, but I indulged in the pain, too. I hadn’t even realized how cold my life was before her.
I was going to end the mob, and then I was going to marry Emilia Donato. She’d all but sealed our fate with her virgin blood.
_____
I woke to the sound of my phone ringing, the flashing screen lighting up the room. The clock on the nightstand read two in the morning. Who the hell was calling me at this time? My heart hiccupped at the sight of Jackson’s name on the screen. Tommy.
I climbed out of bed, not wanting to wake up Emilia, but when I glanced at her spot, it was empty. With a frown, I answered the phone. “Yeah.”
“Where the fuck have you been?” he snapped.
“Is Tommy okay?”
“What? Yeah. I think so.”
I released a sigh of relief. “Okay. Good. Why the fuck are you calling me at two in the morning then?”
“Well, if you looked, you’d see you have ten missed calls.” There was the sound of other voices in the background and screaming. “We found the rat.”
My grip on the phone tightened. “Who?”
“It was Andreas.” That piece of shit motherfucker. Our world was dark and sordid enough, but the one thing we thought we could rely on was loyalty, that the guys in the trenches with us had our backs. Without that….well, we had nothing.
I went to the window, pressing my forehead to the cool glass. “How did you find him?” We’d been looking for weeks, and the bastard had covered his tracks well.
“I had a meeting with some of my capos last night. Renzo Donato recognized him. Says he’s seen him at one of Sergio’s bars before.”
“Wait.” It felt like my own heartbeat fucking stilled with those words. “Sergio?”
“He’s not a rat for the mob, Gio. He’s a rat for Sergio Donato.”
My whole world stopped spinning for a moment as the full gravity of that information hit me. “You’re sure? The mob isn’t setting us up?”
“Between what Renzo said and the information I extracted from Andreas… pretty fucking sure.”
Renzo had no reason to lie. From what I could tell, he was loyal to his sister and had no love for Sergio.
“Sergio has been feeding the mob information from his source. He orchestrated all of this bullshit.”
I ran through every interaction I’d had with Sergio since the beginning of this so-called alliance. He’d set me up. Which meant… “She was in on it,” I breathed, my heart thumping heavily in my chest, something cracking inside me.
“Gio, you don’t know—”
“I have to go. Keep me updated.” I hung up before he could respond and stormed through the penthouse, looking for Emilia.
I made it to the living room before my phone rang again—Philipe. I fucking knew what he was going to say before I even answered it. “What?” I barked.
“Sir, Miss Donato escaped.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to grapple with the two sides of myself. The boss who needed to protect his interests and his family, and the guy who just got fucked over by a woman he was starting to— No. I shut down the thought.
“She…I removed my men from the hallway like you asked.” Because she was with me, safe, and I had stupidly trusted her. “I was in the parking garage.” There was a long pause. “She had a gun, and she shot me in the leg. I’m sorry. You told me not to hurt her, and I couldn’t follow... But Adamo is following her and awaiting your orders. I’m sorry.” He was rambling, stumbling over his words, but I was striding back to my room.
When I opened the nightstand, my gun was gone. She knew how to use a gun…
She’d been working with Sergio this entire time. Played the broken, fighting little damsel with a dead sister… “Tell Adamo I want her unharmed and returned to me.” Because I would be the one to hurt her. Maybe I really would tie her to my bed like a pet this time.
