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“No more fucking games, Daniello. As of this moment, you belong to the family. You will follow orders. You and your affair with this woman have just cost me a loyal captain. This ends here.” Donato glared in my direction. “No harm will come to you or your family. You leave now and never return.”
“No.” I moved from Daniello’s back and faced Donato head on. “No! Donato, please don’t do this. Please.” He took a look at Rocco and returned his resentful gaze to me. “It’s done, Bella. Go home.”
“No,” I whispered to Daniello as I saw the light in his eyes grow dim with defeat.
“Daniello, come,” he ordered as he made his way into the trees.
“Wait, no, NO!” I shrieked. “Please.”
Daniello paused his back to me, his frame stiffened with my plea as if I had just shot him. He remained there only a moment before following behind Donato.
Every piece of my heart ripped apart in those seconds I watched him disappear. I knew without a shadow of a doubt it was final.
Minutes later, with absolutely nothing left but an empty soul, I was escorted by one of Donato’s men to a black SUV for what I was supposed was transport to the airport, or to my certain death. I had no will to fight, no will to keep breathing, but I owed it to the man who had just chained himself for my protection. I ripped my arm away from my escort as I slid into the back of the SUV. I looked back at the villa, praying for just a glimpse of him, just one more kiss, a touch, a moment, and was splintered when we pulled away.
I gasped out a throaty cry, my heart making its final descent as the driver watched me curiously. Unashamed, and for the first time in my life, I cried openly for a man. The irony was not lost on me. My walls were down, and there was absolutely no reward behind that. What existed there now belonged to a man I could no longer have and would never see again. I hiccupped as my chest heaved with my endless tears. No relief came as I tried in vain to flush out the pain radiating through me. My life was spared, my sister was safe, and there was not a single fucking scenario in life that waited for me that I wanted to return to. Before him, I was an empty woman, void of love. Without him, I’d lost my soul. Uncontrollable sobs racked my body as I wept for the man who had continually tried to save me since the minute we met—from myself, from the dangers of my own life, and his. He’d walked into the fire to save me.
And I’d asked him to.
The SUV came to a sudden stop and my door opened. Daniello pulled me from the back seat and sandwiched me between him and the door. The same pain I felt twisted his features as he watched me fall apart.
Raw and out of my element, I confessed the truth. “These tears are for you. They will always be for you.” He cupped my face and kissed a trailing tear down my cheek before he whispered. “Phoenix.”
“What kind of monster does that make me? I’m so sorry, Daniello. I can’t bear what I’ve done to you. You fought your whole life against this.”
“I did the same as you. I am your mirror. Never forget that. You did nothing but protect who you love. And I will stay and do the same. I love you, Taylor Ellison, with my whole soul. I will not regret this. We did nothing wrong. Our love is not wrong. Do not take this on yourself.”
“I can’t do this. I can’t leave you like this.”
Daniello’s eyes surveyed the villa before he pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. My breathing slowed as I fought for control. “Listen to me. You are stronger than this, you will see. You can come back from this. There is no other way. I would do anything to change this. I wanted you to be mine. I wanted to dine on your body every day and live inside you. That is where I feel I belong. You honor me with what your eyes say, and I cannot deny it anymore. Each breath I take when I am with you goes easy, and I fear I will never breathe again when this door is closed. But I made my choice, and there is nothing I can do, no solution but to obey. And my soul hates me for it.”
I crumpled in his arms, gripping him tightly to me. “Daniello, you are the only thing that I have ever wanted in my life that I didn’t have to earn. And you are the only thing I want to keep.”
“Look at me,” he pleaded. I looked up into his eyes as he confessed to me, “Taylor Ellison, you have won me in every way. My love for you fills my every cell brain.”
A loud and inappropriate laugh escaped despite the horrific crack in my chest as he looked
on at me, amused.
“Daniello,” I pleaded.
“Yes,” he asked, his eyes searching mine.
“Shoot your tutor.”
He leaned in before his next confession. “I did not speak fluent English the first time I saw you.”
“What?”
“I wanted to approach you, I wanted to know your name, but I spoke so little English, the conversation would not have gone far.”
Shocked by his confession, I stood, mouth gaping.
“I wasted no time when you returned to the club. I had to know you, speak with you, so I forced Rocco to teach me, and then I listened to a tutor on the plane. Thirteen hours a day every day for months I listened, just to meet you.”
More tears slid down my cheeks as he looked down at me, just as ripped open as I felt.
“You are the strongest, most beautiful woman I have ever known. You have forever changed me as a man. I will miss this, I will think of you, and I will not want another.”
