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My stomach dropped.
My fault. This was my fault. I’d implicated Allie in my blackmail, and Fitzgerald’s Russian friends had decided she needed to be taken in hand. I hadn’t expected the mayor to punish his beloved daughter like this, no matter what she’d done.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry, Allie.”
Her friends were in danger because of me. I’d used her as a pawn, and now she was facing the consequences for my manipulation.
She blinked, and her shining green gaze finally met mine. The delicate lines of her face drew taut with defiance. “I chose to be with you,” she declared. “You did everything you could to push me away, but I didn’t listen. Because I’m in love with you. My choices have put my friends in danger. It’s my fault.”
“No,” I countered, strained. I’d already hurt her in so many ways. I couldn’t allow her to blame herself, to torment herself over putting her friends’ lives on the line. “It’s my fault. You don’t know what I’ve done. I betrayed you.”
She eyed me warily and eased back a step. My hands tightened on hers, desperate to keep her close despite the fact that I had no right to touch her.
“I recorded you,” I confessed. “On the night that you told me you were starting to suspect that everything I’d told you about your father was true, I recorded you on my phone. Tonight, I played that recording for him, and he heard you say that you believe he’s involved with the Bratva. I blackmailed him. I told him I’d leak it to the press if he tries to stand in my family’s way. He must’ve told his Russian friends, and that’s why they’ve arranged this farce of a marriage. I’m the reason this is happening to your friends. I did this.”
Her lush lips thinned with anger, and her eyes sparked. “How could you do that? How could you manipulate me to get at my father? Just to help your criminal family. I trusted you!” She tried to yank her hands from mine, but I held her fast, unable to let her go.
“I know.” The admission held a ragged edge. “You trusted me, and I betrayed you. But I’ll make this right. I won’t let anything happen to your friends.”
“And what are you going to do?” she flung back at me. “Threaten to kill Niko again? This isn’t right, Max. I don’t want you to be this man.”
My heart hardened. “This is who I am, Allie. I would kill for you. I will do anything to protect you. You saw it for yourself, and it horrified you.”
She shook her head sharply. “You don’t have to do this. You can make a different choice. You can leave your family.” Her eyes shone as she stared up at me, imploring. “You don’t have to be loyal to them. You don’t have to be in the Mafia.”
It was the first time she’d ever acknowledged it out loud.
A glittering tear spilled down her freckled cheek. “I love you, Max. I love you, but I can’t be with someone in the Mafia any more than I can be with Niko because of his Bratva ties.”
I grasped her left hand and slid the ring from her finger. It clattered against the far wall when I threw it away like the disgusting trash that it was. “You’re not marrying him. I won’t let him have you. You’re mine, Allie.”
She edged away from me, so I wrapped my arms around her, caging her close to my chest. Her cheeks flushed with desire even as she shook her head in refusal.
“Max, you can’t—”
“I love you,” I swore, finally releasing the words I’d been keeping locked in my chest. I couldn’t hold them back any longer. I couldn’t lose her. “I love you, and I’m not letting you go. Not for him. Not for anything.”
“Max—”
I crushed my lips to hers, unable to bear a protest or plea for release. She was stiff in my arms, and for a moment, I thought she’d turn away from me. Something hot and possessive gripped my mind like burning talons, and I grasped her jaw to keep her at my mercy. She released a small whine, but I devoured the sound with my tongue against hers. My other hand tangled in her hair, tugging her head back so I could claim her more deeply.
Her delicate body shuddered against me, and the tension eased from her lips as they softened beneath my onslaught. Her hands curved over my shoulders, hesitating between holding me closer and pushing me away.
She had every right to be angry with me, devastated by the revelation about my betrayal. I was the reason she’d been forced into a twisted engagement. I was the reason her friends were in danger.
Guilt sharpened the possessiveness that gripped me, driving me to kiss her with maddened desperation. I needed her to melt in my arms, to give herself to me and promise her love, despite all the terrible things I’d done. All along, she’d looked at me like I was good, worthy. I couldn’t lose that thread of belief; it was the only thing anchoring me to morality. She found whatever good was left in the shadows of my heart and brought it to light. I would be better for her. I loved her so keenly that my soul screamed at the prospect of losing her.
Her arms twined around my shoulders as the fiery chemistry we shared began to claim her entire being too. Neither of us could resist the pull, the need to connect.
I lifted her up in my arms and carried her the short distance to my bed. I finally broke our savage kiss so that I could lay her out beneath me. Her eyes were wide and a bit wild, and she licked her swollen lips.
Something in my feral expression must have startled her, because she scooted back and murmured my name with unease.
My mouth descended on hers once again as I settled my weight over her, pinning her down so that she couldn’t escape me. She couldn’t leave me. Not ever.
I’d flood her with so much pleasure that she’d never consider running. She would need me as desperately as I needed her. I’m make her addicted to me, to my touch. She would promise that she would always be mine, no matter what.
The tie I’d worn to the fundraiser was looped over the bedpost. I grabbed it and wrapped it around her wrists, drawing them together. She twisted her face away from mine.
