AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Matteo maneuvered us down the driveway and pulled into the last spot in the garage. “Keep her out of sight,” he said.
“I don’t want her down there,” Yuri protested.
Matteo’s eyes darkened. “You think it’s appropriate to have her upstairs for this?” His words were clipped, and Yuri’s jaw clenched so tight I was sure it hurt.
Instead of the brazen attitude I was accustomed to with the Zaragoza men, no one wanted to parade around the captive, and I could sympathize. My thoughts went to Lucia, the youngest of the family, who had just lost her father. She was uninitiated, unaware of all the danger and violence wrapped around her and was only a victim of loss. My chest tightened as I thought of her pain. Yuri opened my door and nodded for me and then I was smuggled through the garage entrance into their underground lair.
He kept his arm wrapped around my waist, pinned against him as if he wasn't delivering me down to the cell.
I wasn't sure how he felt about the news of his father’s passing, the only thing he let me see was his anger at the deal I'd made. His silence was almost more haunting than his torture, but only because I wished I could crack him open and see past his cold gaze. The cell door opened after he padded the code and Yuri walked me inside.
“Make it quick,” one of the three soldiers who followed us spat out. Yuri’s upper lip curled, and the man backed down, deciding instead to stay in the hallway and give us some privacy. I shuddered at what we might need that privacy for– punishment or pleasure?
I turned in his arms, whispering so no one else heard me, “since when do they give you orders?”
“Since I betrayed the family.”
“Just by protecting me?” I asked.
“By choosing you over the code. Familia sobre todo, family over everything.”
I shook my head thinking back to the way Denis was going to kill me without that order coming directly from acapo. He was planning to snuff me out whether or not he had permission. Wasn’t he also betraying the family?
As if he could read my thoughts, Yuri responded. “Killing eliminates weakness and strengthens the reputation.”
At the end of the day, protecting the family legacy was synonymous with the family itself.
I pressed into him and wrapped my arms around his neck, needing his touch. The weight of his sacrifice was palpable and from the tightness in his jaw, he wasn’t enjoying the questioning eyes of his men. Thecapocontrols. And without that control, Yuri was slipping fast.
I knew it was only a matter of time before he walked out the door and it would lock behind him. Would he regret his decision? Would time with his family change his mind and make him realize that I was just a distraction? My fingers curled into his hair, holding him close even as he didn’t move to meet my affection–for right now, I couldn’t focus on the what ifs. All I could focus on was this moment and the illusion that Yuri felt the same.
“I'm sorry about your dad,” I murmured. “I didn't know.”
“I knew it was coming,” he said. One of his fingers brushed through my hair and the touch sent tingles down my spine. “Part of me hates my father for what he forced me to become. I never had a choice.”
I looked into those brown eyes and I saw him cycling through memories. So many moments that only he held, so many emotions that swirled within him. I had a feeling he never shared those with anyone.
“The other part of me feels like I'll never measure up to him.”
“As his successor or as a man?” I questioned.
His tongue darted out and licked across his bottom lip. He was struggling. Cracking himself wide open and letting me see inside went against everything he knew. I watched the quickened thrum of his pulse as it beat below the tanned skin of his neck and focused there, instead of looking up at his tortured gaze.
“Both,” he admitted.
“I don't think you give yourself enough credit.”
“You didn’t know him.”
“But I know you,” I asserted. Did I really? I had no idea about his past. Anxiety rippled through me imagining the childhood he had– raised by killers to become one. I never got to see just how he interacted with the man who created the Zaragoza family legacy.
But my heart recognized his. In Yuri, there was so much good. So much love for those around him. One just had to squint to see it.
“You have to stay here, but I promise I'll come and get you when everyone's gone.” His eyes darted around the room, and I followed his gaze to the mattress, empty after I threw the pillow and blanket out after our last big fight. “I'm not letting you sleep down here.”
“You didn't mind before,” I quipped.
His hand snaked behind my neck and gripped, forcing me to look up at him. I let out a whimper as he squeezed, the bruised skin pulling tight. He was so close, our noses touched, and his breath tickled my lips.
