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“I can walk,” she whispers as I burst in through the door.
“Quiet,” I say, climbing the stairs two at a time. “Don’t talk.”
“Evander, really—”
But I’m not paying attention. I bring her to our room and put her into bed, touching her face, her chest, her legs and arms to make sure there aren’t any wounds I missed. “I’ll call Dr. Kalivas. He’ll come to make sure—”
“Evander!”
Her hard tone snaps me out of battle mode. When I get like this, there is only the mission ahead of me—the rest of the world disappears.
Camille is my mission.
But she’s sitting up and touching my face.
“Camille.” I clutch her tightly against me. “God, I thought you were hurt. I thought you might be dead.”
“I’m fine,” she whispers. “It’s okay, I’m okay, really.”
“That was too close.” I breathe the smell of her hair and catch a whiff of gunpowder. My heart sinks into my guts. “I won’t let you out of my sight again. I will stay here, in this room with you—”
“Evander.” Her tone is hard. “Stop it.”
“I mean it, asteraki mu, nobody will get near you. The Italians will bleed for this, they will burn—”
“Evander.” She squirms from my grip and stares into my eyes. She strokes my cheek, shaking her head. “Please listen to me.”
My jaw works. What is there to talk about? They tried to kill my wife on my own property. They murdered three of my guards in front of my own house. They disrespected me so deeply, I cannot allow this to stand.
All I want to do is get out there in the street with my guns and my killers. I want to slaughter my enemies, hunt them all down and make it slow, but the pain in her voice keeps me here. The fear of losing her keeps me in this room.
“I know you’re angry with me, but I will not fail you, Camille.”
“It’s not about that.” She lets out a low sigh. “It’s the war. How many more people will die because of me?”
“As many as it takes until the Italians are finished.”
“But what about you? What about your people? I don’t want to see them hurt. Those men—” She clears her throat, trying not to cry. “They were alive one second. And the next, they’re gone. All because I was there.”
“That is not on you,” I say firmly. “That is on the Pavone Famiglia, those cowardly scum.”
“I know that,” she says. “But how do we stop it?”
“We make you my wife.” I stand and pace across the room. “I will call Gareth once the grounds have been secured. I’ll instruct him to bribe a judge. Any amount at all.”
“Evander—” she starts but I turn on her.
“No more fucking games, Camille. No more back and forth, no more uncertainty, no more roadblocks.” I stride to the bed then kneel beside her. “I will do whatever it takes to make you my wife. I will protect you. I will kill our enemies. I will end this war for good.”
She stares into my eyes. I want her to say she believes me. I want her to kiss me, pull me close, let me breathe in her smell, taste her lips, feel her warmth. Instead, she lets out a long breath.
“And then what?” she asks, blinking back tears. “Gareth files the paperwork. Then what? You keep killing the Pavones? They keep killing your people in return? And what about us, do we keep acting like we’re really man and wife, when we both know this wasn’t meant to be forever? I don’t know what to do anymore, Evander, this has gone so far. You kept things from me and I can’t forgive that.”
“I won’t ask you to, but I will earn your trust again.” I feel as though my chest is cracking open. I want her to see my heart beat for her, to make her understand that I’m as open as I can be, that I am as much hers as I’m capable of being.
She shakes her head slowly and looks away. The tension grows between us. I want to snap it like the bones of my enemies but I hold the silence. I deserve the silence.
I should’ve told her about the delay from the start. If I had done that, none of this ever would’ve happened.
