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Her brow furrows. “Are you saying you don’t believe in love?”
I take her chin and force her to look at me. I shouldn’t touch her as it draws my attention to how close we are. Her eyes are filled with so much emotion that my chest aches because I will crush her with my answer. “Love is a fairy tale, Ella. It doesn’t exist in the real world. The quicker you learn that, the easier it’ll be to accept your fate.”
She looks me in the eye. “Just because you’ve never known love doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist in this world.” Her jaw clenches. “You can’t make me believe otherwise.”
I release her chin, shaking my head. “Poor, naïve Ella. Your innocence will be your downfall.”
Her eyes flash with hurt at my comment. I don’t normally give a shit if I hurt people, but when I see that vulnerability clear in her beautiful bright blue eyes, it makes me feel something I haven’t felt in a very long time.Guilt.
“You’re a monster,” she breathes, her voice quiet and broken.
I can’t let her hurt get to me. Ella staying under my roof is not an option, and letting her go into the world with nothing and no one to protect her isn’t either. As ridiculous as it sounds, selling her hand in marriage to a mobster is for her safety. She’ll be protected and given a good life.
“I know you don’t understand this, Ella, but it’s for your own good.”
She shakes her head. “My own good? How in the world is any of this benefitting me?”
“Your mom was married to me for three months and ended up dead at the hands of my enemies. What do you think will happen if one of them gets their hands on you?”
Her eyes narrow. “I’m no one to you. Why would they bother?”
“The moment your mom married me, she tied you to the famiglia for life. My enemies will be well aware of your existence, and if you’re unprotected, they’ll go for you.”
She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip and looks at me as if trying to decide whether to say something. “Can’t I stay here? Maybe I can be like one of the staff or something?”
“One of the staff?”
She nods. “Yeah, I’m not a bad cook or could clean.”
I may have considered her proposal if I wasn’t damn near obsessed with her. The idea of her prancing around my house in a maid’s outfit drives me to despair. Keeping her under my roof isn’t an option. “It wouldn’t work.”
“I promise I’m a good, hard worker and—”
“No, Ella. It’s not up for discussion.”
Unshed tears fill her eyes and her lip wobbles. “Why not?”
I clench my jaw, knowing we’re moving into dangerous territory. “I can’t have you under my roof.”
Her eyes widen. “Because you hate me that much?”
I look into her eyes, wondering why she would think I hate her. “Hate you?” I shake my head. “I don’t hate you, Ella. I crave you in a way no stepdad should ever crave his stepdaughter.” My jaw clenches as hope ignites in her eyes. “You can’t stay here, as I don’t trust myself.”
She closes the gap between us, and I stiffen when she places a hand on my chest, looking up at me with those beautiful blue eyes. “Please, Remy. I don’t want to be anywhere else but here.”
Fuck.
I don’t know how to read that comment. Is Ella suggesting I cross the line and have her for myself? Something other than our stepdad and stepdaughter relationship is holding me back. It’s fear. Fear I might learn what it means to love. I’ve never felt this way about a woman, and I haven’t even fucked her. And anyone married to me always winds up dead. I can’t let that be Ella’s fate.
“Ella,” I breathe her name, gazing down at her.
Her lips part, and her eyes dilate. “Please, Daddy,” she says in a seductive tone.
That snaps my resolve as I grab her hips and yank her against me, kissing her for the first time since the library. One month I’ve kept a level-head, and she comes in here and breaks me down so fucking easily it’s embarrassing. My veins light on fire as intense heat floods through me. I lift her into my arms and place her on the edge of my desk.
My brain is no longer in control, and I’m thinking with my cock. I keep kissing her and lift the hem of her skirt to her hips.
Ella doesn’t try to stop me. Instead, she kisses me harder. Her tongue eagerly tangles with mine as we lose ourselves in each other.
