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In an instant, everything changed.
The fire in my blood raged for a different reason as I stepped away, clenching my fists to avoid violence.
“Benny?”
That cocksucker.
I couldn’t answer her yet because I knew I would scare her with my reply. I paced the small space, striding to the door before yanking it open and walking into the hall.
Bianca followed me, piecing together all the parts she’d been given about my past. “Back at the hotel, you said all the Hubers and Russos were monsters.” She swallowed, and I glanced at her face, growing agitated, when I saw the truth register. “I know you didn’t mean me, but the men who burned you and murdered your father.”
“Yes,” I snarled, hoping she would forgive me for the snappy reply.
“Salvador Russo and my cousins,” she whispered. “That’s why you hate mynonnotoo. He’s a Russo by marriage.”
“Yes,” I repeated with no less hostility.
“And Rubio,” she gasped, “was on the video. I heard his voice.” Her hands rose to her mouth as her eyes widened in shock. “He worked here. Mynonnowanted me to marry him.” She gagged. “Why? How could he order me to be with someone so vile?”
I didn’t have an answer to that. “I don’t know.”
“Did any of my uncles hurt you? Or my father?”
“No, unless you count Michael kicking my ass the night that I returned his Ducati.”
The same night that we watched the sunset and shared our first kiss.
“Oh, Benny.” She sighed, rushing toward me to wrap her arms around my waist. “I’m sorry. For all of it.”
“None of it happened because of you. It’s not your burden.”
“But I feel it.”
“Then you understand why I seek vengeance.”
Her cheek rested over my heart. “I do, Benny. I don’t like the idea of spilling blood, but I know you need to do this.”
“And you won’t be angry with me when the guilty are punished?”
“How could I judge or condemn you after what happened?”
Fuck. I loved her. “I’ll be back.”
“I know.” She lifted her head. “Promise me.”
“I swear,tesoro.”
Satisfied, she nodded.
“I must take you back now.”
My lips pressed to her forehead before I reached for her hand, clasping her fingers with mine. The stone-lined passage led away from my private apartment and to the bridge, where we would exit through the door and into the passageways that spread beyond.
The labyrinth of tunnels led to different levels of the house depending on the destination. I didn’t take her on a tour today, but we would walk the entire distance someday.
Bianca gasped when we crossed the bridge, staring at the waterfall. “It’s real.”
“Of course it is,cara mia.”
