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“Well, it was a very creative and colorful curse, I’ll give you that,” she replies in absolutely flawless Italian as well.
I laugh in amazement before switching back to English. “I also hear that you outmaneuvered four elite guards and that you put a gun to my grandfather’s head.”
“I did.”
“God, you’re ballsy.” Leaning closer, I skim my lips over hers. “And fucking incredible.”
She lets out a shuddering breath as my words caress her lips. Closing my eyes, I rest my forehead against hers for a few seconds. Just breathing her in and reminding myself that she is here. Thatweare here.
After I finished skinning Derek alive, Federico and I showed his body to Sebastian. The blond hitman pissed his pants and then spilled everything about the Hands of Peace. Their current location, which Isabella didn’t know since they had moved after she escaped. Their security systems. Everything.
After my grandfather had finished torturing Sebastian to death too, he immediately sent a strike team big enough to conquer a decent-sized country to take out their entire cult. And they did. Everyone who belonged to the Hands of Peace are now either dead or in custody. Isabella even flew there with us to personally identify the Master’s body. He turned out to be a brute of a man who looked as vicious as Isabella had told us he was. But now he is dead. And the threat both to her and to me has been neutralized.
After that, Federico once more suggested that I should stop pretending to be Rico Hunter and return to the Morelli empire as the rightful heir. And this time, I agreed.
I know who I am now.
I am not the Enrico Morelli who I was before I officially died six years ago.
And I am not Rico Hunter who I have been pretending to be for six years either.
I’m a mix of them both. With some new bits that have been added since I met Isabella. Rico Morelli. A new person. Someone who finally feels like me.
So I dropped out of Blackwater, reclaimed the name Morelli, and at long last returned home. Isabella dropped out too, since the only reason she enrolled was to hide from the Hands of Peace. And when I asked her to move in with me, she thankfully said yes.
Since this is her first home, I wanted her to choose it. So I let her check out all the houses spread out across the massive land area we own. And she picked this one, because she said that it felt like home. Our home.
And by God, I agree.
This will beourhome. And we will slowly fill it with things that fit us both. Our real personalities. Not the people we have been pretending to be for years.
A real home. For us.
“What did you tell my grandfather?” I ask as I draw back again, meeting her gaze with serious eyes. “When he asked you why you didn’t take the money? And why you endured the torture instead of telling them where I was? He refused to tell me that part. Said that I should ask you directly instead.”
Golden light from the setting sun reflects in those storm-swept blue-gray eyes of hers, making them glitter. Like water blanketed with gilded sparkles.
“The truth,” she replies, holding my gaze. “That I love you.”
My heart skips several beats, and an unsteady breath escapes my lungs.
“Can I ask you something?” She traces her fingers over my cheekbone and then down along my jaw while a wistful smile blows across her lips.
Everything inside me is thrumming with heat. With life. With love. I drag in a steadying breath and nod. “Of course.”
“Why didn’t you kill me that day in the forest? After I had told you everything you wanted to know?” She lets her hand drop back down and instead cocks her head, her gaze curious. “The only logical reaction would have been to kill me, or to hand me over to your grandfather after that. But you didn’t. Why?”
“Because when I looked into your eyes, I saw the other half of my soul that I have been missing.”
Her breath hitches.
I cup her cheeks, kissing her deeply. Then I rest my forehead against hers and whisper against her lips, “I love you, Isabella.”
“I love you too,” she whispers back, her voice raw. “You are the soul I didn’t even know I possessed.”
Bracing one arm against the wall, I slide the other hand around the back of her neck as I press my lips to hers. She locks her hands around the back of my neck too, pulling me closer. I rest my knee against the wall between her legs.
She kisses me back fiercely. Passionately.
