Page 30 of Alessio DeLuca

I nod, too exhausted and overwhelmed to protest as he starts working on my bonds with careful movements. The ropes fall away, the sudden rush of blood to my limbs drawing a pained hiss from my cracked lips.

Alessio pauses, his eyes dark with concern. “Easy, baby,” he soothes, rubbing gentle circles into the intact parts of my skin. “I know it hurts. But I’m gonna make it all better, I swear.”

Tears sting my eyes, gratitude and love swelling in my chest until I feel like I might burst with it. “I know you will,” I whisper, leaning into his solid strength. “I trust you, Less’.”

His breath catches, his gaze boring into mine with an intensity that steals the air from my lungs. “I love you,” he rasps out, his words raw and fierce. “I thought I might lose you…”

I silence him with a trembling finger to his lips, my heart too full for words. “I love you too,” I breathe, the truth of it ringing through my core. “I think I have from the moment you first smiled at me, all those years ago.”

This. This is what I fought for, what I survived for. This man, this love, this promise of a future I once thought out of reach.

And now that I have it, have him? I’m never letting go.

* * *

Alessio

I cradle Maty in my arms as I carry her out of that godforsaken warehouse. She’s alive. Battered and drained, but alive.

And she fucking loves me. Loves me, despite the darkness in my soul, the blood on my hands. Despite everything I am and everything I’ve done.

It’s a gift I know I don’t deserve, could never hope to earn. But it’s one I will spend the rest of my life cherishing, protecting with every beat of my black heart.

I step out into the cool dawn air, the first pale rays of sunlight breaking over the horizon. Maty stirs against my chest, her face turning instinctively towards the warmth.

“Is it over?” she murmurs, her lashes fluttering open to reveal those gorgeous dark eyes I adore. “Is he…is he really gone?”

“He’s gone,” I confirm, tightening my hold on her. “He can’t hurt you anymore, baby. No one can. I won’t allow it.”

She nods, a shudder rippling through her curvy frame. “I knew you’d come for me,” she whispers, her lips curving in a trembling smile. “I never doubted it.”

Emotion clogs my throat, hot and thick.

She reaches up to cup my cheek, her touch infinitely tender.

I turn my head to press a kiss to her palm. “You and me, baby. Always.”

Thirteen

Chapter 13

Maty

It’s been a week since Alessio rescued me from that hellish warehouse. A week of rest, recovery, and merciless hovering from my overprotective mafia King.

At first, I was too shaken, too raw from the ordeal to protest his fierce coddling. I let him tuck me into the safety of his penthouse, accepted the round-the-clock security detail without (much) complaint. I even choked down the bland meals prescribed by the private doctor he had on speed dial, knowing it eased his mind to see me eating, healing.

But now, with the worst of my bruises fading and the sharp ache in my ribs dulled to a tolerable twinge, I’m starting to go crazy under the constant supervision. Starting to long for a return to normalcy, to the comfortable routine of my life before Ghost upended everything.

And normal, for me, means work.

My fingers twitch with the urge to fly across a keyboard, to lose myself in lines of code and the familiar glow of my monitors. I need to feel useful again, to reassert control over some small corner of my world after having it so violently ripped away.

So when Alessio slips out for an unavoidable meeting, pressing a kiss to my forehead and extracting a promise that I’ll take it easy… I wait a whole thirty minutes before reaching for my laptop.

Just a few quick emails, I tell myself as I prop up against the pillows. Just checking in with my team, making sure the cyber security contracts are running smoothly. No need to worry Alessio unnecessarily.

I’m so engrossed in replying to a string of concerned messages from my coworkers that I don’t hear the penthouse door open. Don’t register the approaching footsteps until a familiar large hand closes my laptop with a decisive snap.

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