Page 8 of Impenitent Claim

I couldn’t allow this. Nothing could screw up the deal I made with the underboss and the don. If I married Alonzo, Gio could reach adulthood. It was as simple as that.

A sudden, overwhelming ache spread across my chest. Standing on unsteady feet, I padded to my door and ghosted into the hall. Gio was likely downstairs, playing those stupid video games with his dorky friends. I had to see him. If there was someone determined to overthrow the current setup, we were in danger. Gio was in danger!

The patter of my bare feet echoed loudly to my ears. Pressing a hand over my heart, I steadied myself. A delicious buzz sang in my veins, but that meant my senses weren’t sharp.

I need to be quiet.

Was that creak in the floorboard too loud? Couldn’t I breathe more softly? I furiously tapped my fingers against my bare thighs, forcing my steps to be soft and feathery. One, two—there, just like that. I visualized being a ballerina, floating across thestage. It helped until I nearly lost my balance. Clutching the first solid object, I stopped myself and decided to have no more mental images in this current state of red wine bliss. It wasn’t until I was ghosting along a back corridor that I realized I was in skintight booty shorts and an oversized tee.

Oh, shit.

I stopped short at a corridor. Squeezing my hands tight, I glanced over my shoulder. I could run back upstairs. But…Gio. I needed to make sure he was okay. Panic bubbled through me. The deep breath couldn’t calm the suffocating need to see my only relative—my only reason to exist.

Please don’t let anyone catch me.

I sprinted forward. Turning sharply at the next hallway, I crashed into a wall. A warm, living wall.

“Oof,” I breathed.

Two hard hands shot out, blocking my escape.

The fuzzy feeling in my brain sizzled out in a flash, and details of my situation started to form. The thick shadows shrouded the stranger’s face. But the height and build, the strength of those hands, and even thesmelltold me this was a man-man.

Man-man? Oh, what the heck, you dork.

“Excuse me, I didn’t know anyone was back here,” I said, pleased that my voice didn’t shake.

I took a step back, attempting to put some distance between myself and the mass of man-man. His grip lowered to my wrists. In one smooth move, he spun me and pinned my face against the wall.

A sharp gasp filled my lungs.

Caged by his body, the scent surrounded me. It was heady and intense, laced with spicy notes. Smokey. With something lush and woodsy underneath.

And…familiar.

Where had I smelled this before?

The stranger lifted one arm, his thumb circling over the inside of my wrist. It dawned on me! He was feeling my racing pulse. Something primal rose in response, beating the drum that was my heart into a furious battle cry. I should be frightened. I shouldfight.But instead, I wet my lips.

His voice was pure gravel. “Have you been drinking, malen'kaya printsessa?”

Busted. “No.”

He lifted both of my arms, pinning them high above my head with one of his incredibly large hands. The other? It trailed down the length of my side, starting along my arm and blazing a path down my ribs. Lulled by the seductive feel of his touch, I yelped when his hand snaked out to capture my chin.

“You reek of alcohol,” he whispered. The menace under his words might as well have been a whip. It crackled across my skin, sending a shiver down my spine.

Wait a second. Wait just one damn second!What had he called me? That language rolled off his tongue like the rumble of a great forest beast. It wasn’t rooted in romanticism. No, it was something more…barbaric. An Eastern European tongue.

Printsessa.Princess.

As my brain scrambled to filter the information, my tongue ran away with itself. “I can’t reek, because wine isn’t alcohol.”

He let out a sneer of disgust.

That brought the fight to my veins. “It’s not your business what I do, phantom,” I snapped.

“On the contrary,Isabella, it is.” His touch forced my head to the side, and his nose brushed the length of my neck. It was his turn to inhale deeply. “I can’t have anyone stumbling upon you in this state. They might try to take what is mine.”

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