Page 54 of Savage Proposal

“To the baby?”

I nodded, but then shrugged. “To everything,” I amended. “I don’t understand your lives, and I’m scared more often than I’m not, but how am I meant to forget about it all when this is over?” I put a hand over my tummy. It was becoming a protective gesture and one that comforted me, and I didn’t want to think about the baby growing inside of me. I didn’t want to fall in love with it.

“You could always stay,” Amalia said.

I scoffed. “Lorenzo has made it quite clear what he wants from me.”

She looked at me, as if she were trying to peer into my soul. “What do you want from him?”

I had no idea. It used to be my freedom. Now, that prospect of freedom felt like just another jail cell that I would be steppinginto. I reached for another cookie and broke it into pieces. “I want to finish this plate and then hide a bunch so that the guys don’t eat them all. Can we do that?”

Amalia nodded, eyes kind. “Of course.”

CHAPTER 33

Lorenzo

Blam! Blam! Bla – click.I popped the clip out of my 9mm and slammed in the next one. I barely had it raised before I was rapid firing again. The paper target looked like a doily by the time I was done with it.

“You look stressed,fratello,” Cristian said, sounding way too jovial for the amount of frustration that was pumping through my veins. He and Elio had suggested the gun range this morning before we headed into the city to check on the casino.

“Fuck you.”

Cristian had the balls to laugh. “You really shouldn’t say that to a priest, Enzo.”

“You’re not a priest yet, dickhead.”

“Close enough.” He reached for the empty clip that I had thrown to the side and started loading it again. He held it out for me. “Here.”

I stared at him, and then at the clip. “Thanks.”

Before I could pull my ear protection back down, he asked, “You’re upset about Isabella, right?”

He knew more than what he was saying; that was clear in his tone. “Amalia told you that she’s pregnant.”

“She did,” Cristian admitted, “but she didn’t need to. It’s written all over your face.”

I snarled. “Did she also tell you that she wants toleave?”

Cristian raised an eyebrow. “Did she try to escape?”

“No.”

“So, she justsaidshe wanted to leave?” he pressed. At my silence, he scoffed. “Did you expect her towantto be your prisoner,fratello?”

If Cristian were anyone else, I would have put a bullet between his fucking eyes. I tightened my fingers around the butt of the handgun in my hands, glad that its clip was empty. I might not have been able to resist the urge to splatter his brain against the wall. “I expect her to hold up her end of our fucking deal,” I said.

“Did you expect her not to question her choices?”

“Why are you on her side?” I demanded.

Elio stepped in and put a hand on my arm. I shook him off, swinging to point the gun at him. It was empty, and they both knew it, but my cousin still froze. “I’ll get you another target,” he offered.

I forced the tension out of my shoulders and nodded. “Thanks,cugino.”

While Elio went to fetch new targets for both of us, I opened the second box of bullets and began loading my clips. Cristian went to his own stall to do the same. When Elio came back, he went to the end of the range to hang up the targets, and then we were back to blasting them apart. Watching a paper target explode into pieces was satisfying—though maybe not as satisfying as it would be to ring Isabella’s neck—and by the time I turned two more targets into confetti, some of my anger had abated.

“Can I ask you one more question, Enzo?” Cristian asked as we began to pack things up. Elio and I needed to check on Damian.

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