Page 76 of Savage Claim

Elio scoffed. “In private,” he mused, “but also directly to Isabella when they get the opportunity.”

That was news to me. Something dark and mean scratched at the inside of my chest, demanding that I get out and do something. “They think they can get away with it?”

“They have been, Enzo,” Damian said. “For months.”

I held up a hand. “You guys continue to talk through my legal strategy,” I said, ignoring Elias’s irritated expression. “I have somewhere I need to be.”

Back down the hall, I barreled back into the room to see that Isabella hadn’t moved at all. “Dolcezza?”

She stirred just enough and smiled. “Come lay with me,” she commanded sleepily.

Like a loyal subject to the crown, I did as she asked. I lay down beside her, curving along her back. “Tell me who has been treating you badly,” I said. “I’ll make sure that they hurt.”

But Isabella shook her head and wound her fingers through mine. “I’m a liability to them,” she said, more awake now. “I’m an outsider; I’m unpredictable. It makes sense to me why they should be cautious around me.”

“It’s not an excuse,” I insisted.

“I’m not trying to give any of them one,” she said. “I’m just saying that I understand.”

We were quiet for a moment, and she started to drift off again. This time, I didn’t try to wake her up. She was too sweet and accommodating for her own good. If she gave me those names, I would make sure that they would become an example so that no one ever spoke sideways to her again.

I kissed the crown of her head. It would come out one way or another, and when it did, I would string the worst offenders up for all to see.

CHAPTER 49

Isabella

Iwas floating on a cloud. I found myself humming as I flipped the eggs that I was cooking in the pan. There was bread waiting for me to toast, and I had taken out two beautifully ripe avocados to smash.

At the counter, Amalia was sipping at a cup of tea, watching me closely. She didn’t quite trust me not to burn the kitchen down. “You seem happy this morning,bella.”

I chuckled. “You could definitely say that.”

“I told you,” Amalia clucked, sipping at her tea. “‘Thank God, you’re okay’ sex is the best kind of sex.” She thought for a moment, and then an absolutely deviant smile crossed her face. “Second only to rage sex.”

“I think it’s the other way around,” I said. “I like when we’re both happy to be with each other.”

Amalia cooed as if I’d said something cute. “You’re a romantic,” she teased in a singsong kind of way.

“I don’t think so,” I said. At least, I had never been a romantic before. “I just want the sweetness that comes afterward, you know? I want the cuddles and the kisses and the pillow talk.” When we first started sleeping together, Lorenzo hadn’t been good at that part, but now, I craved that closeness almost more than the maddening pleasure that he could wring from my body.

Amalia looked so fondly at me that I worried she might start crying or something. “I can’t even imagine Enzo doing anything like that.”

I waggled my eyebrows in her direction. “Jealous?”

She laughed. “Absolutely not,” she said. “Mystronzoof a husband is all the man that I need. I couldn’t handle anyone else.”

“And no one else would be able to handle him.”

“Right,” she giggled.

The eggs were finished, so I pulled them off of the burner, but I kept them in the skillet to keep warm while I mashed up the avocado for the toast. I was in the middle of seasoning the green mush when Gemma breezed into the kitchen. “What are you making?”

I didn’t think about it last night, but it hit me now that she hadn’t been waiting for me to come home. She hadn’t bothered coming out of her room when she heard all the noise from the SWAT the night before last, hadn’t come to see if I was okay when I got home after being gone for hours. “Breakfast,” I said. “Do you want some?”

She hummed. “And coffee, please.”

I stared at her, a little agog at her audacity, but then I shook myself. I fixed both Amalia and Gemma their plates and served them. When I turned to get coffee going, however, a hand on my arm stopped me. “Eat,” Amalia said. “If your sister wants coffee, she can make some herself.”

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