Page 31 of Mafia Kingdom

The guards hesitate.

“Now.”

The hallway clears in seconds.

And then it’s just us.

I suck in a sharp breath, but it doesn’t feel like enough. My hands shake. My vision swims.

Marco moves toward me. “Sasha, breathe.”

I stumble back. “Don’t touch me.”

He doesn’t listen. He reaches for me, his fingers brushing my wrist, and I snap. I shove him. Hard.

He barely moves. His jaw clenches. Something dark flickers in his eyes.

“You’re a fucking control freak,” I spit, voice hoarse.

His fingers curl into fists at his sides. “And you don’t understand the danger you’re in.”

“Because you won’t tell me anything!”

“Because you don’t need to know everything!”

“You think you can just control everything, don’t you?” My voice shakes, but I don’t care. “You think you can keep me locked up like some kind of fucking prisoner?”

Marco barely moves, but his expression hardens. “I’m keeping you alive.”

I laugh, sharp and bitter. “Bullshit. You don’t care about keeping me alive—you care about control.”

His jaw tightens. “Watch yourself, Sasha.”

“Or what?” I step closer, challenging. Pushing. “You’ll lock me up again? Keep me caged like you do everyone else? Maybe you’ll kill me, just like you did to Dave—”

His face darkens. “Careful.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Am I touching a nerve?” I take another step, my heart pounding, my hands clenched into fists. “You don’t like hearing the truth? That you’re a fucking control freak who takes whatever he wants and doesn’t give a damn about the consequences?”

His voice drops, deadly quiet. “You think I wanted this?”

“Yes, if you didn’t, you would let me go and see my sister, my dad.”

“I took you to your dad,” he shouts back.

His entire body tenses, and suddenly, he moves—fast.

I stumble back, and my shoulders hit the wall. My breath catches. My pulse slams against my ribs. I’ve gone too far.

Marco is in front of me before I can react, his hands pressed against the wall on either side of me. Not touching. Not forcing. Just holding me there.

I tilt my chin up, refusing to back down, even though my lungs are too tight and the space between us is too small.

“Let. Me. Go.” My voice shakes.

His gaze flicks to my lips.

Something inside me snaps. I’m afraid he might kiss me because the sad part of me keeps wondering what it would feel like, and I can’t let that happen.

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