Page 45 of Seduced By the Enemy

She’d known it was going to end, but she still wasn’t really prepared for that. And she wasn’t prepared for this. How could she be? They’d taken such care to avoid being seen. Except, they hadn’t. Not really. Using this stairwell had been reckless—and impossible to resist.

“What are you doing here?” She asked Leandro.

“Looking for you,” he ground out. “Carey Mossa said you came in here. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“That hardly seems to matter now.” Leandro’s voice rang with barely concealed anger. “Do you know who this is?”

She met his question with an unblinking stare.

“Is this a one-off thing?” Leandro demanded, when she didn’t answer.

“With respect, that’s none of your business,” Salvatore cut in. “Emilia’s life, and my life, for that matter, are our business. No one else’s.”

“With all due respect,’ Leandro volleyed back, making it clear respect was the last thing he felt for this man, “my sister’s life is very much my business.”

Emilia bristled at that.

“She is a grown woman, capable of making her own decisions.”

“Evidently not,” Leandro disputed. “Not if you’re one of them.”

She felt Salvatore tense a little, but Leandro continued before Salvatore could speak. “What the hell is this all about, Santoro? Some kind of game? A way to hurt us?”

“Leo – that’s not –,”

“I’m not talking to you, Emme.”

“But you are speaking about her,” Salvatore interjected. “And she has a right to reply.”

And then, Salvatore’s hand was coming around to his back, his fingers catching hers and lacing them together, squeezing.

“Don’t tell me?—,”

“Leo, please,” Emilia groaned. “Don’t do this.”

“Don’t do this? You’re saying that to me? Have you been fucking this—this—piece of shit, Emme? Have you actually been?—,”

Salvatore squeezed her hand. “Careful,” he warned Leandro.

But Leandro’s temper flared up and then he was shoving Salvatore, so he almost fell backwards. Emilia gasped at theuncharacteristic show of violence from her brother, as she instinctively stood aside, out of danger. “Stop,” she said, shaking her head, but Leandro was pushing again, harder this time, so Salvatore took a step backwards.

“Touch me again, and you’ll regret it.”

Salvatore’s words rang through the concrete stairwell.

“Is that a threat?”

“What do you think?”

“You want to know what I think? I think you’re using my sister. I think you’re using her to get back at us, and Emme just doesn’t see it. Damn it, Emme,” he rounded on her. “You are too fucking trusting. This bastard is using you. How can you not see that?”

“He’s not like that,” she said, shaking her head. “He’s not like you think.”

“Bullshit.”

“I’m serious, Leo. Salvatore is?—,”

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