Page 5 of Savage Enemy

My brother wouldn’t leave without me, even if he had to kill my boys and search the house himself. The fact that he dared to show up in New York meant my father knew everything, and there wouldn’t be a single rock left unturned until they had me back.

Glancing over my shoulder, I caught a glimpse of Marco glaring up at the staircase. Still as beautiful as ever, though the roundness of his youthful cheeks had gone, and time had hardened his eyes.

A decade under our father, serving as the Moscatelli underboss, had changed him in all the ways this life of ours reshapes a first-born son.

In that moment, seeing what Marco had become, I had no doubt about what lay ahead. My time pretending to live freely outside of my family had come to a screeching halt.

I had faked my death, lived for so long under an assumed identity, and still, fate let them find me.

Fate was a cruel bitch.

I’d always belonged to a monster, one or the other, but always a monster.

Blood rushed to my cheeks.

I gnashed my teeth.

All his fault. Stefano, the arrogant, impatient prick.

My father found me because Stefano led them to me. He had that fucking announcement published without even talking to me, telling the whole world he planned to marry me.

Me, Valerie Salera, or so he thought. A woman he would’ve known didn’t exist if he had bothered to run a proper, mafia-style background check.

Of course I knew what he would say.

I should be thankful he gave me a hall pass—and not because he trusted me but because wanted to trust in my innocence.

Innocence I faked.

Damn him. He had the resources to find out anything. He was so much smarter than that. If he’d checked into me, he never would’ve made that public declaration.

So yeah. It was all his stupid fucking preventable fault.

Stefano caught my arm from behind and stopped me.

He stared at me for a minute without saying a word. His mouth flattened into a hard line, and his frown deepened, but before he could say a word, I yanked away and headed for Enzo’s room.

A vicious growl rumbled from deep inside his chest.

Mother of Christ—why had I thought marrying a man as dangerous, volatile, and self-centered as my father was a good idea?

Because I loved him.

Because he lit my body on fire and soothed my soul with nothing more than a sweep of his dark eyes.

I just… I fucking loved this man.

If we survived, I would kill him. And he would finally meet Valentina Moscatelli—the real one. After that he would never mistake me for an innocent little girl again.

But first, we had to survive.

Stefano stalked after me, caught my arm in his bruising grip and yanked me back against his body.

“You’re going to stop running and tell me what the fuck’s going on. Who the hell is brave enough to pound on my fucking door like that, Val?”

My heart dropped into my stomach with a heavy thud.

My legs quivered and nearly gave way.

---