Page 50 of Savage Enemy

She raised a brow and folded her arms.

“Otherwise, Stefano, there’s really no chance in hell you’ll see Valentina again.”

CHAPTER 10

VAL

Santo’s words hung in the air between us, echoing, but he was wrong. My son would never be like him.

But how well did I really know Stefano?

I knew the charming and cocky young man I’d fallen so hard for more than a decade ago, but power and his desire for vengeance had changed him.

How many people had he tortured and killed as head of his family? Would he do it again to get me back yet again?

I questioned how much Enzo had witnessed when Stefano tracked me down to get me back from my previous captor.

The man had taken my nine-year-old boy with him on a dangerous rescue mission and gave him a fucking gun.

And I’d left my son with this man.

I didn’t have a choice. I had to do it.

Stop it. You do know Stefano well enough.

My gut—no, my heart told me his had stayed the same.

Savage enemy or not, when Stefano Vignali loved, he loved very deeply, and nothing else mattered to him.

He hadn’t built a massive empire because he craved power. He built it because he’d loved his family so much.

Love was the reason he’d become so hell-bent on revenge.

But now he had to defeat two cities.

My heartbeat thumped inside my ears as I stared down at my pizza slice, trying to hold back the overwhelming tremor vibrating in my bones. My stomach flipped, the greasy cheeses no longer sitting well.

My mind spiraled, and I didn’t hear Marco when he entered the room, not until he sat heavily on the other side of the bed, bouncing me on the mattress.

“Did you guys save me some?” he asked.

Santo slid the pizza box across the bed.

“Yeah, eat up, bro.”

Observing the calm in Marco’s demeanor created an intense panic inside me, and tears burned my eyelids. I wanted to scream out loud. I wanted to fall apart. But I couldn’t let my emotions take control. I had to think clearly. I had to come up with a plan.

Find a way to escape. Get back to my son.

Beg Stefano to forgive me and help me. If he killed Saul, maybe it would all be over, and for good this time.

Aris would have to die as well.

I didn’t know about Marco or Santo yet.

All I did know was I had to find a way to get to Stefano.

Santo pointed at the stains on Marco’s white shirt.

---