Page 9 of Savage Enemy

A muddled mess—my mind. I couldn’t think.

My gaze shifted from my father’s perpetual scowl of disapproval to the stoic expression on my son’s face.

“How nice of you to join us,” Aris said. “I was just getting to know my nephew.”

Aris placed the gun on his lap, no longer pointing it at Enzo. Now that he had my attention, he didn’t need to. His unspoken threat sliced through the air as cleanly as any bullet.

He didn’t need to say it. I knew. If I didn’t do what he wanted, he would kill my son without hesitation or remorse.

Not one of us in the room had a shred of doubt.

Aris would do it.

I nodded.

He grinned again.

No more hiding.

I had to find another way to keep us alive.

CHAPTER 2

STEFANO

Deception flashed in Val’s eyes, giving her away. Her promise to stay—and to keep her damn hands off my son—meant nothing. Just another one of her attempts to manipulate me.

Mia bellissima diavoletta.

My beautiful little devil.

I moved in close to her mouth with mine.

She dug her front teeth into her bottom lip and forced me to part her pretty lips with my thumb. I pressed a hard kiss on her mouth. No tongue. No tenderness. Only a clear warning for her to stop the fucking lies or suffer the consequences.

“Make no mistake—you’ll pay for the lies you tell me,” I said. “Every one of them, Valerie.”

Christ, ten minutes ago she’d been happy, content, ready to take on this life with me. Ready to raise our son with me.

Ready to tell me the truth.

But in the span of a minute, she’d gone from angry to terrified, her perfect ivory skin turning a stark white, the hollow of her neck fluttering with panic.

Not a moment went by when I didn’t want to touch her there, when I didn’t want to hold her throat and feel her life pulsing beneath my fingers. To own it. To own her.

To own her fear...

I wanted her to fear me and only me.

Not whoever the fuck frightened her now.

I wouldn’t tolerate something like that coming between us, someone else taking that from me.

Nor would I let another man hurt her.

Ah, but someone from her past waited at my front door.

God help him if he wanted to cause her pain, if he tried to ruin my future with her. I would kill him. If he’d hurt her in the past, or tried to take my family now, I would bathe in his blood.

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