Page 128 of Untamed

In his study, like he always is after these bullshit declarations, fingers steepled over his mouth, already plotting the next move on his oversized chessboard like he didn’t just throw a fucking grenade in my lap.

I don’t knock.

I slam the door behind me and speak before he even looks up.

“I’m not marrying her.”

Luciano doesn’t even blink. His eyes flick up to mine, cold, unreadable. “It’s already done, figlio.”

“Like fuck it is.” I cross the room in three strides, fury simmering just beneath the surface.

“I’m not some fucking chess piece you move around to fit whatever strategy you’re playing. You don’t get to dictate my life like it’s one of your boardroom negotiations.”

His jaw ticks, but he says nothing, because he knows I’m not finished.

“You want to use me to tie some alliance together, I’ll do it. Send me to negotiate. Send me to make the deal. But don’t youdarethink you can choose who I spend the rest of my life with.”

I stop just short of his desk, fists clenched. “You don’t get to decide who I touch. Who I want. Who Ilove.”

He scoffs, casually. “Love, figlio?” he intones sardonically. “Do you really think you’re capable of such sentiments? You don’t love. Youobsess. There’s a difference.”

“You don’t know a fucking thing about me.” My voice is low and lethal. “You want to tell me who to kill? Fine. Who to intimidate, who to bleed dry? That’s your game. But who I sleep with, who I want in my bed, in mylife, that’s not yours to decide.” I slam my hand on the desk, and his expression hardens. “That’smine.”

Luciano leans forward, his dark eyes narrowing. “You think this is about whatyouwant?”

“No, when has it ever. It’s always about what you want, isn’t it?” I step in closer, keeping my eyes locked on his.

“I know what you’re doing. You think Giana Mancini’s going to make me obedient? Keep me in check? You’ve been trying to break me my whole life,newsflash, old man, it didn’t fucking work.”

He stands slowly, voice cold as steel. “This isn’t about obedience. It’s about unity. You’ve become a liability. That girl?—”

“—her name isJordyn.” My voice is a growl. “And if you think marrying me off is going to erase what I feel for her, then you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”

A heavy silence hangs between us. The kind that comes before war.

“Do I need to remind you what happens when you choose love, figlio?”

My blood stills. “You rememberveryclearly what happened the last time you let a girl close to you.”

And there it is. The line he knew would land.

My throat closes. For a second, I seeherface, not Jordyn’s. The other one.Seraphina. The one I failed to protect. The one I scared so badly that she ran without looking back.

Luciano watches me fold in on myself without blinking.

“You forget, I raised you.” Luciano’s voice is cool, measured, like he’s explaining something obvious to a child. “You may have forgotten, but I know what you are. And I know what happens when you get too close to something soft.”

He leans forward, gaze sharp as a scalpel. “You remember very clearly what happened the last time you let a girl in. Seraphina didn’t even make it to the end of the year before she fled halfway across the world to escape you.”

A muscle ticks in my jaw, but he doesn’t stop.

“That girl, Jordyn, she’s not built for the kind of life you can give her, figlio. She still flinches at the shadows. She still believes monsters wear masks.” He shakes his head slowly. “A man like you needs a woman like Giana. Someone who doesn’t need protection. Someone who doesn’t run screaming when she sees the monster you become when you’re thirsty for the kill.”

I stare at him.

And I don’t say it.

But I think it.

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