Page 188 of Untamed

“You don’t get to gamble with her life.”

He rises slowly from his chair, straightening his suit with one flick of his wrist. “You think this is about her? No. This is aboutyou.About what you’ve become.”

A dangerous stillness coils in my chest.

Luciano steps closer. “You think we’re all blind, figlio? That we don’t know what’s going on between you and the girl?” His voice sharpens. “You sneak her out of the house. Take her to your mother’s vineyard. Walk around like she belongs to you.”

“Shedoesn’tbelong to anyone,” I snap.

“Oh, but she does. Toall of themnow. Nicolai. The Mancini’s. Anyone who sees the way you look at her. You forget, Ares… I’m the one who made you.”

That lands like a punch to the ribs.

“I trained the weapon you’ve become. I pulled you out of your mother's blood and forced you to survive. You were a rabid dog once. I gave you a leash. And now you’re ready to tear it off for some silly girl.”

My jaw clenches so hard I’m sure I feel my molars crack.

Luciano circles me like a predator. “You're smart. Lethal. But not invincible. Not when you’rein love.That’s the crack in your armour, Ares. And every man we do business with sees it. Word is already spreading. You’ve becomesoft.”

“You’re twisting this.”

“I’mprotecting you.The only way I know how.”

He stops beside me, lowering his voice like he’s offering a gift, not a threat.

“You want to keep her alive? Marry Giana. Seal the alliance. End the war before it starts. Otherwise… when the vultures come, and believe me they will, I won’t stop them.”

I turn to face him, eyes burning. “You’d sacrifice her.”

“I’d sacrificeanythingto keep this family standing.”

The silence afterward is suffocating.

“You’re a vile bastard,” I whisper.

Luciano exhales through his nose, not a laugh, but close. “No,ragazzo mio. I’m what you become when you stop pretending you can be anything else.”

The words dig under my skin, festering.

My fists curl so tight my knuckles crack. I don’t move. Not yet. The air between us thickens, with history, with blood, with the unsaid things I’ve swallowed for years.

I raise my eyes to his.

“Threaten her again,” I murmur, voice low and deadly, “and I won’t just destroy your empire. I’ll drag you to the gates of hell and leave you screaming at the feet of your enemies.” Luciano’s smile fades. He studies me now, not like a man assessing his son, but a threat. A rival.

“You forget who you’re talking to, figlio.”

“No.” I step in, close enough to feel his breath. “I know exactly who I’m talking to. The man who put a gun in my hand when I was nine. The man who watched me snap a boy’s neck at twelve and said nothing because it was useful.”

He doesn’t blink.

I lean closer. “You want me to be your monster,papa? Fine. But monsters don’t follow orders. And if you so much as whisper the first letter of her name… I’ll remind you who you really made.”

Luciano’s eyes narrow. “This is what you’ve become. You’d go to war over a girl?”

“The war has already begun, old man.” My voice drops, quiet and brutal. “Not only would I go to war. I would burn this fucking island to ash for her.”

The silence between us feels like a live wire. One spark and everything ignites.

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