Page 194 of Untamed

I don’t go back to my room.

I can’t sit in silence, can’t listen to the echo of Bianca’s words bouncing off the walls like accusations. I feel like I’m vibrating from the inside out, like if I stop moving, I’ll fall apart completely.

So I do the only thing that makes sense in the chaos.

I go to him.

My feet move before my brain can stop them. Down the corridor, past the long stretch of windows, out into the humid Sicilian air that clings to my skin like heat from a fever. I don’t care who sees. Don’t care what time it is.

I justneedhim.

The path to his villa is carved into memory now. My heart slams in my chest with every step, like it’s trying to outrun the storm still trailing behind me.

I spot Dante leaning against the side of a blacked-out SUV, a cigarette in hand. A couple of Ares’s other men linger nearby,speaking low in Sicilian, their voices barely rising above the hum of the night.

When Dante sees me, our eyes lock. He says nothing, just gives me a single nod. Not of approval. Not one of warning. Just… acknowledgment. Like he already knows why I’m here.

So do I.

I reach the door and don’t knock.

I step inside like I’ve done it a hundred times, even though I haven’t. Not really. But itfeelslike I have. This place has become a part of me. Ofus.

I hesitate, just for a second, but then I open it.

It’s dark inside. Quiet.

“Ares?” I call out softly.

No answer.

I move through the open-plan room, searching, my bare feet whispering against the cool tile. The only sound is the distant hum of cicadas outside and the pounding in my chest.

Then I see him...through the glass doors, out back near the edge of the pool. Shirtless. Back turned. Shoulders rigid. Smoking.

Even from here, I can feel the weight on him.

I slide the door open and step outside.

He doesn’t look at me, doesn’t even flinch.

“Before you say it, I know I shouldn’t be here,” I say, the words catching on the breath I barely have.

Still, he doesn’t move. Just exhales slowly, smoke curling in the night air like a ghost between us.

“But I am.”

I take another step toward him.

And this time, he turns.

His eyes find mine, haunted, hollow, burning. Like seeing me hurts more than anything else he’s endured.

Good. Because this?Thishurts me too.

Ares turns...slowly. And the moment our eyes meet, something sharp and ancient slices through me. The weight in his stare tells me everything I need to know.

He’s breaking. And if he pushes me away now… I might break too.

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