Page 262 of Untamed

I snort. “He’s lucky I needed him to pass on a message, or I would have cut out his tongue and fed it to him.” I assert calmly. “Maybe next time I’ll send flowers and a warning note? Or better yet. I’ll knit him a fucking apology scarf.”

Enzo’s eyes harden, and I can see the vein in his temple throbbing. “You think this is funny?”

“No,” I say, finally turning to face him. “I think it’s inevitable, and you’re wasting your breath.”

“For Christ’s sake.” Enzo’s voice is tight now, barely holding back. “You think you’re unstoppable. But you’re not, Ares. You’re not invincible. And this path you're on? It doesn’t end with you winning, it ends with you buried...and you’ll take her with you.”

I turn my head, just enough for him to see my eyes.

“And what would you have me do, Enzo?” I say, quiet but lethal. “Nicolai sealed his fate the moment he marked her. The bastard’s been watching her. Sending her roses with notes. Hegot into her fucking bedroom at the manor. She’s already been taken once. I’ll die before I let it happen again.”

Enzo glances toward the house. Toward the room where Jordyn is. “I know you think you’re protecting her, but you’re not, Ares. You’re dragging her deeper into something she doesn’t even understand.”

“I gave her the choice to walk away, and she didn’t take it,” I say. “She took my hand instead and vowed to stand by my side. In my fucked-up world that girl in there is the only thing that matters. And I’ll kill anyone who tries to take her away from me. That includes Nicolai. That includes anyone who sides with him. That includes you and Luciano.”

Enzo recoils as if I’ve struck him. It flickers across his face before he masks it with that cool, controlled exterior he’s always worn better than I have. “Do you really think I’d let anything happen to her… or to you?”

I don’t answer. I just glare.

Then a bitter laugh escapes me, low and hollow. “Don’t insult me, Enzo. Don’t stand there pretending like you’ve got my back when you’re holding the same fucking blade he is. You’re not here for me. You’re here for the throne. Just like him.”

“That’s not fair?—”

“Isn’t it?” I cut in, eyes narrowing. “You’ve been nodding along with every bullshit move he makes. The marriage. The legacy. Capo dei Capi. Tell me, did it ever cross your mind to ask what I wanted? Do you even fucking care?”

He swallows hard.

“Yeah, I thought not.”

A moment of silence lingers between us. Then I go for the throat.

“You talk like you’re better than me, like you’re the balanced one, the golden fucking child. But I remember your first marriage to Elena. You did it for the family, for appearances. How’d that turn out, huh? You were in someone else’s bed within a week.”

Enzo flinches hard.

I press in. “And now what? You gonna walk away from Bianca too if papà snaps his fingers and tells you to? Or would you just fuck her behind your next wife’s back like last time?”

“Don’t,” Enzo growls, the word low and dangerous.

“Why not?” I snap. “You can stand there and preach about duty and legacy, but I know what it cost you. And now you expect me to swallow the same poison and thank you for it?”

He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t have a fucking word to defend himself because he knows I’m right.

So, I step back, eyes burning into his.

“You may be my brother, Enzo. But if you stand with him, you stand against me. It’s as simple as that.”

Enzo looks down, voice tight. “This war’s going to kill you, Ares. And it’s going to kill her too, if you keep pulling her deeper into it.”

“I’m already dead without her.”

He shakes his head. “She’s a kid.”

“She’snotjust some wide-eyed girl who stumbled into my life. She’s stronger and has more heart than you’ll ever know. Andwhile you and Luciano were busy playing kingmakers, she was the one who made me want to live for the first time in my fucking life.”

“I’m not sacrificing her,” I say, voice low, final. “I’d rather burn this entire fucking empire to the ground than watch her become another casualty in a game I never asked to play.”

Enzo exhales shakily, then looks at me. “I don’t want to lose you, Ares.”