Page 105 of Savage Saint
He's right. I've had countless opportunities. And now that I remember why I was really here...
"Why didn't you?" he asks, his voice softer now.
"Because I..." The words stick in my throat. "I didn't remember. Until today, I didn't even know I was supposed to kill you."
"Then what's stopping you now?" He gestures at the bag beside my feet. At the knife peeking out of the side pocket. "Do it, Butterfly. Complete your mission."
I look between him and the bag. "I—I can't"
"Why?" he presses
"Because I—" Because I what? Because I care for him? Because somewhere along the way, I've started caring for the man I was supposed to kill? "Because you're the only thing that's ever felt real."
Angelo goes completely still, like my words physically hit him. When he speaks, his voice is rough, almost broken. "Kasia..." He cups my face with trembling hands. "You couldn'tbecause whatever Jerzy made you into, whatever the Red Widow is supposed to be, that's not all you are."
My head snaps up. "You know? About the Red Widow?"
"I know everything, Butterfly. I've suspected since the casino attack."
The floor seems to tilt beneath me. "And you didn't... You didn't kill me?"
A small, predatory smile curves his lips. "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead."
His fingers tangle in my hair, tilting my head back. "The question isn't whether I should kill you. It's what we're going to do about the man who tried to use you against me."
"Jerzy," I whisper.
"Jerzy," Angelo confirms, his voice a dangerous promise. "The man who took everything from you. The man who thought he could take everything from me by sending you."
"He'll come for me," I warn. "He won't stop until I complete my mission or until he kills me for failing."
"Let him come." Angelo's smile is terrifying in its beauty. "I'll be waiting."
"You don't understand. He's not just my handler. He's... he's got this device. He can control me with it. Make me do things I don't want to do." I touch the base of my skull where I know the receiver sits, embedded in my flesh. "I'm not safe to be around."
"I know about that too," Angelo says, surprising me again. "Arrow's working on a jammer. By morning, that thing in your head will be useless."
Hope blooms in my chest, fragile and terrifying. "You'd do that for me? After everything I've told you?"
"I told you, Butterfly. You're mine now." His thumb traces my bottom lip. "Whatever you were before, whoever sent you here, none of that matters. What matters is who you choose to be now. Who you choose to stand with."
"I choose you," I whisper, the words feeling like a vow. "I choose this life. I choose us."
His eyes darken with satisfaction. "Good girl."
"What about your brothers? Dante will want me dead when he finds out."
"Let me worry about my brothers." Angelo's voice is firm. "No one touches what's mine. Not even them."
He pulls me to my feet, his hands strong and sure. "Now, we plan. We prepare. And then we hunt."
For the first time since my memories returned, I feel something like peace. Not because the danger has passed, it hasn't. Not because I'm forgiven, I'm not sure I ever will be. But because I'm no longer alone in this fight.
I'm no longer the Red Widow, Jerzy's perfect weapon. I'm not even Kasia, the lost girl with no memories.
I'm something new. Something forged in pain and tempered by love. Something that belongs to Angelo Santoro, just as surely as he belongs to me.
And together, we're going to burn Jerzy's world to the ground.
