Page 231 of Legacy
She doesn’t move when I cup her face.
“You’ll have everything,” I murmur. “Your jewels. Your freedom. Everything I own. It’s yours.”
She blinks. Shakes her head slightly. “What are you talking about?”
Her breath catches, her eyes searching mine, as if she already knows what I’m about to say.
I press my forehead to hers. My voice drops.
“They want retribution. An eye for an eye. Blood for blood.”
I pause.
“If I lose, I’ll give them what they want. My life for yours.”
Her breath stutters.
“I started this,” I whisper. “I’ll end it.”
And I mean it. Every goddamn word.
She is the only thing I’ve ever wanted and the only thing I can’t afford to lose.
My eyes hold hers, anchoring her to me.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” I say. “Nothing.”
“Angelo,” she breathes, tears welling in her eyes. “No.”
She steps back, taking with her a tethered piece of my soul.
“No, Angelo.” She takes a breath. “Damn you, you know that?”
She chuckles humorlessly before pressing the palms of her hands to her eyes.
She goes around me and clicks off the stove. She’s too calm. Too quiet.
“No pasta tonight, we’ll order pizza.”
I watch her.
She’s gone mad.
She’s not yelling she’s sniffling and making pizza requests instead of screaming at me and leaving. Her hand intertwines with mine soft, yet firm. I let her lead me to the bedroom.
“Adriana—” I start and she gives me a sharp look. “Scarlet,what are we—”
“We’re going to come up with a plan,” she says quietly.
Before I can protest she continues.
“This is what I do. What I’m known for. You think Luciano makes strategic plans all alone with Rafe as his Consejero?” she huffs out a laugh. “Those two?One who never wants to get his hands dirty, and the other who cleans his gun more than he fires it?”
She opens the curtains in the room letting the afternoon light in. She grabs her bag from the corner and pulls out a marker placing it in my hand before she sits on the edge of the bed.
“It’s a dry erase marker, I always keep one on hand,” she gestures toward the window. “Break it all down for me, where are the Armenian gangs located, their haunts, the hierarchy and their weak points.”
She sits on that bed demanding intel like a theReginashe is. Proud. Gorgeous. and somehow still mine.
