Page 30 of Hostile Love
“I’ll call off our engagement in the morning.”
Nausea hits me and something far more troubling. Hurt.
“Wonderful,” I call after him. “Lucky you didn’t bother giving me an engagement ring. I would have thrown it back at you. Maybe blinded you with the diamond or shoved it down your throat to choke you.”
Angling his head around, the furrows in his brow deepen.
“You’re free from me, Dani. I won’t beg anyone to love me. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”
Panic swirls in my chest and I rush forward, confused by my urgency.
I can’t breathe.
A ball of dread sits heavy in my chest. I don’t want him to go. But I can't marry him either.
I have principles and no man would ever dictate my future––even if he’s the best goddamn thing that’s ever happened to me.
Truth be told, I would say yes if we’d met in different circumstances.
In another life, I’d willingly wear his ring and spend the rest of my life worshiping him.
But in this dark and dangerous life, he’s a Souza with too much power and big expectations.
“You know Blanco will put a bounty on your head for pulling out, Mat.”
“I’m Matheus Souza. I can do whatever the fuck I want.” He reaches for the door handle. “And I don’t give a shit about Blanco and his empty threats,” he calls over his shoulder, not meeting my eye. “You don’t want to get married, and after this, I don’t either.”
“This isn’t a game, Matheus,” I warn, fighting the urge to drag him onto the bed with me.
Wanting to lie next to him until the morning and pretend none of this happened.
“You know he’d order me to kill you.”
Opening the door, he steps into the shadowy hallway and turns to face me.
“Go ahead, little firecracker. Pulling the trigger just makes all this final…that’s if you can actually get anywhere near me.”
His expression hardens and a lock of hair falls over his brow, tempting me to brush it from his lashes.
“Although Dragon wants you in Italy for a debrief. I can confirm we won’t be roommates anymore.”
My veins are pulsating, and the walls start to close in on me. I haven't felt this lost since Mama died.
I clear my throat and steel my spine.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m not going back to The Covenant. Have the bedroom. It’s all yours.”
He shrugs. “Fine. Disobey your commander and he might just send me afteryou.”
When he winks and turns, my insides catch fire and I dart into the hallway after him. Half angry and half fucking gutted. How did it come to this?
“Oh, what a guy. I’m your fiancée one minute, and your target the next. Spoken like a true Souza.”
He glances at the revolver in his hand, and then, in a blur, charges forward and shoves me against the wall, using his forearm against my throat, his mood darker than black.
Our bare chests collide, and our quick breaths mingle. Those perfectly shaped lips of his linger so close I could lick the essence of liquor from them.
“Wasmy fiancée,” he corrects. “I guess I’ll just have to love you until I hate you.”
