Page 44 of Until You Break
He leaned in, not touching what mattered and still touching everything. “You keep saying that like it’s a spell. Has it worked yet?”
Salt climbed my tongue. The garden air spilled across my neck but it was still too hot. My face flushed, eyes wide, breath short enough to betray me.
The record hissed like a secret we hadn’t earned yet.
Two short taps on the door made me nearly jump.
“Avanti.” Damiano’s order curled in Italian smoke. He didn’t release my wrist. He walked me toward the door by that light hold, a leash only we could see, and opened it with his free hand.
Ice chimed in a glass like he’d brought weather with him. Luca lounged in the doorway with a whiskey and a grin he wore like a shirt. He smelled of peat and orange oil, his shirt soft with yesterday’s smoke. Damiano’s grip on me didn’t loosen. Not even for his brother. Especially not for his brother.
Luca’s eyes flicked once, catching too much and pretending blindness. “Am I early for the newlyweds’ debrief?” His grin curled wicked.
“You’re on time.” Damiano’s grip tightened like punctuation. “What’s the damage?”
“Mostly reputations.” Luca lifted his glass, mock solemn. “Two uncles swore celibacy for twelve hours. A few guests still owe from last night, debts to pay, honor to win back. They’ll settle it soon enough.” He tipped the glass toward me, friendly as a knife. “Some behaved like animals, wasted, hands where they didn’t belong. They had to be thrown out before dawn.” His gaze hooked mine, grin sharp. He let it linger, deliberate, until the silence stung. “Not your family, kitten. They were long gone by then.”
The floor under me tilted. Heat climbed my face, wide eyes betraying me.
Gentler, he asked, “You alive, Valenti?”
“Apparently.” The word cut sharp, sharper than I meant.
“Good. You’ll need it.” He drank deep, eyes amused, then looked back at his brother with lazy challenge.
“Get out of my doorway.” Damiano’s words were pleasant, his grip not.
Damiano’s hand lingered a second too long on my wrist, thumb brushing the inside like a secret. He didn’t care that his brother saw. The claim was deliberate, humiliating, and my skin burned hotter for it.
“Happy home.” Luca tapped two fingers off his temple before disappearing down the hall.
A faint draft cooled the room and then died. Silence pressed against my ribs.
“You—” I jerked my wrist. He let go then, sudden, so I stumbled.
“Me.” His shameless grin stayed.
“You’re impossible.” My pulse hammered.
“That’s why I win.”
“You humiliated me. On purpose.”
His grin was merciless. “He saw. He didn’t blink. He knows how you stand next to me. Perfect.”
The word lodged like a collar I couldn’t shake off, not in front of Luca, not even alone.
“I’m not a—” I swallowed the word collar. “sign.”
“You’re a lesson.” His amusement was a blade. “And a luxury.”
I held up the sheet I’d rescued. “You can’t make everything yours by touching it.”
He took it easily, eyes tracing the shadow again. Graphite blurred under his thumb, his shadow or mine, a smudge that wouldn’t wash. “Watch me.”
“Give it back.”
“Please.” His tone was dry, uncompromising.
