Page 31 of Stefano
He doesn’t speak until we’re back in his room.Then, the second the door shuts, he pins me against it, his eyes blazing.“Do you know what you just did?”
“Yes.”My voice shakes, but I don’t look away.“I told them the truth.That I love you.”
His jaw flexes, his hands braced on either side of my head.“You don’t understand.You just painted a target on your back bigger than ever.”
“I don’t care,” I whisper.“Because I meant every word.I’d rather die beside you than live without you.”
A growl rumbles from his chest, and then his mouth is on mine.The kiss is brutal and claiming, his body pressing hard against me.I gasp, clutching at his shirt, melting into the fire that’s always waiting between us.
He breaks the kiss, his forehead pressing to mine, his breath ragged.“You’re mine, Andrea.You don’t get to take it back.”
“I don’t want to,” I whisper.“I never did.”
His hands tremble as they frame my face, his eyes dark and raw.“Then God help anyone who tries to take you from me.Because I’ll burn the world to ash.”
And when he kisses me again, I know he means it.
Chapter Seventeen
War Drums
Stefano
Andrea’s words still echo in my head.
‘I love him.I’d rather be in danger with him than safe without him.’
She said it in front of my entire family, in front of Alceu and her sister, in front of everyone who might think we are not supposed to be together.She didn’t falter.She didn’t hide.She claimed me.
Claimed us.
Alceu’s study is thick with cigar smoke and tension.Maps sprawl across the long oak table, pins stabbing into the territories where cartel rats crawl out of the shadows.Alceu stands at the head, precise and cold.Mancuso leans back in his chair, spinning a knife lazily, eyes gleaming with mischief and menace.Severu watches from the corner, silent and sharp, a predator waiting for anyone to slip.The air hums like a live wire, every man present knowing this isn’t just another war council.This is the line in the sand.
I pace like a caged animal, fury boiling beneath my skin.Every second we waste is another second the cartel breathes.After what they did to Andrea, after they dared touch what’s mine, I want them annihilated.Not just beaten.
Erased.
