Page 313 of Rosetti Family New York
The room is exactly what I’d expected. Cheap furniture, industrial carpet, and the smell of disinfectant fighting a losing battle against decades of smoke. The walls are so thin conversations bleed through from next-door rooms where others handle their own desperate business.
But it’s secure and anonymous, a place where Emilio Rosetti and his woman can disappear until he decides how to destroy the people who wronged us.
Emilio locks the door and leans against it, his body adding another layer of protection.
The anger he’s controlled since the alarm broke finally erupts.
“Fuck!” His fist shatters the drywall and plaster, his knuckles thudding against cheap gypsum. “Three years of preparation, millions in technology, and they walked through it like paper.”
I’ve never seen him lose control, not the careful Rosetti, not the man who plans every contingency. This is raw fury.
“Emilio—”
“I built that place for you.” He turns, and the pain in his eyes hits me harder than his rage. “Every system, every measure, every luxury. Designed specifically to keep you protected. And it meant nothing.”
The pain in his words cuts deep. Not just obsession. Devotion.
“We got out,” I say, moving toward him despite the tense energy around him. “We’re alive. That’s what matters.”
“Protected?” He laughs bitterly. “We’re hiding in a forty-dollar motel room while killers hunt us. My defenses are worthless, and someone knows exactly how to find us.”
The man who tracked me across continents is now in full retreat. The Ghost made human by someone who knew his weak spots better than he ever did.
“Hey.” I reach for him through the charged air. “Look at me.”
His storm-colored eyes meet mine, and I see the fear under his anger. Not of dying, but of losing me again. He worries I'll see that being with him means living a life where safety is uncertain and love can be used against us.
“We’re going to figure this out,” I say, voice firmer than I feel. “Together, remember? Partnership. Which means we face whatever comes next as a team.”
“Together.” He tests the word, as if it’s brand new after years alone. “You mean that? Even after this? Even knowing that loving me means living with constant danger?”
His question holds years of pain and hope, the fear I’ll run now that I know what loving him really costs.
I step closer and press my lips to his.
The kiss unleashes seven days of tension, need finally finding relief. His hands cup my face, fingers tangled in my hair as he claims my mouth with fierce urgency. I taste coffee.
When we break apart, both gasping, his eyes are dark with need that borders on obsession.
“I can’t lose you again,” he breathes, words rough with something between awe and desperation. “I won’t survive watching you realize this is too dangerous, too complicated, too much to handle.”
“You won’t have to. I’d rather face any danger with you than be safe without you. I’m not running, Emilio. Not from this, not from you”
His face hardens, eyes cold as winter steel. “Careful what you ask for.”
16
Mara
His words echo in the motel’s stale air: “Careful what you ask for.”
The room feels tight. Peeling wallpaper, carpet that reeks of cigarettes, traffic noise seeping through thin walls. Everything here is temporary, disposable, forgotten. Perfect for what we’re about to do.
When Emilio’s mouth hits mine, the kiss is full of barely held anger. The taste of coffee and a rush of adrenaline, years of rage finally finding a way out. His tongue slides past my lips as his hands claim my body with hungry reverence. One palm rests on my throat—not choking me, but marking me as his. The other digs into my hip so hard I know I’ll have bruises tomorrow.
Anyone could hear us: the couple next door arguing, a blaring TV, the ice machine rattling down the hall. I don’t care. Let them listen. Let the world know Emilio Rosetti is taking what’s his.
“Three years,” he breathes against my throat, lips and teeth moving until I gasp. His stubble scrapes deliciously rough. “Three fucking years watching you through cameras, trackingyou across continents, building systems just to catch glimpses.” His voice drops. “Do you know what that did to me?”
