Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Then, without another word, he turns and strides toward the door.
“Antonio.” My voice trembles slightly, but he doesn’t pause.
“Stay here,” he orders.
The door clicks shut behind him, and I let out a shaky breath, pressing my fingers to my temples.
I don’t know whether to feel relieved or terrified.
24
ALEXIS
SWEET CHERRY
Antonio descends the stairs with the weight of a man who’s spent too long waging war with himself. His fists flex at his sides, his knuckles white with tension. His expression is a battlefield of emotions: rage, grief, and something dangerously close to heartache.
I throw my hands up, palms wide. “Ma che vuoi?! You act like I’m the bad guy here. Last time I checked, she wasn’t yours.”
Antonio exhales sharply, his teeth grinding audibly. “Listen,” he growls as he swipes a hand through the air, dismissing my protest like it’s nothing. “She just told me something.”
Luca, who’s been lingering in the kitchen doorway, straightens. “What?”
“She had a stalker back in Maryland. A guy named Cohen. The flowers that were delivered to the penthouse weren’t from Carlo. They were from him.”
Luca’s head tilts slightly, the only sign he’s registered this new information. “A stalker?”
“Yeah. She worked with him. He got obsessed. She turned him down, and he lost his fucking mind. She reported him, but the cops didn’t do shit.”
“And you’re sure about the flowers?”
Antonio nods in response to Luca’s question. “She nearly came apart when I told her about them. She’s fucking terrified of this asshole.”
Luca processes for a beat before he nods, already making decisions. “Find out who he is. We’ll send Vito to deal with him.” Luca exhales through his nose, pressing his lips together before he speaks again. “This changes things. If the flowers weren’t from Carlo, it means he’s made no contact.”
“So Enzo was right,” Antonio mutters. “He doesn’t care.”
Luca’s face is unreadable, but his nod is slow and deliberate. “It would seem that way. There’s no reason for us to stay here now. We can take Aemelia back to the penthouse.”
“For how long?” Antonio asks. “And then what?”
I step forward before something’s decided without my input. “Let’s be honest. None of us wants to let her go.”
Luca’s expression flickers, but he doesn’t deny it. Antonio stays silent, but his gaze drifts to the stairs, the path leading back to her. The girl we stole—the girl who’s making us question everything.
“Her home life is a fucking nightmare,” I continue. “And we all know it. What’s waiting for her out there? A mother who lets her work her fingers to the bone. A brother who’s one hit away from an overdose? A dying aunt. Poverty. Misery. And now some psycho’s sending her bullets with her name carved into them.” My voice lowers, dark with certainty. “She’s not safe anywhere but with us. Nero took her once. If he finds out we released her and she's still untouched, he’ll take her again. Or someone else will.”
Luca stays quiet, unreadable, but his silence is telling. Antonio’s hands flex like he’s imagining wrapping them around someone’s throat. Eventually, he speaks. “You’re saying we keep her for her own good?”
I roll my shoulders. “I’m saying if she’s willing, she could be ours.”
“Ours?”
I nod. “I’m not prepared to fight you over her, but none of us has a greater claim than the others. It’s share or nothing, and I’d rather she was with all of us than none of us.”
Antonio exhales sharply, shaking his head. “Who the fuck shares a woman in our world, Alexis? Most of the men we know have two, three women each.”
“Good luck to them,” I say. “None of them have a woman like Aemelia. If they did, they wouldn’t be out running the streets like a bunch of stray cani.” I spit the word—dogs—because I need them to understand how serious I am. We could have almost any woman. We’ve had more than our fair share. But Aemelia? She’s the fire inked on my skin, burning through my bones, impossible to ignore. She’s wild, hot-tempered, passionate, determined, craving to submit; everything I never thought I wanted—but exactly what I fucking need.
Luca nods, his decision made. Antonio closes his eyes for a second, shutting out the world while he thinks. When he opens them, his hands go to the back of his neck, gripping like he’s trying to hold himself together.
“What if she doesn’t want us?” he asks, voice raw. “Not really. What if she’s pretending because she believes it’s the only way she’ll survive us?”
I shrug. “We show her what we want. We make her understand.”
His laugh is bitter, mocking. “You think it’s so easy?”
I step closer, lowering my voice. “Don’t put up barriers, Tonio. Not when she’s everything you ever wanted, and holding yourself back is killing you.”
He barks out another rough laugh, shaking his head. “What the fuck do you know, little brother.”