Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 132498 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132498 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
So I do.
I tell her everything, and when I’m done, I think she will break down. But not my beautiful, strong girl.
Instead, she steels her spine. “What are we going to do?”
I exhale slowly, forehead pressing to hers. “I don’t know.”
The honesty costs me something.
“But what I do know,” I continue, “is that I will find the network. And then I will find every person who belongs to it . . .”
Her fingers curl into my shirt. “You’ll kill them.”
“Yes.”
Her voice trembles. “Doesn’t that scare you?”
I lean back just enough to look at her.
“If I have to become a monster to protect you,” I say quietly, “then I will.”
She studies my face like she’s seeing something new. “I love you,” she says softly.
The words hit harder than any bullet could. “I love you too,” I reply, voice rough. “But this means . . .”
Her brow furrows. “What?”
“No one can know about you,” I say. “Not yet. Not until every single threat is gone.”
“No one?”
“No.”
“What about”—she swallows—“your family?”
“No. No one. I can’t keep you safe if anyone knows. They are all a liability. Someone can use them to fulfill—”
“The hit.”
He nods.
The decision is final.
Her eyes search mine. “Can you live with that?”
I don’t hesitate.
“If I have to choose between them and you,” I say, “I choose you. Every time. You’re my reason to breathe. Now . . . can you live with it?”
Her breath shudders. “Yes.”
“Good. Because I will scorch the earth for you,” I whisper, pressing my forehead to hers, “to make sure you’re alive. And mine.”
She pulls me down into a kiss.
We don’t speak after that.
There are no words left that matter.
Instead, I kiss her everywhere. My mouth touches and licks every inch of her body.
First down her neck, across her collarbone, down to her chest. My tongue laps at her pebbled nipple, running circles around it. Swirling over the peak, sucking it into my mouth.
Victoria grasps my hair with her hands, her body trembling beneath mine.
With a pop, I pull off her breast, and press a kiss to her other nipple before continuing to where she wants me most.
Down her navel.
Then I settle between her now parted legs.
My tongue flicks against her clit until she moans with desire.
“You like that?” I say against her wet flesh.
“Yes,” she moans as she thrust her hips up. “Don’t stop.”
I continue my ministrations, driving her insane with want.
“So close. Inside me, please,” she pleads.
I pull back, giving us both what we want.
Making quick work, I free my cock from my pants, and then I crawl back up her body.
Victoria parts her thighs and line my cock with her core.
Slowly, I thrust inside her. The feeling is sublime. She feels like heaven.
It feels like I’m coming home.
Time ceases to exist as I move inside of her.
I never want this moment to end.
If I could live here, buried deep within Victoria I would.
We aren’t fucking. It’s so much more. And it’s exactly what we both need as we cling to each. Victoria’s body trembling beneath me, her back arching up as she chase her release.
I thrust Once. Twice. And on the third time, I follow her over the edge.
Later, with her curled against me, I stare at the ceiling and make myself a promise.
No mercy. No half measures.
If this world wants to take her from me—
I will end it first.
65
Lorenzo
Four months later . . .
Time passes slowly.
Not every moment is tense . . . or at least to be present when I’m home, but outside the walls of this house it is. For me, at least.
Victoria pretends everything is normal.
But it’s not.
It feels like we are constantly holding our breaths, no matter how much I insulate my wife from the danger she is currently in.
Victoria has settled into our estate. She smiles and tries to be a good sport, but I know her too well. I know the exact pitch of her voice and the facial expressions she makes when she’s pretending she isn’t afraid.
Grant’s last gift . . . the hit on Victoria’s life hovers over us at all times.
We just don’t discuss it.
There’s no point.
I’m searching for which network he put the hit in.
Every few weeks, something happens, and we think we get closer to a clue, but so far, nothing has panned out. Which, in turn, makes me violent.
I want to kill someone, which is why Rafe has been doing most of the digging. I’ve kept myself busy murdering everyone who has ever wronged my uncle. I’ve been branded the family lunatic. A name I’ll happily wear if it means I can exercise my blood lust without bringing it home to my wife.
Tonight, Rafe walks into my office with a folder and a look that says he might make my day.
He drops the folder onto my desk with a shit-eating smile. “You owe me big.”