Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
She shuddered, and her eyes wouldn’t quite focus on mine. “Mikhail Ivanov. He said he’d kill them if I don’t marry Niko. He said I’d betrayed my father by being with you, and now Niko’s supposed to keep me in line.”
My stomach dropped.
My fault. This was my fault. I’d implicated Allie in my blackmail, and Fitzgerald’s Russian friends had decided she needed to be taken in hand. I hadn’t expected the mayor to punish his beloved daughter like this, no matter what she’d done.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry, Allie.”
Her friends were in danger because of me. I’d used her as a pawn, and now she was facing the consequences for my manipulation.
She blinked, and her shining green gaze finally met mine. The delicate lines of her face drew taut with defiance. “I chose to be with you,” she declared. “You did everything you could to push me away, but I didn’t listen. Because I’m in love with you. My choices have put my friends in danger. It’s my fault.”
“No,” I countered, strained. I’d already hurt her in so many ways. I couldn’t allow her to blame herself, to torment herself over putting her friends’ lives on the line. “It’s my fault. You don’t know what I’ve done. I betrayed you.”
She eyed me warily and eased back a step. My hands tightened on hers, desperate to keep her close despite the fact that I had no right to touch her.
“I recorded you,” I confessed. “On the night that you told me you were starting to suspect that everything I’d told you about your father was true, I recorded you on my phone. Tonight, I played that recording for him, and he heard you say that you believe he’s involved with the Bratva. I blackmailed him. I told him I’d leak it to the press if he tries to stand in my family’s way. He must’ve told his Russian friends, and that’s why they’ve arranged this farce of a marriage. I’m the reason this is happening to your friends. I did this.”
Her lush lips thinned with anger, and her eyes sparked. “How could you do that? How could you manipulate me to get at my father? Just to help your criminal family. I trusted you!” She tried to yank her hands from mine, but I held her fast, unable to let her go.
“I know.” The admission held a ragged edge. “You trusted me, and I betrayed you. But I’ll make this right. I won’t let anything happen to your friends.”
“And what are you going to do?” she flung back at me. “Threaten to kill Niko again? This isn’t right, Max. I don’t want you to be this man.”
My heart hardened. “This is who I am, Allie. I would kill for you. I will do anything to protect you. You saw it for yourself, and it horrified you.”
She shook her head sharply. “You don’t have to do this. You can make a different choice. You can leave your family.” Her eyes shone as she stared up at me, imploring. “You don’t have to be loyal to them. You don’t have to be in the Mafia.”
It was the first time she’d ever acknowledged it out loud.
A glittering tear spilled down her freckled cheek. “I love you, Max. I love you, but I can’t be with someone in the Mafia any more than I can be with Niko because of his Bratva ties.”
I grasped her left hand and slid the ring from her finger. It clattered against the far wall when I threw it away like the disgusting trash that it was. “You’re not marrying him. I won’t let him have you. You’re mine, Allie.”
She edged away from me, so I wrapped my arms around her, caging her close to my chest. Her cheeks flushed with desire even as she shook her head in refusal.
“Max, you can’t—”
“I love you,” I swore, finally releasing the words I’d been keeping locked in my chest. I couldn’t hold them back any longer. I couldn’t lose her. “I love you, and I’m not letting you go. Not for him. Not for anything.”
“Max—”
I crushed my lips to hers, unable to bear a protest or plea for release. She was stiff in my arms, and for a moment, I thought she’d turn away from me. Something hot and possessive gripped my mind like burning talons, and I grasped her jaw to keep her at my mercy. She released a small whine, but I devoured the sound with my tongue against hers. My other hand tangled in her hair, tugging her head back so I could claim her more deeply.
Her delicate body shuddered against me, and the tension eased from her lips as they softened beneath my onslaught. Her hands curved over my shoulders, hesitating between holding me closer and pushing me away.