Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 40015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 200(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 133(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 200(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 133(@300wpm)
Good. My enemy should fear me.
We’d established a truce for Nora’s sake, but I still loathed him for killing my brother. He would never be forgiven for that.
He had so many sins to pay for. He’d murdered Francesco; he’d allowed the Russians to capture Nora; and he’d fucking stabbed me.
I rolled my shoulder and smothered a wince. His knife had driven into the bullet wound I’d sustained during the Russian assault outside my estate. I’d be lucky if I made a full recovery. The bastard might’ve injured me for life.
But I couldn’t lift a finger against him.
Not as long as Nora loved him.
A sour tang coated my tongue. I’d have to find a way to change that, to prove to her that I was the better man, the better match.
If that meant swallowing my hatred for Luca in order to help her heal, I’d do it.
And I needed his men if I was going to take on the Bratva. Already, they’d splintered away from me, old rivalries resurfacing now that Nora had been rescued. If Luca didn’t order them to pledge their allegiance to me, I’d never be able to avenge my wife.
It didn’t help that I couldn’t reach Giuseppe. I could’ve used his men, but I hadn’t heard from him since the day Nora had been captured. Had the Russians managed to get to him too?
“You need to rally your men,” I told him, trying to look directly into his eyes in order to avoid seeing the tender way he held Nora’s sleeping form.
His gaze left her face, snapping to mine. “They will never answer to you. I might be your prisoner for now, but you will never take my birthright.”
“Entitled son of a bitch,” I spat. “We need our combined forces if we’re going to take on the Bratva. Or do you not give a fuck about avenging Nora?”
His jaw ticked, and he spoke through gritted teeth. “Let my friends go, and I’ll consider working with you again.”
My lips curled in a sneer. “You don’t deserve her. You would try to bargain with me instead of prioritizing her?”
One day soon, she’d come to her senses and see that he wasn’t worthy of her.
She whimpered softly in her sleep. He shushed her and pulled her closer, and she relaxed on a shuddering sigh.
My fault. The realization hit me like a blow to the chest. She clung to him because of me, because of what I’d done. Ever since I’d stolen her away from him, she’d painted me as the villain in their story, and my decision to use her to break him had only deepened that belief.
Nora secretly loved our darker games, but she resented me for using her against Luca. If he’d never kidnapped her and forced her to marry him, she would’ve been mine and mine alone. I could’ve introduced her to my more sadistic ways of seduction more slowly, shown her how good it could be between us.
But my vendetta had blinded me to her needs. I’d sought revenge against Luca for so long that I’d prioritized it over my wife’s wellbeing.
If I gave her the choice, she’d leave me for him. She would abandon me.
My gut tightened, and I shoved the dark thought away.
I would make this right. Somehow.
“She is my only priority.” Luca finally answered me in an undertone when he was certain she’d been soothed back to sleep.
“Then you should prove you give a shit and rally your men,” I barked, frustrated at the sight of them cuddled up together.
Nora moaned and shuddered. Her lashes fluttered as her eyes moved rapidly behind her closed lids, facing a nightmare that we couldn’t see. She thrashed, and Luca firmed his hold on her to keep her from exacerbating her injuries.
Her sharp cry pierced my chest, and I immediately went to her side, grasping her small hand in mine.
“Wake up, darling,” I urged, brushing my thumb over her clammy palm. “You’re safe.”
She gasped, and her eyes flew open. They were dark with her nightmare, unfocused. I cupped her cheek in my hand, and she flinched away from me with a soft sound of protest.
I smothered a scowl and ignored the sense of rejection that knifed through my gut.
My wife would not fear me. Not ever.
Never again.
I stroked the line of her cheekbone as she tucked her face close to Luca’s chest. I could feel his glower burning into me, but I didn’t deign to look at him. She was all that mattered.
“It’s me,” I reassured her, refusing to withdraw my gentle touch. “You’re safe, Nora.”
“Dante?”
She turned her face into my hand, and warmth pulsed through my chest.
“I’ve got you.” Luca couldn’t quite keep the possessive growl from his voice.
I didn’t give a fuck about him. I would touch my wife whenever and however I wanted. She was mine, and she needed me to promise that she was protected.