Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 48709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
“He tried to do the right thing. He didn’t deserve to die. And I didn’t deserve this.”
I thrust the tattoo out, showing it to Gabriel, my voice shaking, my world trembling.
This is going to lead to hell. I know it, yet I can’t stop.
Gabriel throws his hands up again, glancing at Damien. “You see. You tried to make her see sense. Some people can’t be helped.”
When Gabriel moves to step forward again, Damien closes the distance, looming over him. His shoulders bulge and his fists clench even tighter.
“You can’t touch her,” he growls. “I won’t let you.”
“Let me?” Gabriel hisses. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
CHAPTER
FIVE
Damien
I can’t help but feel a glimmer of pride at Liliana’s response, at the fact she refused to play Gabriel’s game. It doesn’t change the fact that it would’ve been the smart, tactical choice, but it took some real courage.
She’s going to pass that courage onto our children if we get out of here alive, and she feels the same. If she even wants kids and a marriage, things I never dreamed I wanted before I laid eyes on her.
Gabriel stares up, lips trembling. “You don’t let me do anything. You don’t stop me either. You have no say, not when it comes to this. What I do with my people is my concern.”
I’m ready to do some serious damage now.
My job – my life – is about keeping calm, never letting the boiling fire come bursting out of me.
It’s not like the war when a man had to be a beast. This is politics. This is scheming and wearing two faces, and I can usually do it. But now, all I can think about is my woman, my Liliana. The fact this bastard wants to hurt her is poison, something I’ll never allow.
It’s evil. It goes against every instinct in me.
“You’re not touching her,” I snarl. “You’re never going to fucking touch her. So swallow your goddamn pride and walk away, Gabriel.”
The man’s face is a mask of fear. His lips shake even more. For a second, I think he’s going to cry. I’ve never spoken this intensely, with this much rage in my voice, not to him. I’d never let myself slip like that.
But my woman gives me the passion that nothing else ever could.
There’s no way I’ll let this man hurt her, ever.
I’m the only one who gets to touch her, and it won’t be to cause her pain. It’ll be to hold her, strip her young, beautiful body, and kiss her as I drive deep. It will be the start of our lives, but this ghoul would cut it short to consume her.
“What is she to you?” he stammers. “I didn’t know you made a habit of taking Cartel girlfriends, Damien.”
She’s far more than my girlfriend. She’s the future mother of my children.
I internally calm myself down, slowing my breathing while I try to think.
Gabriel is playing a game. I can see the gears ticking over in his mind. He can’t call for his men because then they’ll see how close to tears he is. He can’t physically take Liliana from me. I’d smash him against the wall so hard his teeth would shatter, and he knows it.
So what can he do?
He needs to find a way to justify this, to make it easier to accept. He needs a reason.
Or it’s war. We’ll have no choice if we can’t resolve this with words.
We’ve come too far already. This isn’t how things are done. But there’s no world where I let him take her.
She belongs to me.
“I mean…,” Gabriel adjusts his shirt. “She must be pretty special, right? For you to be coming at me like this, disrespecting me like this? Maybe I made a mistake, and she’s…what, Damien? Is she your fiancée or something?”
And there it is, laid bare. There’s the deal. Some people might miss the nuances of what’s happening here, but I don’t.
He’s telling me, Marry her, so what I said wasn’t considered disrespectful. You forgive me. I don’t lose face. Marry her, so we don’t have to start a war.
I’m about to speak. I’m not even sure what I’m going to say. But then Liliana’s sassy voice rises. There’s fear buried in there, but it’s hidden behind a layer of confidence.
“I don’t have to be his fiancée for you to treat me with….”
She stops, realizing what she’s done.
I look at her, my woman in her snug black dress, her cheeks flushed. She meets my eye, fear sparking afresh. She knows she messed up.
Gabriel glares at Liliana. “That was a very stupid thing to say.”
I can’t think what to do. My mind flips over as I search for a way out, a way that will save the city from war and keep my woman safe.
“If she’s just some traitor’s slut, Damien, you better move.”