Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 118245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Only a monster would consider what I was planning.
Knowing for certain Ella had switched places with Antonia, I should’ve contacted Dante immediately. I should have arranged to have her returned to Sicily.
I should have honored my word.
But for the first time in my life, I was going to break it.
There wasn’t a chance in hell I was sending her back.
In my mind, Ella was not a Fichera, subject to her father’s rules or even Dante Agnello’s mafia syndicate.
She was a Cavalieri now.
My wife in all but name and deed.
No, it wasn’t the obstacle of the fallout I was concerned about in this moment…
I stormed toward her.
After her futile attempt to evade my grasp, I maneuvered her into a corner. Placing my hands above her on either wall, I leaned in close. “You’re right, colomba mia. I am none of those things to you.”
The tension in her shoulders visibly relaxed as she kept her face averted. “I’m glad you agree. Now let me out of here.”
With my right hand, I clasped my fingers around her throat, forcing her to meet my gaze. My thumb caressed the sharp edge of her jaw, leaving a black smudge. “Not so fast, little one. Who I am is the man who’s tasted your sweet mouth. Who’s felt you tremble in his arms with each release. Who knows you secretly like it when I push my thumb inside your tight little ass while we role-play.”
She covered her ears with her hands. “Stop it! Stop! You’re my sister’s fiancé.”
I yanked her hands down. Clasping both her wrists in one hand and holding them against her chest, I growled, “No. I’m the only man who’ll ever have the right to touch you again. Now, I’m going to ask one more time. Who is Tony?”
Her eyes flashed with defiance as she raised her chin. “He is—”
“I’m warning you. I am barely holding on to my rage right now. I wouldn’t recommend lying to me again.”
Her lips clamped shut as her gaze shifted to the side. “He’s my sister. She’s my sister, I mean. Toni is short for Antonia.”
My brow furrowed. Of course. If I hadn’t been so consumed with jealousy, I would have realized that sooner. “What does that note mean?”
The delicate muscles in her throat contracted as she swallowed. “I didn’t come here… willingly.”
Shocked, I released her and stepped back. Rubbing a hand over my eyes, I muttered, “Goddammit.”
In that moment, she slid out from behind me, turning to face me after she was more than an arm’s length away. “Before you get mad at Antonia, you’re just as much to blame for this mess.”
Her eyes glistened with tears as she raised her arm and pointed an accusing finger at me. “I told you Antonia didn’t want to marry you, but you insisted on going through with this farce.”
I spread my arms wide. “There wasn’t a choice.”
This was not the time to explain to Ella how Antonia had put her life in danger with her manipulative escapades. While I may have offered to marry Antonia to save my family from being pulled into a territory war within the Agnello syndicate, it was also to rescue her from the almost certain unmarked grave in her near future.
Ella fired back. “There’s always a choice. You just made the self-serving one.”
I stepped closer. “Not then I wasn’t—but I am now.”
She backed up. “What do you mean?”
My gaze narrowed. “What do you think is happening here, Ella?”
Her arms folded over her middle. “I think you’re angry my sister and I tried to fool you. But I’m not here to force you into marrying me instead, if that’s what you think.”
God, she was beautiful.
Standing before me, clearly afraid, and yet defiant and proud.
Sweet, intelligent, talented, fiercely loyal, everything a man could want or need in a wife.
My arm swung out to snatch her to me. Tightening my grasp as she wriggled to try to break it, I rasped against her lips, “No, baby. That’s what I’m here to do.”
CHAPTER 29
ELLA
Igrasped his upper arms. “I don’t understand.”
His lips moved over mine. “Yes, you do.”
The breath I inhaled was his own. “This whole thing was wrong from the beginning. You need to send me back to Sicily. I’ll explain to my father—”
He shifted his hand to grasp my hair at the base of my skull, holding my head steady as he kissed the corner of my mouth. “You’re not going anywhere, Ella.”
My fingers twisted into the fabric of his T-shirt. “You have to let me go. I don’t belong here.”
“No.”
I opened my lips to object further, but before I could utter a single word, his mouth claimed mine. His tongue swept inside with such fierce determination, it stole my breath.
With his arm still around my waist, he lifted me off the floor, pressing his hips into mine.