ella

's Com

ed to spill only moments ago were gone, evaporated by the scorching heat of my sudden, absolute clarity. I look

on my desk, my posture relaxed, my gaze assess

nflection, slicing through the tension like a scalpel. "But tel

napped together. "Tha

r *Soldiers*, even the silk sheets your grandmother sleeps on, have been paid for by my fami

as a jagged pill, and I had just shoved it down his throat in front of his mistress and his grandmoth

pping forward, but Damien cut her o

of his voice rattling the crystal decanter on the side table. "

low, mocking smile. It was a silent, deva

spun on his heel. "I will show you exactly who rules this family," he snarled over his shoulder, his eyes burning with

sence with him. Nonna Elena shot me a venomous glare bef

m before the inevitable storm. I sat at my desk, the glow of the desk

ck broke th

" I cal

work of scars crawling up his thick neck. His loyalty to Damien was absolute, forged in the bloody tre

vy metal briefcase. He approached my

an unreadable mask. "He said to tell you... this is your ri

riefcase and flip

asn't the sight of the money that made my stomach turn; it was the smell. A metallic,

spoils. This was his grand gesture. A fraction of what my legitimate businesses made in a week, tossed at my feet li

fragile threads of my loyalty to the

cco asked, shifting his massive weig

id, my voice as smooth and hard as polished marble. "

the room, the heavy oak doo

se. Damien wanted to play the absolute monarch. He wanted to ru

te toward me-the thick book that tracked every exorbitant expense of this

ider, he could bear the crushing wei