ella

looking down at the dangero

o the massive man beside us. Hector Vargas stepped forward, r

ice a low, absolute rumble that f

g crash fading into bone-deep exhaustio

ldly. A *Don's Command*, ev

gunpowder-enveloped me. I didn't know he was secretly engaging his core muscles to keep us from crashing to the pavement; I only felt his overwhelming weight. He let out a harsh, frust

ng us into the suffocating

no stated, his gaze fixed on the passing streetlights. "Lorenzo Moretti has frozen my acc

eight of his stare, searching for

reen for a second, then powered it off completely, severing t

te the chaos inside me. "And I just got a promotion

is storm-gray eyes. He didn't say a word, b

d. It was a fortress of shadows. Inside the hallway, the furnitur

st room," Damiano ordered, his t

lipped out befor

ed. "I require privac

bed. I'll sleep on the sofa in the anteroom of your suite. But I am no

and took the handles from a visibly shocked Hector. I pushed Damiano toward the small

ian

running in the master ba

hest, masking any noise. Then, I placed my hands

e stiffness of playing a paralyzed man all day. I walked silently across the dark wood floors, mo

No *Soldiers* from my

e was supposed to be a *shield*, a pathetic, broken collateral damage th

he had hauled my dead weight into the car, offered her meager salary to a ma

eel something I hadn't felt in five years-the reckless, suicidal urge t

hest conditions this house could offer. I needed to know if this *Mafia Queen* i