Russ

the estate grounds, his soldiers

on the stone arches above us. "My engagement is to a rival

ar where I stood-a ghost fro

pted into a violent coughing fit. I doubled over, m

strode to a nearby fountain, grabbed a water bottle, and brought

steady the bottle rat

ulled up to the front gates, and Carmela Falcone descended on the estate like a p

ainst the paving stones was the

ility," she said, her voic

slipped from my hand and

n sink your claws

cross the face. The slap cracked through the courtyard like a gunshot. My

heartbeat, Sila

een me and his mother. The pressure radiating off him was su

uch her again,

return to New York immediately and ful

going a

digging into my fragile skin with iron possession. In open defiance

from the sudden movement. It felt

gasped, my visi

d turned to face me. "

t over my face, and for one terrifying second, I saw something crac

abandoning any thought of c

ut he caugh

oice dropping to absolute zero.

ip was

this city. After that,

. I hit the sharp gravel, rocks dig

swimming. "I accept your terms

me, his face an unr

eated. "And the ti

I'd felt before. I pitched forward, my hands hitting the dirt. A

posure

as he stared at my face. The thick foundation I'd carefully applied was failing-the

w. Unfiltered. The Don was gone. In his place w

he hospital!" he

s terrified they'd run tests and find my secret. "It's jus

panic he couldn't quite suppress. Then he lift

y apartment w

and let him inside. I needed a dist

h." He left no r

table, he cupped my jaw with his large, calloused hand. His thumb gently wiped the dried blood from the

d th

did the Boss of the Falcone Famiglia roll up his expensive sleeves and walk

ing to co

bathroom and swallow three heavy pa

lled the air. He was plating a steaming bowl of pasta-

ly on the coff

the fork. I forced myself to eat through the nau

lked in and froze at the sight o

nounced abruptly, rolli

the door, his sharp, predatory eyes landed on

and picked up a small,

t my black-market cancer medi

ottle over in his hand, reading

art s

ly into the line of f

e Don's face w

-