-

r like a blade

Mor

ingers tightened around the aged leather folder clutched to her chest-a classified dossier sealed wit

e, the co

s. Names.

. Mo

danced with her lik

her gaze like he wa

a bullet in his skull the

bled. Not from

eartb

-

g table of war. The family's inner circle had gathered-Dante at the head, Ma

ished wood. Aria's picture stared

ce was calm

nced wi

't blink.

ew who

at fi

hen yo

ck, jaw set. "

ilence f

ke blood. "You are the heir of the empire I built from

nt her," Luca said col

what children say about f

-

he couldn't eat. Couldn't sleep. Could barel

whisper of his breath. The way his eyes h

sn't just

Touched without being possessed. C

-not even the ones who cl

w it w

ore

ade her father

-

evening, barefoot on the marble, drinki

?" Aria hissed, snatchi

linch. "Would i

ced wi

ill him. That

him touch me. I

long moment. "And now t

bench, eyes wild.

already in the part of the

-

met a

nce. Not b

ompu

aves licking at the rotted wood. A place no one wa

ng against a rusted railing,

the shadows like

tur

red you

moment. Then, "You knew who I

did

't know

w that

ate

arette, exhaled toward the

ng at her coat. "My father w

ould do

t here

garette beneath his

ll fire and grief. "

you w

when I'm with you... I for

the fe

d between them.

her hand. She l

eaded together li

-

parate worlds, t

absences. Bianc

t. Matteo questioned nothi

ty sim

ill th

n abandoned churches and

ever k

didn'

tween them grew lo

er, he saw the battlefield

eard the echo of bullets fir

hey were just two souls aching

o hate you," sh

he said. "Wa

. "You make it

aid. "Until s

-

ght they almost

soaked-hiding beneath the overhang of a centuries-old chapel

im, eyes wild with

etween instinct and reaso

s were in

g split

me, I will never be able t

back, "Then d

, just one heart

lips b

iss. No

en

o damn t

-

't speak

for

le moment, they had

no longer b

no longer

lovers-not without blood

-

o k

envelope dropped at his doorstep. Ar

si

the d

ough the De Luca esta

longer a ma

y w

-