Page 114 of Falling for the Enemy

“You ready?”

Turning my head, I reach behind me and sink my hand into his hair, uncaring of our five-man audience. “Kiss me first.”

My kingpin obliges my request.

Sealing his mouth to mine, he rubs his tongue along my own in an agonizingly slow stroke before pulling back and nipping my bottom lip.

Thighs clenching, I nearly moan.

Somehow, I hold back; knowing that time is quickly running out, I turn my attention back to my guest, the small patches of his face that aren’t covered in blood taking on a green hue.

Soon, he’ll be dead.

I need to move. Fast.

Lifting my hand, I wait for Casper to hand me the knife I used to shred Capone’s heart, along with Papa’s. He slaps it into my palm a second later and I curl my fingers around its aged handle, the grip as familiar as my own palm.

“You tried to take everything from me.” Despite the fury that inhabits every cell comprising my being, my voice remains steady. “Instead, we ended up being the ones to take everything from you.”

My hand shakes the slightest bit.

“Coming for me was the worst mistake you ever made, as well as the one that will cost you the only thing we have yet to steal.” Alejandro wraps his hand around my fist, his raw power infusing me with strength. “Your life.”

Alejandro unwinds his arm from my belly and grasps Stefano’s shoulder, just as I did Capone seconds before killing him.

“Do me a favor, Stefano.” I smile cruelly. “When you reach the devil’s flames, tell Papa, Angelo, and your sons this suka said hello.” My kingpin lifts our joined hands. “Burn in Hell, mudak.”

Alejandro plunges the knife sideways, slamming the blade through Stefano’s side and deep into his heart. With a battle cry, I twist, and together we rip the weapon free.

A raging crimson river bursts free.

It spills down Stefano’s torso, the sight one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen as he takes his final breath, his heart pulsing its last beat. If only I’d had something akin to another engagement ring to plunge into the wound.

It truly doesn’t matter, however.

Not when I’ve just received what I yearned so badly for after being betrayed in the worst way possible—to toss Stefano DeMeo straight into the devil’s flames, which is precisely what we just did.

Finally, this chapter of our lives is closed.

TWENTY-NINE

Ari

I find Mina in her ballet studio.

With my hair still wet after showering, a task my kingpin gently assisted me with in order to remove every last trace of Stefano from my skin, I stand in the attic, watching her glide across the wooden floor with a level of beauty and grace most could never dream of, and that even less are capable of.

If I’m ever on my deathbed for the second time and am granted a final wish, it’ll be to watch Mina dance one last time. Witnessing such peace and elegance is likely the closest I’ll ever come to grasping true serenity.

“Manzana…” From beside me, Alejandro lightly squeezes my hand in an attempt to shatter my hesitancy to interrupt her. “Baby, go talk to her.”

I swallow as a whirlpool of emotions, ones I’m still getting used to feeling, well up within me, forming a knot in my throat.

“Just another minute, da. Then—”

The moment I speak, Mina stills, pointed feet flattening against the floor as she slowly lowers her arms, dropping them to her sides.

With her back facing me and her shoulders tight with tension, her dark brown ponytail bounces with each quickening breath she takes.

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