Page 90 of Falling for the Enemy

He’s going to hate my dress.

But not as much as he loves it.

From my peripheral, I spot Casper leaning against a wall. Where Nikolai and Viktor are positioned, I’m unsure. But they, along with half a dozen other concealed Kings surround me, their watchful gazes never deviating.

With Stefano remaining at large, everyone’s guard remains high. He may not have the numbers he once did after we wiped out a large chunk of La Famiglia—first at the farmhouse, then in the weeks that followed via small, targeted attacks—but some of his vermin remain.

Not enough, however.

With such few mafiosos left to defend his shrinking territory, united as one, Alejandro and I have cleansed North Charleston of La Famiglia’s filthy presence, one dead Italian at a time.

The Fallen Kings and the Colombian Cartel.

Though I never would have thought such a thing possible in the beginning, the newly minted partnership joining his family to mine has proven highly valuable.

As well as pleasurable.

After Capone’s betrayal, I never planned to allow another man close, much less into my bed. Especially not one who is the head of what I, at one time, considered a rival faction.

But then Alejandro stormed into my life.

And everything quickly changed.

For me, the turning point came during the shootout at the warehouse, when just as he’d done on the roof of The Carriage Inn, the kingpin saved me from death’s greedy clutches.

He could’ve left me to die as I lay unconscious on the dusty floor beneath Vincent’s large feet, incapable of protecting myself from the many horrendous things La Famiglia had planned for me, yet he didn’t.

In our world, that means something.

And in my heart, it means even more.

Da, I kept him alive by eliminating one of Stefano’s assassins when he entered the abandoned building we’d taken refuge in after being ambushed at the hotel. What I’d done in that instance, however, doesn't compare to the brutality in which he ended Vincent.

For me, he’s torn two men’s throats out.

The first being Capone’s younger brother, the second the double-crossing informant who sold me bad information, leading to me walking into a trap.

Both kills were in addition to the mafioso he captured outside the shelter, as well as the assassin he dropped at the hotel. And I can’t forget the dozen shooters he eliminated at the farmhouse.

Multiple murders.

Nothing says love and romance quite like that.

Love.

My belly flips, the odd feeling one I’ve slowly become accustomed to as the four-letter word flits through my head, bringing with it a swell of emotions I, at one time, thought myself incapable of experiencing.

I now know better.

When at Alejandro’s side, the suffocating numbness that has plagued me for so long is inarguably absent. Just as the aching emptiness that led to my inability to sleep for many years is.

In their places, I’ve found happiness.

And once Stefano’s dead, I’ll gain peace.

My vicious demons may remain, their permanent residency one I’ll never be rid of, nor do I wish to be since they make me who I am, but the tundra that once lined my chest has officially thawed, releasing my heart from its icy prison.

For the first time in my life, I’m free.

---