Page 30 of The Last Vendetta

Nor were the Bernardis. “It would eliminate us as a separate power.”

He chuckled. “Have you always been this strategic and observant?”

I knew not many other young women were. And why should they pay attention? Our fates all ended the same, married off and possessed by the man who’d use us as they saw fit. “More or less. What else is there to do than wait for my marriage, then roll over for some asshole who’d want to make me pop out babies?”

He growled, lifting my face with two of his fingertips under my chin. His mouth smashed against mine, and the instant hit of arousal made my pussy clench with need.

“I don’t want to think about you rolling over for anyone,” he said.

“Except you?” I teased, wondering if he’d admit it. Renzo had made his life nothing but a party, living wild and chasing women.

He groaned, kissing me hard again. I leaned into his kiss, slanting into his hungry touch, but I knew I couldn’t forget what I’d come here for. Besides his comfort. Kissing him, with me seated on top of him like this, would quickly slip into this desire that I wasn’t sure I could restrain for long.

I reared back, smoothing my hand over his jaw. He breathed hard, glaring at me as though he damned me for backing off. He proved his worth, though, and didn’t demand that I kiss him again.

He wouldn’t be just another asshole to dominate me. He’d do so in a way I craved, but I’d never find out.

“I don’t want to talk about my having to marry anyone,” I said. As I licked my lips, tasting him still, he squeezed my ass.

“Me neither.” He scowled, staring at my mouth like he hated being held back from temptation. “Besides, I don’t know if Isabella would allow you to marry into the Romanos.”

I huffed. “Yeah, right. She’s already super cautious about trying to stay in Marcus’s favor.”

“But then she’d need to answer to someone else. It seems like she’s always worn the pants in your family. She bossed Rocco around, and if you married into a higher power like the Romanos, she’d lose that.”

I nodded, but the gesture evolved into a shrug. “That’s not what I wanted to talk about, though. That’s not why I snuck in here to see you.”

He pulled me over the hardness beneath his pants, and I hissed quickly at the delicious friction I wanted more of.

“You want to talk?” he taunted, kissing my neck then licking up toward my ear.

I shivered and pushed his chest until he slumped back in the seat. “Yes. And it’ll suggest that you shut the fuck up about telling me to stay out of this business.” I slanted him a stern look, knowing I was crossing significant boundaries to tell him this. “Luka was drugged.”

He frowned.

“And so was my father. And Mother.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“I’m not ‘suggesting’ anything. Dario overheard the men talking with my mother at the hospital while she recovered. It sounds like the same thing that Luka was given when he died.”

He narrowed his eyes, pensive.

“Whoever gave my parents that poison did the same thing to Luka.” That connection was a huge detail that I struggled to keep to myself. Knowing how badly Renzo wanted to find his brother’s killer, I was pushed to tell him what I’d learned.

“You swear on this?”

I nodded. “I didn’t hear it myself, but yes. Dario believes it was the same poison. And that complicated how convinced he was that you killed my father.”

“I didn’t,” he argued.

“I doubt it, because why would you use the same poison that was used on Luka? And I highly doubt you killed Luka because you were too busy with me at that time.”

He grinned, moving his hands from my ass to shove my dress up my thighs. “I remember.”

“And—”

Knocks sounded on the window, and we both flinched, turning to look out the windows. They were tinted. All these Mafia men drove in privacy like that.

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