Page 54 of The Marriage Contract

“Say it,” he snarls. “Say it, Elena.”

“Want you again.”

“I never stopped wanting you,” he says, his lips feeling electric.

I wrap my arms around him, and this time,Iinitiate the kiss. I bite his lip as pure passion swells inside of me, the heat and the closeness making me oh-so wild. It’s as if I’m going crazy, like he’smakingme crazy. We only stop kissing when his cell phone rings. He answers it. “Yeah, okay. Soon.” He ends the call.

He stands up slowly as if it’s difficult for him—like being apart from me causes him physical pain. “I didn’t come here for your perfect body. I didn’t come here to claim my perfect virgin.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I came here to tell you you’re going to join your aunt and friend in a safe house outside the city.”

I jump to my feet. “What’s happened to them? Are they okay? Is Aunt Rosasafe?” My mind swirls with sickening images, the most grotesque, nasty things. It’s the sort of thing I would’ve found difficult to imagine before the slaughter at the farmhouse. “Dario!”

“They’re safe,” he tells me, taking my hands. “They’re on their way there now. My men have found the leader of the Romanos location. We’re getting ready to move in and wipe the bastard out once and for all.”

“Wipe him?—”

“Executehim,” he growls with wildness in his eyes. “I’m going tokillhim, Elena. If that means you can’t look at me, kiss me, or …”

“Say it. Say you won’t care. Say you’ll do it anyway.”

“It will destroy me,” he snarls. “I never knew how much I could care. I never knew I had it in me. If you told me that, it’d wreckme, but I’d do what I’ve done my whole life and ignore what I want. I’d do the right thing by the Family. This bastard, his location wasn’t the only thing I learned.”

He turns away, shuddering, looking for a heartbreaking moment like a lost little boy. “Dario?” I murmur, walking around him so we’re facing each other. I take his face in my hands so he can’t look away. “You can talk to me.”

“I don’t want to burden you with this.”

“You’reburdened with it.”

“That’s my job,” he growls. “It’s not yours.”

“Well, I’m asking. No, fuck that. I’m demanding, okay? So you better spill beforeIgo feral onyou.” When he smiles, I snap, “What’s so funny, smart guy?”

“You, Elena. Your sass is coming back.”

A thrill dances through me, everything inside glowing and shimmering at his words. It makes me feel so special on a level I don’t quite understand, like I’m his prize, and I’m the only one who can make him smile when the world drags him down.

“I mean it,” I say.

“We found Vincenzo through a whistleblower in his organization. It turns out he’s been hiding at one of his girlfriend’s houses. The informant showed me a photo he’d taken of the girlfriend. Her face is a mess. He’s used her as a goddamn punching bag.” He grits his teeth, then leans in close to me. “Do you see why I have to be a monster? Do you see why I can’t let any softness into me, not with this crap? You’re my refuge. You’re my safe place, but I have to act when it comes to this.”

“Then you better go,” I whisper.

He hesitates

.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I don’t want you to hate or think less of me, but I must be upfront. I may do worse to Vincenzo than I did to the lowlife who tried to drag you into that cellar. Maybe it’s unfair of me to ask this, but I need you to be okay with it. When I’m out there, I can’t think of you here, judging me, hating me.”

“I want you to show me the photo.”

“What photo?”

“Of the woman, Vincenzo’s woman.”

He swallows, putting me at arm’s length and tilting his head down at me. His expression has far more affection than I ever would’ve anticipated from him before we started this romance. It was supposed to be fake, but this is the realest thing I’ve ever felt. “Are you sure?”

I almost sass him again, but he’s only asking because he wants to keep me safe. He’s only asking because he knows how fucked-up I still am, but I won’t stop fighting. “Yes. Show me.”

---