Page 169 of Sin & Sapphire

Shouts rang out in the hallway, and I heard the scuffle of bodies, only for my door to slam open.

“She said she doesn’t want you in there,” a man with an Italian accent snarled. I couldn’t see the door from where I lay on my stomach and moving hurt too much. “You don’t want to light the match for another war over a woman,” the man sneered. Dante—it had to be Dante.

“Angel,” Angelo whispered from somewhere behind me, and my heart ached for him. I needed him, and his care, and his ability to sweep my worries away with a simple command. “The only reason I haven’t killed you for blocking my path is because it’d upset Ana,” I heard him say.

I blinked. Angelo was reining in his impulses. For me? Fear had me twisting around despite the screaming pain. I forced the word out of my throat. “Stop!”

I needn’t have worried. Valentin’s fingers wrapped around Angelo’s, and he gently drew the gun down. He peered over Dante, his gaze uncharacteristically frantic until he found me watching them over my shoulder, terrified of the powder keg the two Sicilians were about to explode around our heads.

“She said stop,” Valentin murmured. He caught my eye. “We’re here, sweet princess, when you’re ready.”

“I’m leaving,” I rasped.

Valentin’s lips turned up in a sad smile. “We’ll still be here. You’re safe. And so is everyone else here. I promise.”

65

VALENTIN

This was my fucking fault.I stared at Ana, laying on her stomach, breathing shallowly as she slept, restless despite the drugs that were supposed to reduce her pain.

She whimpered, and I shot to my feet. “No,” she whined, lost in her nightmare. “Please don’t.”

I dragged my chair over to her so I could take her hand, stroking the paper-thin skin softly. Her fingers clenched in the heavy cotton sheets of the hospital bed, her nails still perfectly buffed and painted from the wedding, and I twined my fingers through hers, my palm to the back of her hand.

I’d spent the last two nights in her room, watching her sleep like the lovesick fool I’d teased Angelo for being what felt like years ago, even if it was only weeks. Getting into her room cost me a fortune in bribes, but I’d have paid a hundred times as much for the privilege.

“Princesse,” I murmured softly. “Courageuse. Belle. Brilliante. Magnifique.A goddess among mere mortals.Ne me quitte pas, je t’en supplie.”

Ana cried out. “Please, don’t! I can’t! No!” My heart broke for her, over and over and over. What had that fucker done to her?

“Ana, réveille-toi!,” I murmured. “Tu fais un cauchemar.” Wake up, you’re having a nightmare.

Her eyes snapped open, and her gaze caught mine. “Maître,” she said, and the vise around my heart eased.

“I’m here, sweetheart.”

Her brow furrowed, and she flexed her fingers under mine. “You are,” she said, her eyes soft with sleepy wonder. “I didn’t think you’d wait.”

Of course she didn’t. I’d shown her nothing but cruelty and kink, allowing my sadism to dictate the terms of our relationship rather than the fact that I’d rather die than take another breath without this magnificent woman by my side.

“Ana,” I rasped, and she curled her fingers, dragging mine around her hand until they slid between her palm and the sheets.

“I’m so angry,” she said softly, her blue eyes sleepy. “I was supposed to be gone from here, living my best life, free and alone.”

“I’m glad you’re not,” I confessed.

“You owe me a punishment,” she murmured. “For running away.”

My heart stopped. This beautiful, determined woman was telling me she wanted more.

“A lifetime of them,” I promised, even though I vowed right then and there I’d never hurt this precious creature ever again. I’d say whatever it took to get her to stay with us.

“What time is it?” she whispered.

I looked at my watch. “Three in the morning.”

Ana nodded and let her eyes fall shut, her long lashes staining her pale cheeks.

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