Page 10 of Sin & Sapphire

“Angelo needs to marry me off even more quickly than my father did. The people my father owed money to won’t forget his debts just because he’s dead.”

“Why don’t you just?—?”

Ana choked out a bitter laugh. “Run away? And do what? Leave everyone and everything I care about? Start over? Fall in love and live in a cottage with a white picket fence and spend the rest of my life worrying that the mafia’s going to find me and murder my family? Fuck you, Luca. Fuck you for being a man. Fuck you for not understanding a goddamned thing about the lives that women like Sofia and I lead.”

She was right.

We’d kept our relationship a secret because neither of our families would forgive the betrayal. The Costas and the Russos had hated each other for too long.

And now? My sister’s boyfriend murdered the head of the American branch of the Costas. They’d never forgive the insult if she ran away with me.

And me? My family would never forgive me. Or her. Running away with Ana was a death warrant no matter how we looked at it.

We stared into each other’s eyes until I couldn’t bear the pain any longer and looked away.

“Find a way to stay in touch,” Lorenzo said to her softly, giving her a hug, and I wanted it to be me whispering in her ear and reassuring her that everything was going to be okay.

Jealousy cracked through me like lightning. How many times had I wrapped my arms around her, to comfort her after she’d escaped a beating from her father? Or when she’d had to let some slime ball paw at her and just wanted me to fuck the memories away?

That’s how this all started. We’d known each other since we were kids, but never gave the other one a second glance until we were both hiding from our dates at a charity gala. Before I even realized what happened, we were fucking in a closet, desperate for an escape from our horrific realities. Our attraction blazed into a wild conflagration with the power to destroy everything in its path, if we didn’t keep it secret. When I realized how close Ana and my sister were, it only made each stolen moment more delicious.

“Ana, please,” I said finally, holding my hand out to hers, ready to beg. I didn’t know what I was asking for, just that my heart was cracking in two at the thought of losing her.

She turned to look at me one last time as a tear streaked down her face. Her eyes widened, as if she hadn’t expected it to fall, and she turned on her heel and strode out of the room without a backward glance.

Lorenzo raised an eyebrow. “Something you want to share with us, Luca?”

“After we murdered her father?” Nick said, pushing his chair away from the table with a harsh scrape. He patted me on the back. “I wouldn’t say a damn thing either.”

“She’ll be back,” Lorenzo said confidently.

Of course she would be. But would she ever forgive me for letting her walk out of my life as if she didn’t mean anything?

Me

Meet me tonight.

Ana

I’m leaving.

I stared at my phone,the breath knocked out of me by her silent refusal. Did she not want to see me?

I scoffed. Why would she? We’d been fucking for months, sneaking around, playing house in hotel rooms where we ordered room service, stealing away for weekends and giggling about our disguises. And now her uncle was stealing her away, sending her off so he could sell her off to the highest bidder.

Telling her how I felt would be cruel—it’s not like either of us could free ourselves from the chains that bound us to our families. She couldn’t stay, and I couldn’t offer her a goddamned thing except to stay my dirty little secret for the rest of our lives.

Realization hit me in the chest. The next time I saw Ana, she’d be arm-candy for some asshole, traded away to shore up the remnants of the Costa empire that my own sister was doggedly dismantling. She was so abused by her father, she was numb to it, didn’t even realize how awful it was half the time.

No, that was wrong. She deliberately ignored how awful it was because that was the only way she could survive.

I had to see her one last time.

Me

Please

The three dots blinked, cycling over and over, until I set my phone down and covered my eyes with my hands. Fuck. I was going to lose her, and she didn’t even know she was so much more than a casual fling to me.

---