Page 11 of Coerced Queen

It hurts me to see his body so broken.It hurts to knowwhyhe’s broken.Yet he still looks like the invincible man I got to know.I have to believe it.It has to be true, because I can’t live with the alternative, knowing it’s my fault.

“Saverio,” I whisper.

Instead of answering, he faces the wall.

“Sav,” I say again, inching closer.

“Go away, Anya,” he rasps.“There’s nothing here for you.”

ChapterFive

Saverio

My wife comes closer.

I can’t see or hear her, but I can feel her presence.

My wife.

Fuck.

She’d been my wife for all of one second before bullets and grenades tore us apart.

But that single second is enough.It has to be.

Her voice comes from the side of the bed, her mere breath on my arm forcing my skin into goosebumps.

“Sav.”

My feisty treasure has always been hard-headed.Trust her not to listen when I tell her to leave things she shouldn’t poke in peace.

“I named her Claire,” she says.

Goddamn.

She chose the name I wanted.

My chest swells with unbearable pride while my lungs simultaneously cave in on me.Can anything hurt and please more at the same time?

Reverence carries on her tone.“She’s beautiful.”

I don’t doubt that for a minute.She’ll look like her mother—a little Claire with red hair and cute freckles.A huge fucking ache bleeds out from the cavity between my ribs.I’m already mourning everything I’m going to miss out on.All because of Raphael Morelli.I’ll make him pay if it’s the last thing I do.

“Luigi and Giorgio are dead,” she says softly.“Along with most of their men.”

Unable to stand the sweet sound of her voice any longer, I say, “I know.Dante informed me.”

The hurt is evident in her words.“So you saw him, but you didn’t want to see me.”

Fuck me if her pain doesn’t stab straight into my gut.

I turn my face to her when I wanted to spare her the sight.What does she see?Gauze and tape.At least they hide the destruction.She doesn’t have to look at the damage.Not yet.If I have my way, she’ll never witness the empty socket in my skull.I can’t let her see that.I don’t have the stomach for it.

She trails her fingers over my forearm.“I’m so sorry.”

Every hair on my skin stands on end.

“I wanted to say thank you—” Her voice cracks.It takes her a moment to speak again.“Thank you for saving us.”

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