Page 109 of King of Obsession

She was practicing her aim.

Next, she placed the rifle down and reached for a handgun. This, too, she discharged.

I lurched at the wild emotion in her shoot.

She was shooting with increasing anger and ire.

When she missed her target and let out a loud curse, I sucked my teeth.

I had to stop her moment in case she hurt herself.

Stepping off the terrace, I walked slow and easy to her.

I called out from a safe distance. ‘Carissima, calma. Sufficientemente.’

She paused for a beat, silence falling, smoke curling from her weapon.

With an inhale and a low growl, she returned to her blasting at unseen enemies.

I’d had enough.

I prowled to her and, in seconds, hauled her to my torso, immobilizing her shooting arm.

She slumped against me, chest heaving.

‘What the hell, cara?’ I murmured into her ear, keeping my tone soft.

She whipped around to face me. ‘Baby, I had a nightmare that they would come after us and burn all of this, all of us, down. That they’d take you, us, away from me. I have to keep practicing. I can’t let them ever win.’

I took an inhale and a moment to assess. ‘Bellissima, you’re angry and frustrated, I know. But a firearm and emotion don’t mix.’

‘The fuck they don’t,’ she growled. ‘When I’ve been made to feel like shit and treated like shit for so long, they do merge. They fuckin’ have to. It’s the only sanity I have left to hold on to. That one day I will find my revenge, that I’ll empty my gun in that monster’s face until it’s obliterated.’

Shakes racked her entire body as she crumpled on me.

I caught her, steadying her trembling frame as her fingers clutched my shirt. Her anguish was palpable, radiating off her in waves that threatened to drown us both.

‘Did you know on the night you found me in Naples that he and those two other fucktards he was with planned to rape me? Thank Dio, they drank and got high before they did much.One even fell asleep as he was pawing me hard. That’s when I escaped, and you arrived.’

‘It’s OK, mia sola,’ I growled. ‘Franco Conti will never hurt you again.’

With care, I pried the weapon from her grasp and placed it in the open case at our feet, snapping it shut.

In one fluid motion, I scooped her into my arms, cradling her against me as I carried her back towards the farmhouse.

Slight and fragile, she folded in my embrace.

All that mattered was getting her inside. To soothe the pain that had driven her out here, gun in hand, ready to pursue the vengeance that had consumed her for so long.

I wanted to love her until she learned to cherish herself, to give her everything she ever needed, and to adore her the way she was supposed to be.

When we reached the front door, she lifted her head, red-rimmed eyes meeting mine.

‘I’m sorry,’ she choked out between hiccuping breaths. ‘You didn’t need to see that. I woke with the devil riding my back, and I couldn’t stop thinking of how much Franco and his Conti cunt family have done to ruin my life.’

Her voice broke.

‘Shhh, it’s alright,’ I soothed, shifting her weight to push open the door. ‘You have nothing to apologize for.’

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