Page 149 of Empire of Temptation

Luca wrapped an arm around me and brought me closer. “Don’t cry, bella. I know I’ve hurt you. Let me make it up to you.”

“I’m not sure you can. Even if I were willing to forgive you, what would be the point?”

“The point is to be together.” He kissed the top of my head, then pressed his face into my hair. “Ti amo, Valentina.”

The words were like a punch to the gut. I’d wanted to hear them for so long, but it no longer mattered. He was an Italian mob boss with a giant rock house and pink pool chairs. I lived in a tiny town where we didn’t lock our houses at night. For god’s sake, I scrubbed toilets and bought clothes from mobile apps. There wasn’t a way in hell this added up.

“I have never said those words to a woman in my life,” he continued softly. “Because I never found one who I wished to marry before.”

My chest cracked, the pain ripping through me. God, when would this agony stop? “Don’t.”

“I can’t. Marry me, stay here with me. Let me make you happy every single day with orgasms and purses and chicken parm. Babies. Whatever you desire, amore mio. I need you by my side.”

“Luca . . . ” I said shakily. I hadn’t expected this from him and I had no defenses in place against his onslaught. “I can’t stay here. I have a life, a business. I’m not cut out to be a mafia wife, sequestered up here in the hills with nothingto do all day.”

His body stiffened against mine and his arm dropped from my shoulder. “This is where I live, the land on which generations of Don Benettis have lived. It isn’t safe for me to stay anywhere else.”

“You lived in Paesano,” I couldn’t help but point out.

“For a short time, yes. But I can’t permanently run an empire there.”

I rubbed at the tears, trying to stem their descent. We were quiet for several minutes, both of us unmoving.

“You are asking me to give it up,” he said softly. “Which I cannot do.”

“I’m not asking that. I know you won’t.”

“It’s not a question of whether I will or won’t. I’m telling you I can’t. Only death passes on the title to another.”

So that was that. There wasn’t more to discuss, really. We both knew where the other stood. No doubt it seemed unreasonable to him that I refused to move here. After all, the estate was gorgeous and I’d want for nothing.

But I couldn’t leave Paesano. I’d lost my mother too recently, her house and restaurant my only ties to her. I wasn’t looking for a fresh start on the other side of the globe.

“Do you love me?” he asked.

I didn’t know how to answer. Telling him the truth only made things worse. Yet I couldn’t keep it from him. He deserved to know. “I think I fell in love with you the night you made me dinner.”

He cupped my neck and angled me toward him. His gaze was soft but troubled as he studied me. “Valentina, I promise to give you the world if you let me.”

The knot in my stomach twisted, my insides squeezing with misery. I liked problems with easy solutions, but there was no solution here. We were just two people who lived in different places and couldn’t make it work.

I fought back the tears threatening to start again as I put my hand on his jaw. “I don’t want the world. I have everything I need back home—except for one thing. And he can’t stay there.”

“Please, I am begging you to reconsider. Stay and see if you like it.”

He wasn’t listening. This wasn’t a pair of boots to try on and return if they didn’t fit. This was moving across the globe and leaving everything I knew behind. I couldn’t do it.

“I can’t. My answer won’t change and we are delaying the inevitable.” I leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. “And unless you’re planning to hold me hostage here forever, then you have to let me go.”

He swallowed loudly, then eased out of my reach. With a graceful push, he stood and adjusted the cuffs of his trousers, not caring that water soaked through the cloth. “Allora,” he said softly. “I’ll have Gabi fly you home.”

Without a backward glance, Luca strode to the sliding door and disappeared inside the house.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Luca

Ilost track of how long I’d been running.

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