Page 89 of The Devil's Den

I miss you so much. I’ll never stop loving you.

And it’s true. There’s no way to forget the only man who holds a piece of my heart no one else knows even exists. He’ll be the first. The last. The always wrapped in forever. “Pinky swear,” I whisper as though somehow, he could hear my promise, but how could he?

“Did you say you like my cock?” Venom in the man’s voice hisses past my ear, and as my eyes open, I find someone standing behind him and I gasp.

My mouth tries to move, to say even a single syllable, but it can’t. Old tears distort my vision and I know I must be imagining him standing there. It’s a hallucination, or maybe I’m dead and this is a dream.

A finger lifts in the air, landing across his lips, telling me to quiet. And I do, even as I stare hard, even as every hair on my body stands up. Surely, Matteo isn’t here at all.

But then he vanishes like he wasn’t there. I knew it. My mind is playing tricks.

“What a good whore,” the man groans, still in me, but I barely feel a thing.

My heart tightens, new tears springing into my eyes.

Please come back. Let me see you, just one more time.

“What the fuck? Why are you touching my ass, man?” Ethan instantly pops off me, glancing behind him. As he does, I quickly sit up, pulling my pants back over my hips, scooting backward as far as I can go. I realize I wasn’t hallucinating at all.

“Oh my God!” A shaky hand clamps over my mouth as the tears make a path down my cheeks. “You’re here!” I cry, seeing the other man already dead, his body at his friend’s feet.

“Of course I am, Aida. I’ll always come back for you.” He points his gun down at his side.

Ethan looks confused, jerking his eyes from Matteo to me. Before he has a chance to react, Matteo fires into his chest. Once. Then again, and again, my attacker stumbling backward until he lands on the ground.

My heartbeats ripple through me as I look at the carnage, then stare at the one who caused it.

Matteo’s gaze snaps to mine in an instant, and I get to my feet, unable to rip my eyes away from his. He assesses me as I tread toward him slowly, like I’m still unsure if I’m seeing his ghost. “Matteo, is—is that really you?”

He walks just as slowly at first, until his feet pick up pace, and mine do too, both of us running the short distance between us, both of us breathing hard as we come to stand before one another. My brows tighten, moisture building behind my eyes, his gaze filling with his own emotion.

“I thought I killed you.” Tears fill the space between my words, my palm cradling his cheek.

He clamps his hand over mine, his thumb rubbing my skin. “Thankfully you’ve got a crappy shot.” A grin spreads across his face, his eyes glistening.

My laugh comes out strangled with a sob. “Matteo…” I rise on my toes, leaning in close, my lips hovering over his. Our breaths mingle with aching desperation, his hands clinging to the back of my head, gripping tight enough to keep me tied to him for eternity.

“I know.” His forehead falls to mine. “God, I thought you were gone for good.”

“When I’m lost, you always seem to find me.”

“And I always will,” he breathes, his lips brushing tenderly with mine.

“Pinky swear?” A sob escapes me, my free hand tightening on his shoulder, my fingernails sinking into hard muscle.

“Pinky swear.” He scoops me into his arms and I kiss him, my hands crawling to his back, holding on with a ferocious desperation. If this isn’t real, if I somehow imagined this moment, I don’t care. Just the mere thought of being with him again is enough. My head falls against his chest as he carries me out of this nightmare.

“We have to get out of here before more of them come,” he says as we step outside.

I nod. “We have to go back to the house and get Robby, then go somewhere far away. Just us three.”

But instead of agreeing with me, his gaze turns clouded and his jaw twitches.

“Matteo?” A shudder slinks up my spine as he settles me inside the back of a van. “Where’s Robby?” My pulse throbs at my neck.

“I don’t know. I thought he was here. That’s what that fucking bastard said.”

“No.” I shake my head with a tremor in my voice. “It was just Ava, the girl they killed, and me.” I suddenly feel sick to my stomach. “Wait, what bastard?”

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