Page 71 of The Forbidden Husband

“You could have been killed!”

Her mouth fell open in surprise, and she hovered a hand over her stomach absentmindedly. “Wh—what?”

“You went back there, knowing that he could have killed you without a second thought. If I didn’t have Vito there, do youknow what could have happened? If Vito were any other man—” I stopped myself and forced in a sharp breath. That had struck more of a chord than anything else—what could have happened to her? “You knew you were putting yourself in danger, and you fucking did it anyway.”

She continued gawking at me as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Of course, I did. I messed up. I almost got everyone killed.”

“Your actions did get people killed,” I roared back. She flinched. “But that’s not why I’m pissed at you, Aria. Alonzo would have found a way to get to us, and without you, he may have succeeded.”

“I thought you would hate me for what I did. You should hate me.”

I had hated her briefly. When I thought that she had betrayed me for no reason aside from blind loyalty, I regretted letting her go. But when I learned what was at stake—when I learned that once again, she was doing this to protect everyone other than herself—how could I hate her? When Jaimie sent me the listing of her sister on a black-market site, everything was verified. It all made sense.

Aria never cared about herself when the people she loved were in harm’s way.

For that alone, I could throttle her.

I moved toward her and grabbed both of her arms tightly, holding her in place in front of me. “If you ever put yourself in danger like that again,” I shouted, my hands shaking as they gripped her. “I will chain you to a fucking chair in my basement. Do you understand me? I won’t watch you be killed because of me.”

My voice broke on the last word, and I sucked in another breath as her brows knitted together.

“Enzo, I did it because I couldn’t watch you die.”

I didn’t know what else to do. Words wouldn’t convey what roared through me as I slammed my mouth over hers. I felt her melt beneath me. I felt every ounce of her reaction to me as her hands wrapped around my waist and held me there. The image of her lying on that bed, kicking and screaming, burned into my mind, and I knew nothing would ever erase it.

“I love you,” she whispered against my lips.

Despite everything—the anger and heat from the kiss, the way she had betrayed me in a way I had always been terrified someone would do—I still loved her. I still wanted her with every part of me.

“I won’t lose you because you think you are less important than everyone else in your life. Because you feel like you are not as valuable,” I said against her lips.

“I won’t do it again,” she swore.

“I have Jaimie working on getting Evelina out. She’ll be safe. But if Alonzo calls and tells you that he’s going to hurt Livia—”

“I have my own family to worry about now, Enzo. I told her that.” Her eyes turned down, but I grabbed her chin with my left hand and pulled it up until she was forced to look at me again. “Livia will be fine. I don’t know what she’s planning, but I trust her.”

“Why didn’t you tell me,” I asked her. “About any of it. I could have kept you safe. Protected you. You know I could have done that.”

“I planned to tell you everything. I needed to think it all through first, but I was going to tell you. I was never planning on letting it go this far. I’m so sorry.” A tear fell from her eye, and I captured it with my thumb. “I can’t live with myself if I’m responsible for the death of someone I love.”

“You won’t be. I’ll make sure of that.”

I placed a hand on her still flat belly. I couldn’t believe that she had kept this from me. But with everything else weighing on her, it made sense. I could understand everything that had happened. If in her position, I would have done the same thing.

“Let me make it up to you,” she begged, tugging at the hem of my shirt. “Let me show you how much I love you.”

I didn’t say anything as she pulled the shirt over my head. I watched as she leaned forward and kissed my chest, then a bit lower. Her hands unbuckled my belt as she worked her way down slowly.

I couldn’t stop her. Not when the heat in her eyes burned through me and cemented me to my spot. I should have hated her for everything. Seeing the similarities in her story and my mother’s burned at something in my chest.

My biggest fear had happened.

But Ariawasn’tmy mother. She had done this out of pure selflessness, and my mother had been the opposite. She had tried to stab my father in the back for her own selfish reasons.

Aria wasn’t evil.

Aria was too good for her own good.

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