Page 142 of The Devil Can Be Kind

I could feel his head shaking. “Never.”

His hands came round to cup my face, tilting my chin so his eyes could search mine. A gentle finger traced a line from my temple down to my jaw.

“I’ll sort this. I’ll do what your family should have done. I’ll kill him.” Suddenly a dark look clouded his eyes. “Though, I have no clue why they haven’t done that already.”

“Because it would have been bad for business…” I shook my head, unwilling to say the words as sickening images flashed back to me. “They weren’t as forgiving the second time,” I added darkly.

No.

My father had shot Tyler when he burst into my bedroom that day. Shot him right between the eyes. Then Leon and another cousin had dumped his body at the bottom of Lake Mead and put a suicide letter through his mother’s door.

A growl resonated in Marco’s chest, his voice taking on a biting and revolted tone. “You mean to tell me thatRicardowas the one that took your v?—”

“Yes.” I interrupted, unwilling to talk about it anymore. “Please can we just talk about something else.Anythingelse.”

I heard his teeth grind together and a tremor move through his body.

I sighed, knowing that unless I changed the subject that moment, he was about two seconds away from marching off to Mexico again.

Then I remembered something.

“You said earlier that we were engaged. That a marriage contract had already been signed. Is that true?”

I felt his tense body relax infinitesimally. “Yes.”

I pulled away to look up at him. “That’s not much of a proposal,” I teased, but then my smile faltered.

What if he regretted it? Would he,couldhe even want me after everything I’d told him?

But after a short minute, a small smile stretched across his face and my insecurities melted away.

“Well, I was getting to that part. Besides, was there even a point in asking? We all know you are desperate to marry me. You did sleep with me ata weddingafter all,” he finished mockingly, referring to my conversation with Jesse and Enzo at his cousin’s wedding in Sicily some months previous.

I rolled my eyes. “As usual, your overwhelming arrogance no knows bounds, Don La Torre. Who’s to say I don’t have another, more powerful Don out there pining after me?” I challenged.

"You most probably do, but I doubt he’s as handsome,” he toyed, the last of his anger finally melting away.

“Arrogant. So, so arrogant.”

“Can I take that as a yes to you marrying me?” Marco asked still smiling, eyes softening.

“Hmm…” I sighed, pretending to be deep in thought for a moment. “I don’t think I’ve got anything planned for the next year. I suppose I could marry you.”

His charming, boyish smile flashed across his face making him so devastatingly handsome it hurt.

Knowing that my secret was safe with him and that he would protect me—loveme despite everything I told him… It made my heart ache with happiness.

And fear.

I tried to ignore the unsettling feeling that I would meet Ricardo again as it pressed against my sanity like a cloud of sleet and snow. I didn’t doubt that Marco would protect me or that he had the means to deal with Ricardo just as one would swat a fly… But it didn’t make my father’s words any easier to forget:Make no mistake, he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

I held Marco a little tighter as a gnawing sense of dread coalesced in the crevices of my heart.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

ADALYN

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