Page 96 of A Beautiful Crime

In the eye of that very storm is the man who was becoming the life raft.

How could I have ever been so dense?

“Equals,” I say to him and only him. He cocks his head to the side, his eyes studying me intensely. “Blindsiding me isn’t treating me as an equal.”

His hand travels from my arm to my hold my hand in his. He brings it up to his chest, over his heart.

And while there are other people present it’s only him and I at this moment.

Hell, it’s only ever him and I when our eyes meet.

His voice is low, loud enough for only me to hear. “You wouldn’t have come.”

My fingernails bite into the skin of his hand. He doesn’t wince nor acknowledge the bite of pain. “You’ve always given me a choice.” It pains me to admit it, but it’s true. Constantine has always given me a choice. Something I’ve been denied since the day I was born. Something I truly felt the loss of after my re-birth. I swallow past the bitterness, past my own pain. “Today you have denied me of that.”

“Carina-”

I interrupt before an excuse can pour from those lips. “You didn’t respect me enough to make my own choice. You. Didn’t. Respect. Me.” And perhaps I’m done beyond the point of caring to hide how I feel. Perhaps I am to blame him for awakening me. For making me feel alive. Perhaps that’s why I can’t hide the pain in my eyes, the hurt in my voice.

And perhaps I want to hurt him back.

And by the look in his eyes, the loosening grip on my hand, and the smallest falter of a breath, my own pain has caused pain within him.

It’s there, for the briefest of time. Not even a second. But it was there and I caught it.

“Lovers quarrel?” I hear my brother’s voice break through our bubble. And as much as his voice chills me to the bone I try my damndest not to react. With my hand still in Constantine’s, my body close to his, I turn my head to find a sinister smirk on Luca’s face. A dark promise in his eyes. Something I’m all too familiar with. “I’m sure papa would love to hear how you are already failing him, cara Carina. What might his reaction be?”

My nails bite harder into Constantine’s skin. Enough to break flesh.

Memories of the cellar flash before me, causing me to relive my hellish nightmare. I can feel the cold hard cement biting into my knees. My wrists burning from the rope tied to the pole. The tear of flesh from the lashes. And I hear it, his malicious laugh from my cries as I break before him.

Before I lose myself in the darkness Constantine brings me in the light. He wraps a protective arm around my waist and pulls me flush against him.

And as much as I am hurt by him, my body recognizes the safety he provides.

Luca may be a predator but to Constantine he’s merely prey.

The only way to fight a monster is to become one yourself. But what is a monster to a Devil?

“Luca,” Constantine addresses him in a calm yet cool tone, “is that a threat I hear regarding my fiancé?”

Apprehension registers in his eyes but he doesn’t heed it. Instead he becomes bold and says, “She may be your fiancé, Constantine-”

“Signore,” Constantine corrects him and Luca’s cheeks redden. “And before you finish your idiotic sentence I do hope you enjoy receiving pain as much as you enjoy inflicting it.”

And his cheeks redden further. Not only has he embarrassed him, he’s threatened him in my honor.

A Made Men never threatens in his woman’s honor. Not in our world.

Luca’s blue eyes harden on mine. And I see the thoughts playing out in his head. I see what he would do if he could lay a hand on me. But he can’t. And it’s killing him.

“Now, now, brothers,” Marquise says in peace, stepping before the two with his charming grin. “We are here to talkabout business. And I sure would love to make all of our wallets heavier.”

“I, for sure, would love a raise if this happens,” Pietro chimes in from behind us. All aloof with his boyish charm that eases the tension better than Marquise tried to.

“Pietro,” Constantine says.

Pietro steps up beside me and snickers, “Put in a good word for me, would you, Carina? I’d like to buy one of those fancy cars instead of stealing it from him all the time.”

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