Page 103 of Love Without Control

He nodded as I folded and pocketed my knife before scooping Eden into my arms and backing out of the dark alleyway. Once we were back on the sidewalk, I hurriedly placed her in the passenger seat and brushed a strand of damp hair from her forehead.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded but didn’t say a word.

I’d left the vehicle halfway in the street, and other drivers were honking as they maneuvered around my SUV. I tossed up a middle finger as I entered the car and then put it in drive. Pulling into traffic, I gripped the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles ached.

I’d completely lost my temper back there. I would have killed that motherfucker without a second thought if Eden hadn’t reined me in. Her rules floated back to me from that day at Jamie and Robert’s house.

I’m not living with some Mafia thug.

That means no whacking anyone.

When I pulled up to a red light, I risked a glance at Eden. She was staring straight ahead, her head tilted over against the window.

Before I could think better of it, I blurted, “I didn’t kill him.”

She didn’t move, didn’t meet my eye. She only murmured, “I know,” and fixed her gaze on the passing buildings.

As I drove, I stayed silent, lost in my own thoughts. The one at the forefront of my mind, the one that made my heart pound so hard, I probably needed to find a hospital with an excellent cardiac wing was…

Is she going to leave me?

Chapter 33

Danewasquietonthe drive back to the hotel. It was only ten minutes, but it seemed like hours as the silence pressed down on us like a thousand-pound weight.

I slid my hands beneath my thighs so he wouldn’t see the tremble there. Tilting my head against the cool window, I kicked off my shoes and attempted to sort through my feelings. That asshole’s fetid breath and the feel of his hand on my shoulder had incited a panic that I hadn’t felt in a long time. After being kidnapped once, the thought of someone taking me or hurting me again only added to the overwhelming pressure.

But Dane had been there. He’d saved me. Again. Despite his promise to not kill anyone, he’d been willing to do that to protect me.

I mean, I’m glad I stopped him from committing homicide. We certainly didn’t need police involvement in our lives, them poking around and possibly finding out we were living with false identities. But Dane was going to push aside his newfound moral compass and do whatever it took for me to feel safe.

And I’d never loved him more.

I just didn’t know how he was feeling about it. He was obviously not doing well because he’d hardly spoken. What if he decided I was too much damn trouble?

Once we reached the hotel, I padded through the lobby on bare feet, and as we rode up the hotel elevator in even more oppressive silence, the fingers of my right hand twisted my wedding band around and around my ring finger. I wished he’d at least touch me.

The walk down the corridor of the eighth floor felt like marching to the death chamber. The muted lighting from the brushed metal wall fixtures lit our way, but I might as well have been walking in darkness.

Dane unlocked the door to our room and led us inside, and just as I opened my mouth to ask him to please talk to me, he surprised me by pushing my back against the door. His brown eyes were darker than I’d ever seen them, almost coal black as he caged me in with his arms and stared at me for an uncomfortably long time.

Then he dropped to his knees on the entryway floor and leaned his head against my stomach, his hands sliding down to hold my waist with a ferocious grip.

“Eden. Please, baby, don’t leave me.” His words sounded like they had been pried from his chest with a rusty crowbar, the tone both harsh and pleading.Leave him? What the hell is he talking about?Before I could voice that question, he raised his head, and I was shocked to see tears swimming above the rims of his eyelids. “I love you, Eden. I love you so much. Please forgive me.”

Those words and the rawness of his pain buckled my legs until I was kneeling in front of him, my hands going immediately to his face. His fingers clutched onto them like a drowning man would grab a life preserver.

“Dane, what are you talking about? Why would I leave you?”

His chest rose and fell in rapid huffs. “I promised you I wouldn’t kill anyone.” He gritted his teeth so hard I could hear the scraping grind before he whispered, “And I almost did tonight. I wanted to hurt him so fucking bad for touching you. For scaring you.”

Oh. My. God.

The tips of my fingers dug into his cheeks, and I pulled his face closer until our noses were a mere inch apart. “To protect me. You were protecting me, Dane. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Wrinkles formed across his forehead, and his eyebrows pinched together. “But… but you said you didn’t want to be with a Mafia thug, and that’s what I acted like tonight. I turned back into Damiano.” A single tear slipped over his bottom lid and trekked down onto my hand. “He’s still inside me.”

---