Page 36 of His Ruthless Obsession

The door clicks shut behind him, leaving me alone with my cooling coffee and the weight of words I don't want to read too much into.

Hours after Nerio comes home,I lay tangled in silk sheets, my head resting on Nerio's chest. His heartbeat drums steady beneath my ear, a contrast to the ruthless man I've helped patched up, that I've seen bark orders at his men.

"What are you thinking about?" he asks as his hand works up and down my back.

I can't tell him the truth. Not how I worry that I'm getting too attached to a man that I never should. That I've let him lock me away in the name of my safety, control taking me to work at a place he owns, let him fuck me each night and sleep beside me.

I can't tell him that despite all that, for the first time, I feel safe and protected and cherished. He would kill anyone for me. I've seen him break bones when men try to touch me. He's deadly. He's dangerous.

And he'd do anything for me.

Why is that sending my wall crashing to the ground and leaving my poor heart unguarded.

"Tell me something about you," I say instead. "Something that you think about a lot, that other people wouldn't expect."

He's silent for a minute, and then he says so softly I almost missed it. "I killed my first man at the age of ten." It's not what I expect in the slightest. "I was taught to hold and shoot a gun on my sixth birthday, but… It's different to hit a real person."

"Your first kill at ten?" My fingers trace the scar above his eyebrow. "That's young, even for a Bueti."

"Had to be done." His hand slides up my bare back. "Caught someone trying to hurt my cousin. Grabbed my father's gun, didn't think twice."

"Did it change you?"

"Made me understand power." His chest rises with a deep breath. "After that, they shipped me off to live with Lorenzo — my older cousin. The don. His family is a real piece of work. Taught me everything about survival."

I prop myself up on an elbow, studying his face in the dim light. "Everything?"

"How to break fingers without leaving marks. How to make someone talk without touching them." His gray eyes lock onto mine. "How to read people's weaknesses. Use them."

"Like you read mine?"

His fingers thread through my curls. "You don't have weaknesses, Jazz. You have armor. Different thing entirely."

"Smooth talker." But my heart skips at the observation.

"But family is family, and we were all raised together. It breeds a different kind of loyalty. No rules except survival." He shifts, pulling me closer. "By fifteen, I could run half the neighborhood's protection rackets. By twenty, I had my own crew."

"Sounds lonely."

"It was necessary." His voice carries no remorse, just fact. "In this life, you either control or get controlled. No middle ground."

I trace the muscle of his shoulder, feeling the tension there. "And now?"

"Now?" His hand cups my face, thumb brushing my lower lip. "Now I have an empire. Territory. Respect." His eyes darken. "And a beautiful woman who thinks she can save my soul."

"I don't want to save you." The words come out barely above a whisper.

"No?"

"I just want to understand you."

His laugh rumbles through his chest. "Dangerous game, little dove."

I trace idle patterns on his chest, my mind wandering to dangerous places. The steady rise and fall of his breathing grounds me, even as anxiety claws at my throat.

"What's going on in that head?" Nerio's fingers trail down my spine.

"Just thinking about how I ended up here." I prop myself up, meeting his gaze. "With you."

---