Page 86 of Vicious Heir

She must hear the pain in my voice because she gets up without a fight. I draw her down into my lap and wrap my arms around her. I breathe in her sweet smell and bury my face in her neck, kissing her skin lightly.

“Are you okay?” she asks, leaning into me.

“I’m fine.”

“Someone in your own family tried to kill you. I don’t believe that you’re fine.”

“He failed. Now he’s dead.”

“Adriano, you can talk to me.”

“What’s there to say?” I kiss her again and hold her tighter. “Just sit with me, alright?”

She goes quiet as she strokes her fingers through my hair. I don’t want to think right now. I just want to feel her close. Her smell, her touch, her voice. She’s the only person in the world who could soothe me right now.

“It’s okay to feel sad, you know,” she whispers.

“He was a fucking traitor.”

“I know, and that makes it worse, right?”

I shake my head. “He got what he deserved.”

“But you loved him, didn’t you? Don’t try to act like you didn’t. I saw the way you were with him. You looked up to Frank.”

I close my eyes. God, I’m so transparent. She can see right through me. “It’s worse because it was him. Any of the others and I’d almost expect it. They’re a bunch of vicious thieves and killers. But Frank, he was like a mentor. He was a father figure. He knew me all my life, and he turned on me.”

“I’m so sorry,” she whispers, fingernails lightly scratching down my scalp. “God, that’s so awful. I don’t know what he was thinking, but he was wrong, Adriano. You’re a good leader. The men respect you. They looked up to you.”

“He didn’t.”

“He was a fucking idiot.”

I smile slightly. I like it when she curses. “What a dirty mouth.”

“Don’t try to change the subject.” She leans back and looks into my eyes. “You’re a good Don.”

“How could you know that,amore mio? You’ve only been in the Famiglia for a short time.”

“I see it in the way your guards and soldiers act toward you. They listen to your orders and obey even when you’re not around. And when you are in the same room, they stand taller and straighter, like they want to impress you. I’ve never heard a single one of them say a bad thing.”

“My men aren’t dumb enough to badmouth the Don to his wife.”

“You know what I’m saying.”

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do. But one of the few men I looked up to in this world thought I was doing such a bad job he had to murder me. You’re right, okay? It’s like a knife in my chest.”

“You’ll get through this. You’ll be stronger on the other side.”

“This is a messed-up world we’ve built for ourselves.” I kiss her neck and run my hand into her hair. I fist it lightly and pull back, making her whimper with surprise. “It’s a dark and ruthless world. My father taught me that from a young age. Trust nobody, kill anyone that gets in your way. That’s how he lived, and it’s the lesson he tried hardest to teach me. I don’t think I really understood it, at least not until Frank tried to put a bullet in my head.”

“It doesn’t have to be all darkness.” Her lips part slightly. She looks so small and precious. I swear a halo of light glows around her head, and she smells perfect, like honey and lilacs. I tighten my grip in her hair, and all I can think about is ruining her with my mouth, with my cock, fucking her into submission, breaking her and making her scream.

And that’s why I don’t deserve her.

“You’re wrong,” I whisper softly. “You saw what my future’s going to be.”

She tilts her head. “What do you mean?”

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