Page 100 of Of Lies and Shadows

“I’ve got you,” I say, one hand at her waist, the other cupping her ass. “Just let me do the work.”

I start to move her, slow at first, gentle rolls of her hips guided by my hands. Her breath catches, eyes flutteringshut. She leans forward, resting her forehead on mine as our bodies start to fall into a rhythm.

“You’re doing so well.” I kiss her jaw. “So fucking gorgeous like this.”

She gasps when I grind her down harder, angling her hips just right. Her moan is breathy, uncontrolled.

“That’s it.” I groan. “Let go. Take it. Take all of me.”

I feel her start to tremble, her walls tightening around me. She grabs my shoulders, nails biting into my skin.

“Dante—oh my god?—”

“You can come, bella. Don’t hold back. Let me feel you.”

She comes with a sharp cry, hips jerking against mine, her whole body shuddering with the force of it. I hold her through it, every inch of me straining not to follow.

But when her eyes open again, dazed and wild and so fucking full of trust, I lose it.

I thrust up into her twice, hard, and then I come with a groan that sounds like her name and a prayer in one. My arms lock tight around her as I spill inside her, every muscle burning with it.

She collapses against me, breathless and trembling. I wrap my arms around her, tucking her close, our hearts thundering in sync.

“I love you,” I whisper against her hair. “I love you so much.”

She doesn’t speak, doesn’t say it back, and I don’t expect her to. But she stays right there.

And for the first time… I think she’s starting to believe me.

Chapter Twenty-One

Francesca

Iexpect to wake up alone, except I don’t.

I turn onto my side and find Dante still beside me, asleep. It’s the first time I’ve seen him like this, unguarded, utterly defenseless, and it does something to me I’m not prepared for. He looks younger in sleep. Softer. Like the man he might have been if we’d met in another life.

This is trust.Realtrust. And coming from a man like him, it carries more weight than any whispered words.

It’s in theway he doesn’t lock the door when he joins me at night. The way he took Bruno’s warning seriously and let my brother stand beside him, even after all their tension. He trusted my voice, my judgment. That counts, and I hate how much I like it. I hate how much I likehim.

Because this doesn’t feel like survival anymore. It doesn’t feel like enduring him for the sake of the twins or waiting out a contract I never chose. Now I find myself counting the hours until I hear his footsteps in the hallway. Until the mattress dips beneath his weight. Until he slides beneath the sheets and presses his warm mouth to my shoulder like a question.

I love the heat of him beside me. The way his hand always finds my waist. The way he never says a word at first, like we’ve done this for years. Like this is our normal.

I look at him a little longer. He shifts slightly, a breath deeper than the last, but doesn’t wake.

In the light filtering through the curtains, I can just make out the line of his jaw and the softness of his lashes against his cheeks. It’s almost too much, this glimpse of the man behind the monster. The man who once spit in my face is the same one who now falls asleep, holding me like I’m something precious.

I should get up. Alessio’s fencing lesson is soon, and I need to make sure Lucia eats more than two strawberries for breakfast. I have things to do. Lists to check. Distractions to cling to.

But instead, I reach out, just lightly.

My fingertips trace the edge of Dante’s wrist where it lies draped across my stomach. His skin is warm. Alive.Human.

A part of me whispers danger, but another part whispers stay.

Actions speak louder than words, and until recently, his words meant nothing compared to the memory of the cruelty he showed me. But the thing is, his actions have changed now without an agenda, and the battle inside me is raging at a far more even field. It seems that divorce and my escape are losing their spot at the forefront of my mind more and more.

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