Page 96 of Brutal Devil
Too bad my ovaries don’t care all that much.
They’ve never been sensible.
“The rest of your apartment boxes arrived late last night,” he says. “I went through them this morning and managed to obtain a few similar supplies.”
Managed to obtain.Oh God. Is that code for stealing?
“Do I want to ask how you obtained them?” I ask weakly, thinking about depositing all the beautiful new pens in the nearest trash can.
“If you’re asking me if I stole them, the answer is no,” he says easily, pulling me into his chest and then releasing my fingers. “If you’re asking me if one of my guys did, the answer is what you don’t know can’t hurt you. Now, give me a welcome-home kiss, baby.”
I turn my head as his lowers, and his lips land on my cheek instead. “Haven’t you learned by now that I don’t take orders from you?”
He chuckles, the sound low. “There have been a few times when you have.”
Heat licks through me. He’s not wrong about the times I’ve allowed him to order me—but that’s different and he knows it, the arrogant bastard.
“What did you say when you first came in here?” I ask, veering back to the original subject.
He’s so good at distracting me. At getting what he wants.
He inhales deeply like he’s drinking in my scent, and then he runs his nose along my jaw, his mouth finding the sensitive place under my ear. “I said that we’re leaving the safe house in the morning.”
His lips feel so good on me, but I’m focused even if my nipples are hard. “You mean you’ve finally regained your senses and you’re letting me out of here?”
“You’re coming back to the penthouse.” He catches my earlobe in his teeth and nips me softly.
Disappointment surges through me. “I’m still a prisoner, you mean?”
“Not a prisoner. You’re my wife. But I have to make sure you’re safe,amore mio.” His hands settle on my waist in a possessive hold as he kisses my throat. “You’ll have guards, and you’re to go nowhere without me at your side.”
My heart sinks. “So I’m trading one prison for another—only the new one will have windows and sunlight.”
I miss the sun. The outside world. I miss my life, and I don’t belong in this one. I flatten my palms on his broad chest and shove. He releases me.
“Why not just keep me here if I’m to be in a gilded cage?” I demand, hurt and frustrated and furious.
He gives me pens and journals and smoldering kisses that make my toes curl, but he won’t give me what I really want.
His jaw hardens, and he passes a hand over it, those long, inked fingers catching my attention. Like the rest of him, Priest’s hands are so beautiful, it’s a sin.
“There’s been a slight hiccup with the alliance between our families,” he says.
“What do you mean a hiccup?” I cross my arms over my chest so he won’t be able to see my stupid nipples poking through my bra and dress.
The action draws his attention to the rest of me. His icy-blue stare does a thrilling sweep down my body before returning.
“You look fucking amazing in red, baby.”
“Answer me, please.”
He rolls his broad shoulders, like he’s shrugging off some tension. “Your cousins have taken exception to the fact that you haven’t been seen in public since the wedding. They’re stirring shit with some of the Revello capos. They want proof of life.”
I reel back, feeling like I’ve been punched. “So this isn’t about me wanting to get out of here, then. This is about you and your little Mafia war games.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw. “They’re not games, Luna. They’re painfully fucking real.”
I shake my head, trying to make sense of this revelation. “But the reason you were keeping me here was because you said it wasn’t safe for me on the outside, that whoever was behind my father’s murder could also want me dead. What’s changed?”
