Page 36 of Stefano
The cartel leader steps forward, a scar splitting his cheek, his smile sharp.His gaze lands on me, and his laugh is low and cruel.“So this is the weakness.The little girl who makes the lion bleed.”
Fear claws at me, but I don’t look away.“I’m not a weakness,” I say, my voice steady.“I’m the reason you’ll die tonight.”
His smile falters.Just for a second.Then the gunfire erupts.
The world explodes into chaos.Bullets shatter the silence, ricocheting off walls, sparks flying.Men shout, scream, fall.I duck instinctively, my wrists straining against the ropes even though I know they’ll give.
And then I hear it.Stefano’s voice, a roar above the gunfire.“Andrea!”
My heart leaps.I twist, the ropes falling away, and there he is, emerging from the shadows, gun blazing, every movement precise and lethal.His eyes lock on me, wild and burning, and in that moment, everything else fades.
He’s not just fighting a war.He’s fighting for me.
I scramble from the chair, my legs shaking, but Stefano’s there before I can fall.His arm wraps around me, dragging me against his chest as he fires over my shoulder.“Stay with me,” he snarls.“Always with me.”
“Always,” I whisper, clinging to him as the war rages around us.
And as the world burns, I know one thing with absolute certainty.I was never the weakness.I was the fire.And together, we are unstoppable.
Chapter Nineteen
Claimed Again
Andrea
The house is finally quiet.The blood has been scrubbed from the floors, the weapons stored away, the men dismissed to lick their wounds.But inside me, the storm still rages.The memory of gunfire, of Stefano’s hands pulling me out of chaos, of death so close I could taste it, it all burns under my skin.
And I need him.
He stands at the window of his room, shirtless, the shadows from the moonlight carving every line of muscle, every scar.His shoulders are rigid, his fists clenched at his sides.He hasn’t looked at me since we came back, as if he’s afraid of what I’ll see in his eyes.
“Stefano,” I whisper, my voice raw.“Come here.”
He shakes his head, his voice low and dangerous.“I can’t.Not tonight.Not after what I did.”
“You saved me.”I cross the room in one of his button-down shirts, my body trembling, my heart pounding with something sharper than fear.Desire.Hunger.Love.I press myself against his back, my arms sliding around his waist.“You saved us both.And now I need you.I need to feel alive.I need to feel like I am still yours.”
