Page 49 of His Win (His Obsession 3)

"No. We'll talk about it right fucking here. Right fucking now." For once, I had no idea where she was going with this. "Explain this to me, amore. I understand what happened tonight was hard for you to witness—"

She held up her hand to stop me. "Luca, I can't live in this world. I don't know the rules."

"I can teach you. Veda, you'll be safe with me. I swear it to you." My anger was beginning to disintegrate into desperation.

"But that's just the thing, Luca. I'll never be safe with you."

I drew back. "What are you talking about? I just killed a man for you."

"You killed a man for daring to touch what you consider yours. And I suspect because you knew he was working for Mario now. As long as your brother is alive, I'll never be safe here. And not just because he's getting to your people. Everything you do is centered around this...competition with Mario. This game you both play. And I'm only a pawn. Something moved around the board at will until I'm captured by one or the other."

"That's not true, amore."

She stared up at me, her heart in her eyes. "Prove it to me."

I frowned. "I killed a man for touching you tonight. How much proof do you need?"

But she shook her head. "You killed the wrong man. Tony was only a piece on the board, like me."

Ah. So that's what she was getting at. "Veda, my father put out the order Mario isn't to be harmed. If I go against that order, I won't live long enough to protect you."

"I understand that. I really do." Something inside of me cracked open wide when she gave me a sad smile. "And that's why I'm taking myself off the board." Stretching up on her toes, she took my face in her hands and kissed me hard, her mouth moving on mine until I responded to her. But when I lifted my hands to pull her closer, she broke it off and backed away. She stared up at me for a long moment as tears slid silently down her cheeks, then, without a word, she walked quickly down the hall to the stairs.

I stood frozen as I heard her talking to Enzo. I heard my phone buzz in the bedroom as he texted me. "Take her wherever she wants to go," I called down to him.

And then I went into my room and shut the door as my vita, the woman who had become my whole world, walked out of my life.

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