Page 131 of Thrill Me (Dark Odyssey 3)

“Yes…” I say in answer to a question, displaced in time.

“What Babygirl? What are you saying yes to?”

“That first morning when we woke up and you told me you wanted me to be yours.” It’s like I found myself. It’s like I just became that person I used to be and part of me has healed. The part of me who wants love with him so now I’m telling him the answer I should have given. “I didn’t need time for an answer. It was yes. Then when you asked me if I trusted you my answer should have been yes. Then… when you came to me with the restaurant… I should have said you don’t need to do any of that. My answer was always yes because I’ve always loved you.”

“I love you too Maria Cipriani, my babygirl.”

I don’t even get the chance to savor the feel of his words. The phone rings on the nightstand.

His phone.

It blares and to me it sounds like a horn announcing danger.

He blinks, looks away from me and as he moves away I lose heat. It’s like a piece of me is missing.

When he answers the phone and I see the tense look that comes into his eyes I know I’m right.

Danger is here again and it’s time to step away from the façade of normal we’ve created.

Time to go back to reality.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Salvatore

Make love…

I keep that in my heart.

I keep this morning with Mimi inside my heart to give me strength.

The good thing about being the friends we were for so many years is that she knows without me saying when things are happening.

I don’t have to say shit. She knows like she can read my damn mind.

So she knew without me saying that it was time to leave and get back to my parents’ house.

She knew that we were basically being summoned to the safe zone.

What she doesn’t know and this is the part where I draw the line, is the fine print.

She won’t know that call was from Vincent and he was telling me our hacker found Stephanou’s hideout underground, and she won’t know we found three guys who were working for the Fontaines at her place last night.

Our guys on the street found them waiting for her to come home and eliminated them.

That’s what the orders are now.

It’s kill on sight because we know they can only be there for one thing.

To kill.

Fuck… I can’t believe the situation.

It’s going down today though. Like fuck am I going to live through another day of this shit where I’m on edge and in the dark.

We just got back to the house and I took Mimi to the guest room she stayed in that first night she was here. It’s the closest to the safe passage we have built into the house.

My parents’ house is beautiful and looks similar to a castle but there’s more than meets the eye. Each room has a secret door that leads down to the basement which is practically a shelter from everything.

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