Page 8 of The Sins of Saint (The Sins of Saint 3)

“You’re a smart girl. You tell me.”

Her eyes remained pinned on mine. Not once did she cower by looking away, keeping my glare with determination burning in her irises. One would think after everything I had put her through she would have lost her fight, her zest, her vitality. But it seemed she had only grown stronger, bolder. Arguably, maybe even more foolish.

I let go of her with a growl, and she fell back, grabbing her throat where my fingers had pinched her skin.

“You think I’m stupid. That with everything we’ve been through I still don’t see how you play this game.”

I jerked my pants up and fastened them, my cock still capable of cracking concrete. “This is not a game.”

“Isn’t it?” she challenged, but I refused to dignify it with an answer.

“This has been a game to you ever since the day I countered your demand of marriage by making a demand of my own.”

“What?” I cut my gaze to her. “You’re talking about the orphanage.”

“Yes. You didn’t think I would be brave enough to make my own demands, that I’d willingly comply to everything you wanted me to so I could just be free of you.”

I shrugged as I straightened my jacket sleeves. “If I remember correctly, our deal was six months of your life in exchange for an orphanage.”

“You and I both know those six months are null and void now that I’m pregnant.”

“Exactly,” I snapped. “Everything has changed. Everything.”

“No. Not everything.” I grabbed at the torn fabric as she tried to cover her breasts. “All those times you denied me pleasure, made me suffer through the ache of being unsated, toying with me—that was you teaching me a lesson. Proving to me that you own me like a goddamn possession when you should be loving me like you could lose me at any moment.”

“You know I love you. I told you I loved you after I killed your brother by blowing his goddamn head off in order to save you.”

“I know you did.” She righted herself, unshed tears sparkling like diamonds in her emerald eyes. “But now I need you to show me. I need you to show me that you love me.”

“Sir.” James’s voice boomed through the speaker. “ETA is less than five minutes.”

I pushed the button on the remote control. “Thanks, James.”

A heavy silence settled between us. This was not the kind of result I had in mind when I pulled her over my lap with the intention of losing myself inside her. But I’d be a fool if I didn’t see her point. If I didn’t understand from which direction she was coming. This wasn’t a game anymore. This wasn’t about revenge against my father, or about a century-old debt owed to my family. It was about us, about the life we created. A life we had an obligation to protect, to put above everything else—even ourselves. Problem was, I didn’t know a life without a thirst for vengeance. My vendetta against my father was the only thing I’d ever known, revenge the only thing I’d ever craved…until her. Until Mila.

I cleared my throat. “I told you this once before, and I’ll say it again. You’re my wife, and I won’t apologize.” I brushed my palm down my five o’clock shadow across my jaw. “Neither of us could have anticipated the situation we find ourselves in right now.”

“The situation is a baby, Saint.”

“Be careful, Mila,” I warned. “You might have won this round, but that does not mean I’ll tolerate sarcasm aimed at my expense.”

I tapped my finger impatiently on the side bar of the door. “I’m not a man who makes a promise I’m not one hundred percent sure I can keep. But as the father of our child, I vow that everything I do from here on out, I do for us. You, me, and our baby.”

I swallowed and turned to look at her just in time when a single tear made its journey down her cheek. I reached and wiped it away with the back of my hand. “Right now, that is the only solid promise I can give you,segreto.”

“Stop calling me that. I’m not your secret anymore.”

“You’ll always be mysegreto, Mila.” I reached out, the desire that burned my loins now replaced with affection that warmed my chest. I palmed her cheek, my thumb dragging across her bottom lip. “Like a secret, I’ll guard you forever.”

Her expression softened, but sadness still lingered in the color of her eyes. Yet she reached out and touched my hand, leaning deeper into my palm. For a moment, her eyes closed, and my heart swelled as I witnessed her finding comfort in my touch—finding solace in her husband’s touch.

“Here.” I pulled off my jacket and placed it around her shoulders. “I’d hate to cut out the eyes of men who saw the beauty God had intended for only me to see.”

“That’s a little much, don’t you think?” She slipped her arms through the oversized sleeves of my jacket.

“Sei mio,” I whispered. “You are mine, Mila. If I so much as suspect another man desiring you, I will carve out his spine and feed it to the pigs.”

She tucked a curl behind her ear. “I know I should be disturbed by what you just said, but I find it oddly sexy.”

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