Page 71 of Sins of the Son

She curled her fingers into a fist and hit my heart. “I was a pawn. A fucking pawn. A nobody. Don’t you see?”

She hit my chest with both her fists as her tormented voice rose in volume. “I didn’t matter. My life didn’t matter. Even if you weren’t involved, they obviously did this to me to strike at you. I was just the minor character to be killed off in the revenge plot against the great Cavalieri hero.”

My entire life, I had taken great pride in being a Cavalieri. It was integral to my identity.

And it wasn’t just the money. It was the land, the soil, the vines, the heritage.

Our guardianship of the valley and the village and its people.

I had always known I was part of a powerful and noble lineage that had molded the history of Italy itself.

Yet, in this moment, I had never been more ashamed of my legacy.

They had hurt her to get to me.

She was right.

I didn’t swing the fist, but I might as well have been the one who hit her.

This was all my fault.

Not only had I not been there to protect her before or after, the whole attack had been because of me. If I had a lifetime with her, I could never clean that stain from my soul.

In a rage as all the trauma, fear, and anger from the past came spewing into the present like molten poison, she drew back her hand and slapped me hard across the face. “I matter!” she screamed. “Do you hear me, Cavalieri? I fucking matter!”

I stepped into her storm, caging her in. “Hit me again,” I snarled.

She blinked as she tried to move back. “Don’t you dare taunt me.”

I placed the tips of my fingers under her chin as I hissed between clenched teeth against her lips, “Hit me again, Milana. Go ahead. Bring it on.”

She needed this.

I needed this.

She rose to the challenge, slapping me even harder this time. “Fuck you!” She pounded her fists against my chest. “I’m not a nobody! I’m not a fucking pawn. I matter! I matter!” she sobbed as she tried to turn away and escape through the train compartment door.

I grabbed her wrist and snatched her to me, lifting her off the floor and spinning her around until her back hit the train windows.

She pummeled my shoulders with her fists as I claimed her mouth.

She sunk the sharp edges of her teeth into my lower lip and then wrenched her face to the side.

I wrapped my hand around her jaw and forced her head forward and claimed her mouth again. Mixing the taste of our kiss with our blood.

Her tongue wrapped around mine at the same time as her fingernails clawed at the side of my neck.

I deepened the kiss as the hiss of pain stung my skin. “That’s it, babygirl. Hit me. Hurt me. Make me bleed.”

I shoved my hips against her core, rubbing my hard cock between her legs.

Milana cried out.

I turned again and kicked at the nearby bench. It folded up against the wall with a bang. I pushed Milana’s back to the surface as I wrapped her legs around my middle. “Hold on to the luggage bars, babygirl.”

Breathless, Milana reached up and grasped the metal bars that ran overhead.

I laved at her neck, tasting her elevated pulse, feeling the vibrations of her blood pumping against the tip of my tongue. I was like a beast, needing to feel the heartbeat of my prey before I devoured it.

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