Page 85 of The Don's Forbidden Obsession

I knew I had to have someone follow her.

A tail.

But for how long?

“It’s weird to be glad to be back here,” she mused, The Flask only feet away.

I turned to face her, her cheeks flashing in the light of the neon lights surrounding us on the street. My voice was tinged with resignation. “You’re not going back," I confessed, my voice hardened by the weight of my decision. "I'm setting you free.”

Her eyes widened, a mixture of confusion and defiance flickering within them.

Why wouldn’t she want to be let go?

I shook it off.

There was no way that was defiance.

Of course, she wanted to leave.

I had to stand my ground. I couldn’t let my mind play tricks on me.

This was what was best.

This is what she wanted.

I just had to keep her safe until I figured out how she would be safe on her own.

32

ANNABELLE

As I stared at Luca,my mind whirling with emotion, I found my voice. “What am I supposed to do now? How do I even begin to process all of this?”

His response was as cryptic as it was open-ended.

"Do whatever you think you should,” he said, as he stuffed his hands in his pocket and turned on his heel.

My arm was in a sling, but I reached out for him anyway. Only the sting brought me back to reality.

I had just been shot not hours before.

His words hung in the air.

Do whatever I thought I should do?

That was something that was still heavy with uncertainty.

Was he telling me to use this information in my case? Was he saying to turn him in? Was he saying to go punch my dad in the throat?

What the hell did he think I was going to do?

I had conflicting thoughts and desires tearing at my soul. Part of me screamed for justice, for retribution against the criminal world. Part of me wanted to nail every person I had found out had been involved in this whole ordeal

That part of me wanted to arrest Luca.

Confront my father. Arrest him.

But the other part?

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