Page 151 of My Mafia King

I don’t need to ask him what he means by taking measures.

I can imagine.

“I just wanted to be by myself for a few moments. I didn’t know that I’d find my car and I could take it for a drive. It was great. I was by myself. Got a breath of fresh air. I knew I had to come back. But I wasn’t hurrying to return because I feared something bad had happened to you.”

Our eyes stay locked for a few seconds before I lean closer to him, my breasts touching his chest, my arm pressed against his.

“Do you know…?” I say quietly in his ear. “I thought about you being gone when I saw those cars––the black SUVs––and realized that bad things would happen to me, too. I’d tried to run away from all the bad things at home, and there I was… I knew you going away would make my situation worse.”

I pause, and then I speak again.

“I need to go back home…” I say. “You can’t keep me here forever. I have to take care of my little sister. Without her, I have nothing. In the same way, I have nothing without you if you get in trouble. I can’t stop you from doing what you need to do if that’s the best course of action for you… And I’ve already told you I’d do anything for you and wouldn’t mind if your face was the last thing I saw if we’d gotten to that. But if you don’t need to do any of that… To end me… Then you have to let me go.”

His eyes glint with quiet determination before I lean to him and place a soft kiss on his lips.

He doesn’t move like he’s carved in stone, and I break away from him this time without him stopping me.

I’ve never kissed a man like him before. I’ve never kissed a man.

They kissed me, and they were boys.

My ex included.

As I pull away from him, he doesn’t move, yet the heat of his body curls around me as if wanting to make me stay.

His eyes burn like his skin, fueled by his turmoil.

“I’m going to sleep,” I say. “It’s been an eventful evening.”

I pull away from him for good without looking back, and all I feel is the heat and his clothes rustling as he rises from his seat and follows me.

* * *

I navigatethe corridors with ease. Alone. Wherever he went, he wasn’t with me.

My feet take me to the elevator. I take it up, greet his bodyguards, and head to the suite.

This time, I’m ready to go to sleep.

I’m tired and can’t wait to hit the bed.

The door slides open, and I walk in and make a beeline for my room.

I take off my jacket and put it on the hanger and my purse on a shelf.

The main door opens and closes.

It can only be him. But I go and check.

The corridor is empty.

“Damaso? Is that you?”

The echo of my voice trails me as I move toward the living room.

He is not there.

I enter his bedroom.

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