Page 58 of Undercover Desires

I widen my stance, bracing myself.

Then someone pops a bottle in the club and it is followed by really loud cheers, which make her flinch.Dio mio.Rachel almost looks too scared to go through with this. I take a step closer.

“Stop Alessandro. Damnit!”

“If you wanted to shoot me, I would already be dead.”

When she hesitates again, my voice softens. I can almost hear my own heart breaking, “You should go.” I know this place is crawling with mafia men, including my own, and none of them will think twice before planting a bullet straight between her brows.

“What?”

“You should go,” I repeat, despite the inner turmoil. “Before someone sees you.”

Tears fill Rachel’s eyes as she struggles with the dilemma of her mission. I take a step closer, gently cupping her cheek with my trembling hand.

“You better leave now Rachel, or I will have to kill you myself,” I whisper.

She inhales slowly. A collage of all the memories we have made the last few weeks flash through my head; her smiles, her laugh, her legs wrapped around me as I rock my cock in and out of her.

As seconds pass, we lock eyes in a tormented exchange. I can’t imagine how she has become a cold-blooded serial killer, but I also can’t deny the affection I still hold for her. Rachel seems torn between her past and what I hope are her feelings for me, just as much as I am.

My heart aches, aware that the Cosa Nostra will stop at nothing to eliminate Rachel. I know that my association with her puts my own life in grave danger.

Someone steps out. I stiffen.

“You need to leave now,” I say, my voice determined. “I’ll buy you some time, but you can’t stay here. Cosa Nostra is relentless, and they won’t stop until they find you.”

“Go,” I urge, my voice full of resignation.

“Alessandro…” she chokes out.

“Go, and I hope for your own sake, I never see you again.”

With a final, longing look, Rachel turns and slips out of the parking lot, disappearing into the night. I watch her go, my heart heavy with the weight of what has just happened.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

Rachel

I cannot see past the tears forming in my eyes. The look of betrayal on his face, that was the hardest part. I can’t breathe, I can’t think straight.

Alessandro Ricci is a fucking mafioso. He knows how I have killed people like him, and he still let me go.

I swipe the angry tears streaking down my face as I cross the road, my hands still trembling. Why the fuck am I crying? I pull out my phone to send a text to Sophie.

On my way. It’s all wrong

I am at homeis her instant response.

I flag down and step into the taxi, my emotions in turmoil as I head to her apartment, shaken to the core. Tears flow freely down my face, a mix of anger, sadness, and regret. How could I have been so blind? I clench my jaw, the anger burning inside me, as I realize that Alessandro’s very existence is a betrayal to my mother’s memory. The hatred I feel for him is overwhelming.

I delete all our texts and messages, erasing every trace of him from my life. My fingers tremble as I type out a final, cutting message before blocking him: “Don’t ever come looking for me. If I find you, I will kill you.”

When I finally arrive at Sophie’s house, she greets me at the door with a warm cup of hot chocolate, ready to comment on my outfit. But as she takes in my disheveled appearance, she can see that something is terribly wrong. She has not seen me look so defeated in a long time.

She ushers me inside and I sink into a chair, my tears uncontrollable.

“What happened?” she asks, her surprise evident as she’s never seen me in such a state in the last few years. “Tell me everything.”

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