ella
's Com
ed to spill only moments ago were gone, evaporated by the scorching heat of my sudden, absolute clarity. I look
on my desk, my posture relaxed, my gaze assess
nflection, slicing through the tension like a scalpel. "But tel
napped together. "Tha
r *Soldiers*, even the silk sheets your grandmother sleeps on, have been paid for by my fami
as a jagged pill, and I had just shoved it down his throat in front of his mistress and his grandmoth
pping forward, but Damien cut her o
of his voice rattling the crystal decanter on the side table. "
low, mocking smile. It was a silent, deva
spun on his heel. "I will show you exactly who rules this family," he snarled over his shoulder, his eyes burning with
sence with him. Nonna Elena shot me a venomous glare bef
m before the inevitable storm. I sat at my desk, the glow of the desk
ck broke th
" I cal
work of scars crawling up his thick neck. His loyalty to Damien was absolute, forged in the bloody tre
vy metal briefcase. He approached my
an unreadable mask. "He said to tell you... this is your ri
riefcase and flip
asn't the sight of the money that made my stomach turn; it was the smell. A metallic,
spoils. This was his grand gesture. A fraction of what my legitimate businesses made in a week, tossed at my feet li
fragile threads of my loyalty to the
cco asked, shifting his massive weig
id, my voice as smooth and hard as polished marble. "
the room, the heavy oak doo
se. Damien wanted to play the absolute monarch. He wanted to rute toward me-the thick book that tracked every exorbitant expense of this
ider, he could bear the crushing wei
/1/110370/coverbig.jpg?v=e9b17f3e18295f9de7fe67132c25870a&imageMogr2/format/webp)