The Cursed Mafia King's Obsession

a's

s what was happening,

ng me every chance in the world to pull away before he committed to whatever he was about to do. I didn't pull away. I didn't have time to. T

esponse...gentle, just closer, like he was pulling me into the shape of something that would make sense from a dis

t matter, because my body had already decided to stop fighting it. Like a disguise. A door closing in the

wasn't thinking abo

e words were lost under the rain. Whatever they'd expected to find at the end of this alley, it wasn't two

it. Maybe some part of me did. It was hard to tell anymore where the performance ended and the truth started, with his mouth still moving aga

I wanted to think about, close enough that I could

ly the one in charge. "She's not out here m

where behind me, tires hissing away over wet pavement until the sound of it faded into the general h

hand was still fisted in his shirt. His hand was still spread warm against the small of my back, holding me like he had no intention of being the one who ended this first. Rain kept falling on us, soaking throug

shaking. Long enough that I'd forgotten, for a handful of seconds, that I had a father,

traight through everything else, and we broke apart at the same moment,

sound. His voice had changed completely...whatever softness had been in it a moment ago was gone, replaced by something flat and c

e didn't need to. He was already scanning the street, his whole body angled to keep me covered, and for the first time since I'd slammed into him in the dark, I let myself really look a

ck, for this to be the moment everything I'd run from finally caught up with me. Instead, a single man rounded the corner, breathi

he word cost him something to say ou

uns in my mind, makes my heart beat fast

r half a second, quick, assessing me, before i

r than the driver and the two cars I'd already run from. Bigger than anything I'd braced myself for when

heir faces...not fear of getting caught, but fear of disappointing someone they answered to completely. Whoever this man was, he commanded something my father's driver never h

ke the only safe thing left in the entire city... turned to look at me for the first time since the gun

n a way that made my heartbeat stop faster than the gunshot had. "

hat just..." I stopped, my voice cracking on the last word, and hated how much of myself I was giving away by saying it out loud. "Take me

k like he hadn't expected to feel anything at all and was still adjusting to the fact that he did. His jaw worked. His hand hadn't left my w

ur name. I don't know what you are to the men who just ran from you or know the ones coming for us right now. You're the only r

whatever decision came next would matter more than either of them realized. Rain kept falling. My whole body was shaking again, not from the cold this time, but from the way I watched him stand ther

wrist. He still hadn't said