Obsidian Heart

field after the final shot. Eliza found herself standing in the middle of the library, the air thick with the faint scent of cigar smoke and the perfu

the control momentarily fracturing. He took a step closer, crowding her. "You came back to New York! You walked into my city, you wore my colors-whether you admit it or not-and you exposed yourself to the same demons I fight every single day. I told you to go. I sent you away. You chose to return.""I returned for my career!""And I returned for you!" The admission was raw, explosive, shattering the last pretense of their arrangement.Rocco slammed his glass onto the nearby mahogany bar. The sound was sharp, final. He moved toward her then, with the speed and certainty of a man who had waited too long."I wake up every morning with the filth of this life on my soul, and every morning, the only thing that cleanses it is the knowledge that you are still painting, still fighting, still light," he whispered, his hands coming up to cup her face, his thumbs gently brushing the curve of her cheekbones. His skin was warm, his touch startlingly tender, yet possessing the crushing weight of his power.Eliza gasped, the planned retort dying in her throat. His eyes, usually cold, were burning with a desperate, self-destructive fire she recognized instantly: the boy who had once kissed her on the docks, the boy who was terrified of becoming his father."Don't," she pleaded, but the word was thin, less a command and more a breathy prayer."Don't what, Eliza? Don't remember?" His breath was warm on her face. "Don't remember the summer that broke me? Don't remember the only time I ever slept without a blade under my pillow?"He lowered his head, not moving to kiss her lips, but pressing his forehead against hers. The physical proximity was agonizing, the electricity between them so thick it felt like friction burn."I kept my promise to you," he muttered, his voice ragged. "I never sought you out. I watched you from a distance-your shows, your sales, your quiet life in Boston. I told myself if you were safe, I could survive this. But when you came back, that promise dissolved. My control shattered. I'm done liv