Chapter 18 – Cam
Hobbling through the dusk, I crept to the den window. Between the left arm wrapped with gauze and the right shoulder that ached when I moved it wrong, I managed to grip the pane. But the glass didn’t budge.
Sara had upgraded the security on the property.
A brief smile fluttered across my lips. No one had been here or messed with her.
Good girl.
That left me in a bind. I could knock. We could have a civilized interaction.
But that wasn’t what my girl liked. She craved the thrill of the mask. Hell, the things we’d done this fall between the pumpkins and the ropes and the pagan ritual…she was into a darker kind of romance. And I could be that dangerous, psychotic lover.
Sara wasn’t a white picket fence, suit and tie, having dinner at the club kind of a girl.
She craved something more.
I wasn’t going to let a little thing like an altercation that turned into a hit-and-run stop me from giving that to her. I fisted my hand and slammed it against the window.
Pain ricocheted up my arm.
The window was solid. A double pane, modern contraption, it didn’t crack under the pressure.
An apparition appeared in the doorway of the den.
I caught the flicker of movement as I continued to pummel the glass. It would yield. I needed to break in! I felt her gaze vanish, and my throat closed. I was a man who’d been forged into a monster by a life of crime. I could be her shadow daddy.
I just needed to shatter the window.
“Cam!” My name cracked through the dusk.
I hung my head and sagged against the unbroken window.
“Stop that!” Sara shivered by the sliding patio door. “You can’t hurt yourself more!”
Was it my injuries that gave me away? Had someone told her my identity? Either way, the game was done. She knew who I was.
I turned to face her. Seeing her profile framed in the shaft of light from the kitchen, sent a visceral pulse through my veins. I stumbled forward before stopping. I had to hold back.
Now was the moment we would see if she truly wanted the enforcer. Or if reality was too monstrous for even her incredible imagination to accept.
“Come inside,” she beckoned. “Use the door like a normal person.”
But you don’t want normal, angel. “I’ve missed you.”
Sara wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing to keep warm. “I was worried about you.”
I lifted my bandaged left arm. “So…you know?”
She nodded, flicking a glance over my body before returning my stare. “Lucian explained everything.”
A stone settled in my gut. I was going to have to beat the piss out of him. A dog turning on the master might be a death sentence, but he needed to stop meddling.
“What did he say?”
Sara winced and adjusted her glasses. “That he spent the summer trying to set you and Maria up.”
I was not expecting that.
“I never wanted her.” My feet were lead, but I managed to take a step forward. “She’s engaged to Giulio Ravello.”
“I know.” Sara nodded. “But why would Lucian still try to keep us apart?”
I cut my hand through the air. “He doesn’t get a say in this.” You do.
My heart thumped hard against my ribs.
Choose me, angel.
“It’s because the risk of the cancer coming back is higher for me, isn’t it?” Her words were impossibly soft. She spoke like they were fact.
But that didn’t matter. Not to me.
“You can’t write me out of your life, Sara.” I inched forward. Dio! The scent of roses made me ache. “I’m just as much a main character as you.”
A sad smile played on her lips.
This was the moment where she accepted Camillo Ravello—or told me that her tryst with the masked devil was all we could ever be.
I had to make her see. “I never wanted Maria.”
“And she wouldn’t want you.” Sara laughed humorlessly. “No offense.”
“That joke is done.” I stopped in front of her. I would have reached out and run my knuckles down her cheek, but my fist was bloody. I wouldn’t stain her. Not until she chose whether a killer like me was enough for her.
“Why would Lucian tell me that?” Her eyes were wet with hurt.
If she shed one tear, just a single drop, I was going to glue the don’s eyes shut before I strung him up by his ankles and made him my own personal pinata.
So violent….
That wasn’t going to win me any points with this beauty.
“Lucian likes control, and he’s never been able to control you, angel.”
Sara tipped her head to the side, considering me. “So then why didn’t you want me to know it was you? All this time. You never revealed yourself. Why, Cam? Why?”
Her question was a dagger to my chest. I opened my mouth, but words failed me.
“I knew since the ball,” Sara continued. “I’ve waited weeks for you to be ready to tell me, and now—”
She lifted her hands and shrugged.
A broken plea left my lips. “Can I….” Fuck. I sounded pathetic. “Can I be in your story?”
I wasn’t in charge. This was her decision.
“Because—” I sank to my knees “—you are mine.”
Sara uncrossed an arm and reached for me. The Yankee’s cap fell to the floor. Her touch smoothed over my hair.
She took one deep breath. “I would have said yes, you know.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“But now, there’s a plot twist I need to work on, Cam. It needs to be revealed in a specific way.”
I gave her a confused look.
Kneeling on the pavers, heart thundering in my chest, I wanted to tell her that I didn’t care about any twists. I wanted the ending—now! We were the end game. Our happily ever after was right there.
“I don’t think I can take it, angel.”
Sara smiled, bent, and kissed my forehead. “I’ll let you know what happens in the next chapter.”
With that, she turned and slipped into the house. She didn’t look back as the lock on the glass door clicked in place.
Something inside me fucking shattered.