Chapter 31
EVERLY
T he second I rejoin the Del Rossa family, Isaia’s fingers wrap around my elbow, and he pulls me with him as he leaves the grand ballroom. His grip is firm, a stark echo of the authority that shrouds him.
Everyone stares, whispers trailing behind us like ghosts. Their scrutiny is sharp, a series of invisible claw marks dragging across my skin. But I don’t care. My focus is on Isaia—the tension coiled in his shoulders, the heat of his hand seeping through my skin.
He leads me past the sea of people, his pace measured but brisk, cutting through the crowd like a blade through silk. We ascend a flight of stairs, my heels sinking into the thick red carpet with every hurried step, and my heart is racing inside my chest.
The air is cooler up here, quieter, the music and hum of conversation from the ballroom below muted by distance.
I don’t ask him where we’re going or why. I already know. His anger radiates off him in waves, palpable and suffocating.
Isaia pushes open a set of glass doors, leading us onto a private balcony. The sprawling gardens below shimmer in the moonlight, but the scene's beauty is lost on me. All I can focus on is Isaia as he releases my elbow, only to turn and face me, his dark eyes burning with barely restrained fury.
“You kissed him.” His eyes burn with menace. Possession.
“It was a peck on the cheek, Isaia. I know you’re struggling with the concept, but Anthony and I are friends.”
“Do you have any idea how fucking hard it was to watch you with him from across the room?” he grits out. “If it weren’t for Alexius, his skull would have a bullet in it right fucking now.”
“Isaia, please.” God, he’s wound up tight. “He’s worried about me.”
“You’re not his concern.”
“He thinks I’m in over my head. That I’m playing with fire by being with you.”
Isaia’s jaw tightens, his body rigid. “And let me guess, he thinks he should do something about it.”
“He’s concerned, Isaia. He knows your family. He knows you.”
“He doesn’t know shit.”
“He said you killed one of Michele’s men sent to kidnap me.”
His gaze sharpens as he freezes for a second.
“Is it true?”
“Yes,” he states—no hesitation, no apology in his tone. Just a simple, unflinching admission that coils tightly around my stomach.
My breath catches when he moves right up to me, hardly leaving enough space to breathe.
“And I’ll do it again…and again…and again. I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt you. There's no line I won't cross for you.”
“I knew you were capable of violence,” I whisper, my hands trembling, “but knowing you actually?—”
“I told you I’m not a good man, Everly. And I will not apologize for keeping you safe,” he says with so much conviction, it’s like he’s swearing an oath. “You need to understand one thing,” he touches my chin, tipping it upward so I meet his gaze, “I will spill blood and slit throats without a second’s hesitation when it comes to you. And I’ll never apologize for it, no matter how much blood I have on my hands. I’ll pave my way to hell with the bones of those who try to take you from me.”
Before I can respond, his mouth is on mine, fierce and demanding, his hands sliding down to grip my hips as he pulls me flush against him.
Heat cuts through me, his body burning through the fabric of my dress, and I gasp against his lips.
His tongue sweeps into my mouth, tangling with mine in a way that leaves no room for hesitation, no space for doubt—and it disarms me completely, leaving me incapable of caring about anything else but letting him have me.
Strong hands move with purpose, sliding down to the curve of my ass before gripping tightly, lifting me just enough for my feet to leave the ground.
My arms wrap around his neck, clinging to him as he carries me to the ledge, the cool stone pressing against my lower back as he sets me down, his hands already working the slit of my dress higher, baring my legs to the night air.
“You drive me fucking insane,” he growls, gripping my thighs, spreading them wide as he steps between them. “Do you have any idea what you do to me? How much I want to tear you apart and make you mine over and over again until you can’t think of anyone else?”
His words are a brand against my skin, each one searing and irrevocable.
My head falls back as he kisses down my neck, his teeth grazing the sensitive flesh just enough to make me shiver. And when he cups my breast, squeezing, claiming, it’s like flames lick their way all the way down to my core.
“Isaia.” I gasp as his fingers find the edge of my panties, tearing through them with no effort at all.
“Such fine lace deserves a more patient lover,” he murmurs, then slides a finger through my slit, causing me to moan through parted lips, and I sink my nails into his shoulders, afraid I’m losing my mind.
“Jesus, Everly. Your cunt’s a wet fucking mess.” The pad of his thumb circles my clit, and I cry out, my hips bucking against his hand. “This is all for me, isn’t it? The hot slick of your pussy? Say it’s all fucking mine.”
“Yes,” I breathe, trembling as his fingers slip inside me, filling me with a pressure that’s both unbearable and intoxicating. “It’s yours, Isaia. All yours.”
“Good girl.”
God, every time he calls me that it’s like a molten shard of pleasure lodged right into my center.
With greedy hands, his fingers move inside me, slowly at first, then faster, until I'm moaning against his mouth, twisting my fingers into his hair as pleasure spirals to every corner of my body.
“Look at you, falling apart for me already.”
Abruptly, his fingers are gone, and he’s grabbing my waist, lifting me onto the ledge with nothing to keep me from falling.
My heart lurches in my chest, fear licking up my spine as he grabs my jaw, squeezing his fingers into my cheeks. His eyes are the darkest I've ever seen them.
“Are you scared, troublemaker?”
Through the hum of my body and lust singing in my veins, there’s a thread of terror. So I nod, unable to form words.
“Talk, Everly,” he demands. “Say what it is you feel. What it is you want.”
I place my hands on the edge, my palms flat. “I’ve never been more terrified in my life,” I whisper. “Not of you, but because I’m incapable of walking away from you.”
It’s like the tether snaps, and control breaks when he slams his mouth over mine so hard our teeth clash. We’re both moaning into the kiss, wholly absorbed in the lust-drenched tangle of tongues and heavy breaths.
His hand snakes under my skirt, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of my thigh as he hoists me higher onto the balcony ledge.
Fear is there, right beneath the surface of my desire, and it only amplifies everything else. The thrill of being on the edge of everything, the brink of an abyss. Knowing this man holds all the power to topple me over is a dizzying cocktail of chaos and ecstasy.
I gasp when his hand is between my legs again, fingers sliding through wet flesh, then sinking inside me, curling to hit that sweet spot that makes me gasp and writhe.
It’s faster now, the way he finger-fucks me, the sound of my wet pussy slick as his palm slams against it.
“Your cunt’s gushing for me, baby. You want my cock?”
With nails digging into the fabric of his suit jacket, pleasure coils tight and hot in my belly.
“Please,” I whisper, the word slipping out before I can stop it.
Isaia pulls his hand away, and I whimper at the loss, but the sound turns into a gasp as he unbuckles his belt, the metallic clink echoing in the quiet night.
“Please, Isaia. I need you,” I pant.
“You don’t need to beg,” he rasps as he frees his cock, the thick length of it making my breath catch. “You’ve already got me on my fucking knees.”
The second his cock presses at my entrance, my eyes roll closed, the anticipation biting into my senses, seducing me into a trance.
“You’re all broken in, baby girl. I’m done being gentle.”
He spears into me, and I cry out, every nerve in my body alive, a white-hot brand of fire burning everywhere all at once. With the stretch, there’s pain and euphoria, a heady mix that has me arching into him, my pussy so incredibly full, it’s like he’s carving himself into places I didn’t even know could ache this way.
“You have no idea how fucking good your pussy feels around me,” he grunts, fingers digging into my waist as he keeps me steady. Safe. “You’re so tight, and fuck, the way you squeeze me is enough to drive me mad.” Each movement sends shock waves through me, his withdrawal leaving an ache, his thrusts back in stealing the air from my lungs.
Time loses meaning, and the world around us dissolves until nothing exists but Isaia and his undiluted, powerful rhythm.
Over my lust and desire and ecstasy, I place my palms on his ass, urging him deeper, harder. His belt buckle painfully digs into my soft skin, but I only crave more. “Yes…yes. Oh, God.”
Abruptly, his hand covers my mouth, his eyes reflecting something wild and untamed.
“Not God, baby. Me.” He thrusts hard, and for a second I think I’ll fall. “Just fucking me.”
It’s like he’s carving his name into my soul with every rough thrust, etching his mark deep within where no one else can ever reach.
“Fuck,” he groans and snakes an arm around my back, his other hand grabbing my thigh, pulling it around his waist, our bodies interlocked so damn tight.
“I need you to come, baby girl.” He’s breathless, losing control, panting with his lips against my throat. “Can you do that for me? Come on my cock like the good girl I know you are?”
Those words sink so damn deep, I feel it in my core—licking, biting, until my body is nothing but a field of exploding stars.
“Isaia,” I whimper as my orgasm builds, flowing until it detonates, shaking every cell within me, leaving me a gasping, breathless mess just for him.
With his cock still buried deep, he fucks me through it—through the pleasure, the stars, the madness, the absolute fucking oblivion.
“Good. Fucking. Girl.” He pounds harder, panting, whimpering as he buries his face in my neck, mouthing fevered praises into my skin as if I’m his holy scripture, his salvation.
“Ah… fuck…fuck…Jesus.” His teeth sink into my flesh, the pain searing, his groans rough, animalistic, and I swear I can feel the very axis of the earth shift as he comes.
Isaia spills inside me, and it’s like my entire body is caught in a seismic wave, his cock throbbing, hot and pulsing, flooding me with his release.
The warmth spreads through me, deep and overwhelming, like liquid fire, and my pussy clenches around him, instinctively pulling him deeper, and the connection feels impossibly intimate, like he’s filling every inch of me—not just physically, but completely.
“Jesus, baby,” he gasps, licking from my collarbone up to just below my ear. “You’re going to fucking kill me with this, I swear to God.”
He pulls me off the ledge, arms wrapped firmly around my waist as he keeps me there, flush against him, possessing me in a way that's devastating and divine.
I’m desperate to catch my breath, my body weak, and I can feel his cum between my legs.
“I need to go to the ladies’,” I whisper through labored breaths, but he pulls me back the second I try to step away.
“No.” His irises flash, dangerously possessive. “I want you walking around with my cum inside you as a reminder of what belonging to me means.” He grips my jaw tightly. “Every fucking time you feel it leak out of you, dripping down your thighs, you’re going to fucking thank me for it.” He brushes his lips against mine. “Say you understand.”
I’m completely boneless as I stare up at him and nod.
His grip tightens. “Say it.”
“I…I understand,” I murmur, my heart beating impossibly fast.
Leaning his forehead to mine, he closes his eyes and sighs. “That’s my good girl.”