Chapter 6
Luca
I gritted my teeth, hating the bastard with every fiber of my being. The last thing I wanted was to work with him, especially when he was still holding my friends as his hostages.
But there was only one answer I could give. I looked down into my wife’s wide, shining eyes and brushed the tears from her cheeks.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to save your sister,” I vowed. “And I will make sure that your father can never hurt you again.”
Then I turned my own fierce glower on Dante. “But I will never pledge my loyalty to you. This is another temporary truce. For Nora.”
She placed her soft hand on my stubble-roughened cheek, calling my attention back to her.
“Thank you.” Her voice hitched with emotion.
I could see her unspoken feelings in her intense gaze. She was grateful to me for swallowing my pride for her sister’s sake. For her sake.
When it came to protecting my wife, my pride didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but her.
And I’d failed her in so many ways. I’d allowed Dante to steal her away from me. I’d allowed Giuseppe to use Giana to lure her into a trap. And I hadn’t succeeded in my attempt to kill Dante during the firefight when we went in to rescue her from the Russians.
Now we were his captives once again. No matter how tenderly he treated her, he would always be her tormentor. He’d done unspeakable things to her, using her to hurt me.
I would never surrender my birthright to this monster, and it wasn’t entitlement that made me refuse to bend. I would never stop fighting him. I’d never stop trying to get her away from him, to free us both from his evil, twisted games.
“Luca, I…” Her voice wavered. “Thank you.”
Her head tipped back slightly, her lips parting in invitation. I leaned into her an inch before I stopped myself. She wouldn’t welcome that kind of contact after what she’d suffered.
Her eyes tightened, and she dropped her shining gaze. My stomach twisted at the rejection that pinched her pale features.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I murmured, caressing her chilled cheek.
She kept her gaze averted, staring at something I couldn’t see.
“I understand,” she whispered so softly that I barely made out the words.
“I will never cause you pain,” I vowed.
“That’s not why she’s upset,” Dante growled, shocking me out of the private moment with my wife. “How are you so fucking blind to what she needs?”
Ignoring the cutting insult, I curled two fingers beneath her chin, lifting her face to mine. Her eyes were dark with pain.
“What do you need, kitten? I’ll give you anything. Just ask.”
Her lower lip quivered. “I understand if you don’t want me anymore,” she mumbled, cheeks flushing. “After what they did, I…”
She trailed off, and fresh tears slid down her cheeks.
Horror rendered me silent for a few awful moments. My wife thought I wouldn’t love her anymore because of what those Russian bastards had done to her?
“Comfort her, you coward,” Dante spat. He hovered beside us, at the edge of our personal space but not imposing himself on her.
His disdain pulsed over me in a menacing wave.
“She loves you.” His mouth twisted around the words as though they were sour.
“If you weren’t such a self-absorbed asshole, you’d know how to give her what she needs. ”
I love him! Her desperate declaration rang through my mind, grating across my thoughts.
My love for her swelled in my heart to the point of pain, but the words remained locked in my tight chest. Unworthiness crushed me, bearing down on my shoulders like the weight of a boulder. I didn’t deserve her love. I didn’t deserve to touch her, to hold her.
But despite my failings, she looked to me for comfort.
I couldn’t deny her anything.
My desire for her was poisoned by my hatred for Dante, which was edged with resentment sharp enough to cut my insides. How could he so clearly see her needs when he would never be anything other than her tormentor?
Defiance reared up inside me, and I lowered my lips to Nora’s before more doubts could plague me.
My hand cradled the back of her head, holding her steady while I carefully traced the line of her pouty mouth with my tongue.
She opened for me on a shuddering sigh, and her hands fisted in my shirt to pull me closer.
Her tears wet my cheeks, and I did my best to kiss away her pain and fear without jarring her injuries.
I was so lost in her that I barely registered Dante’s feral snarl or the stomp of his boots on the hardwood floor. Nora jolted slightly when the bedroom door slammed behind him, but I kept my hold on her, refusing to break our kiss to allow her to think about the bastard.
He’d all but commanded me to kiss my wife.
If he was jealous at the sight of her surrendering to me, that was his problem.
I hoped it pained the son of a bitch to see her clinging to me for comfort, not him.
I might not be worthy of her love, but she would never care for him.
She would never see him as anything other than the monster he was.
Watching him touch her hadn’t made me want her any less. What the Russians had done to her would never dull my need for her, either. If anything, my desire was keener than ever, lodged in my heart like a dagger piercing me with sweet pain.
I love you. I made the silent vow with my tongue against hers, claiming her deeply.
I couldn’t say it aloud, not until I earned the right.
And I had so much to atone for before I could declare my feelings.
Once the Russians and Dante were dead, I could finally stake my claim over her heart.
Only then would I stand a chance at deserving her.
I couldn’t confess the depth of my feelings, but I pulled back so that my heated promise could whisper over her lips. “I will always want you, Nora. No one will ever take you away from me. You’re mine.”
“Yours,” she agreed on a shuddering exhalation, a sound of relief and release. The last of the tension melted from her slender frame, and she leaned into me. “I love you.”
I sealed her lips with mine once again, showing her my love in the only way I could.
We stayed locked in each other’s arms for long minutes, and I scarcely allowed her space to breathe as I kissed her with the full passion of my feelings for her.
I couldn’t handle her in the rougher way I liked, but I could steal her breath and make her forget about the terrible, dark things that’d happened to her.
My hold on her shifted, my hand sliding through her hair so that I could tangle the silken strands around my fingers.
She whimpered into my mouth and stiffened when I touched a tender spot on her scalp.
I instantly eased my grip and gently broke our kiss.
“You need to take your meds,” I murmured against her lips, regret lacing my tone.
I didn’t like the idea of giving her more painkillers, but I could at least decrease the dosage as she healed.
Dante had said that I could be in charge of administering her medication, and I would be careful with how much I allowed her to take.
I’d never let her suffer needlessly, but my wife would not become addicted.
“I don’t want to sleep anymore,” she protested, her fingers curling into my shirt. “I want to stay with you.”
“I’ll be right by your side the whole time,” I promised. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I retrieved two pills from the bottle on the nightstand and ordered her to take them. She hesitated for a second, but a stern look from me made her swallow the medicine.
“Good girl.” I carefully trailed my fingers over her silken hair and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead.
She rested her head on my shoulder, and I stroked her until she fell back asleep, mercifully free from nightmares. I would protect her from all the dark things that haunted her, especially Dante Torrio.