Chapter 27
ADRIANO
I can't shake what I just witnessed between Alessandro and Eva. Something about their exchange left Eva pale.
She's scared—genuinely scared.
I hate Alessandro butting into my business, but I also know, as Don, it’s his job to look out for the family and he doesn’t trust her.
When she asks to talk, I’m wondering if she’s ready to come clean.
Part of me wants to drop everything and hear what she has to say.
Another part fears what I might learn.
So I told her we can talk later. My focus is on Mirabella. Eva lost her rights to have quick access to me when she not only ran, but she also took Mirabella with her.
"Look, Daddy! The fairies need a bridge." Mirabella tugs my sleeve, pulling me back to our fantasy world.
I arrange the wooden blocks as she directs, stealing glances at Eva.
She's fidgeting, checking her phone, looking toward the windows.
Whatever Alessandro said has her rattled. And what is on her phone?
"We'll talk when she naps," I promise.
She nods, but it doesn’t assuage the fear. I have an overwhelming urge to protect her from whatever is haunting her. It’s the first step in my resistance to her crumbling, so I need to hold firm. Make her wait.
Two minutes later, Mirabella is climbing into my lap and sticking her thumb in her mouth. A sure sign that it’s nap time.
Eva follows me upstairs as I take Mirabella to her room. She curls in a ball around her stuffed unicorn and drifts off to sleep.
After a quick kiss on Mirabella’s cheek, I lead Eva down the hall to my room. I close the door behind us and turn to face her.
She looks small, her arms wrapped around herself like she’s trying to hold herself together.
Or maybe she’s protecting herself.
From me?
Is whatever she plans to tell me going to send me into a rage? It’s entirely possible.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
"Yes."
The one word tells me nothing. Her lips press together after she says it, as if she's physically stopping herself from saying more.
I run a hand through my hair, frustration building. "That's it? That's all I get? You’re the one who wanted to talk. So talk."
Eva turns away, moving to the window where she stares out. I ignore how pretty her profile is with the sun shining on her. I also ignore the need to move closer to her, to comfort her.
"Why won't you talk to me? Whatever Alessandro said to you has you terrified. I can see it."
Her shoulders tense. "It's nothing."
"Bullshit. What the fuck, Eva. Do you want to talk or not?”
She turns to me, her expression haunted. "Adriano—"
"I've given you chance after chance. I've protected you, brought you into my home, let you back into my heart despite everything. And still, you keep your secrets."
The weight of her secrets crushes any hope of rebuilding what we once had.
"How can I keep protecting someone who won't trust me enough to tell me what I'm protecting her from?"
"I'm just tired of creating conflict for everyone," Eva finally says. "Between you and Alessandro. Between the Dantes and the Bratva."
The defeat in her voice twists in my gut.
“What are you talking about?” I have a sense of what she means, but I need her to articulate what the fuck is going on in her mind.
“Alessandro feels handing me over to the Bratva is the solution to the problems between both groups.” She shrugs. “He’s probably right.”
White-hot rage burns through my veins. I know how Alessandro feels about Eva, but he needs to deal with me, not her.
"That's not his fucking call to make."
"Adriano—"
"No." I step closer, cupping her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. "Whatever this is, whatever you're hiding, I'm done playing this game. Tell me the truth. All of it."
For a moment, I think she might finally break, might finally trust me. There's a war happening behind her eyes, fear battling with the need to come clean.
"You don't understand what's at stake," she says.
"Then help me understand." My thumb traces her cheekbone and I realize I’m touching her when my plan had been to keep my distance. "Eva, as angry as I've been, I know you. Whatever choices you made, I believe you made them for a reason."
Her eyes widen slightly.
"I might not like those choices. I might have made different ones. But if I knew why, I could at least make sense of everything that's happened between us.”
She remains quiet.
“Are you afraid of Alessandro? I won’t let him hurt you, not physically, anyway. And I certainly won’t let him hand you over to Ivan. But Eva, you're making this so much harder than it needs to be."
She shakes her head. "You say that now—"
“Why the fuck are we here? You said you wanted to talk.”
She sucks in a ragged breath. “I do, but it will change everything.”
“You don’t know that.” Still, her words make me step back.
What could she say that would change everything?
"Every choice you've made from disappearing, letting me think you were dead, taking my daughter from me, to running again, has made it harder for me to protect you. You're making poor choices—"
Eva jerks away from me, her eyes suddenly ablaze with a fury. "Poor choices? You think I've had anything but poor choices since the moment my father got involved with the Dantes?"
Her outburst is unexpected. She’s normally controlled no matter her feelings.
"I didn't choose this life, Adriano! I didn't grow up in it like you did. I didn't learn its rules from birth." She turns away like she can’t stand to look at me. "I wanted to go to college. I had plans, dreams. A normal life."
College? I had no idea she’d wanted to study.
She lets out a derisive laugh. "The Mafia talks about family, but not in a good way. My father's involvement with your family took away all my choices. Every single one."
I open my mouth to argue, but she cuts me off.
"Do you know what it's like to wake up one day and discover your life isn't yours anymore? That your future has been decided for you?" She pauses, letting out a breath. "The only good thing about it was you."
My heart squeezes in my chest.
"And then your father threatened me." She turns to look at me, as if she wants me to see what my father did to her. "He didn't just give me an ultimatum, Adriano. He showed me photos of what would happen if I stayed. Pictures of what happens when you betray the great Lorenzo Dante."
I feel sick, imagining my father doing this to her when she was barely more than a girl. Pregnant with my child.
"Faking my death wasn't just about getting away from your father.
It was the only way I could get completely free.
The only way to protect our daughter was by keeping her out of this life.
" Her eyes meet mine, pleading for understanding.
"I didn't want Mirabella raised in this world. I didn't want her to grow up thinking that violence and fear are normal. That women are nothing but pawns or toys for men’s enjoyment—”
“I never treated you like—”
“That death could come for her or her family at any moment." Her eyes bore into me. “Have you thought about that, Adriano? Will you marry Mirabella off to the highest bidder?”
Her words pelt at me like buckshot.
"You think I made poor choices?" she continues. "Show me where I had any good ones to make."
She’s not wrong, and yet, it pains me that she lumps me in with all that.
“I’m not a monster. My father was harsh, yes. Ruthless even. But he built everything we have to protect us." I move closer, needing her to understand. "This life isn't just about violence. It's about loyalty. Protection. Family."
“I know.” Her tone suggests she doesn’t see protection and family as a positive, but as danger.
I run a hand through my hair, trying to gather my thoughts. "I understand why my father scared you. I understand why this world seems impossible to navigate."
She watches me cautiously, as if she knows my answer won’t change what she believes about me and the world I live in.
"But Eva, you did have a choice. You could have come to me. Trusted me with the pregnancy. With my father's threats. I would have protected you both. Found a way for you to be safe, even if it meant sending you away with enough money to build that normal life you wanted.” I’d have hated it, but I’d have done it to keep her and Mirabella safe.
Because sometimes, breaking your own heart is what it takes to protect those you love.
“I could have been the man you needed. The father Mirabella deserved. "
I step closer, close enough to touch her but holding myself back. "You didn't love me enough to trust me. That was your choice."
"That's not true." Eva shakes her head, tears pooling in her eyes. "I loved you."
Her admission hits me square in the chest, at first filling me with warmth, but followed by confusion.
If she loved me, why didn’t she trust me?
"That's why I couldn't involve you. If you'd stood against your father for me, what then? He would have destroyed you or made you choose between your family and us. I couldn't be the reason you lost everything."
I step closer, drawn to her despite my better judgment. "You don't know what I would have done."
“If you chose me, you’d have ended up like Luca… exiled. You’d end up resenting me, and even then, we might not have been safe.”
“Luca is living his perfect life. If leaving would have resulted in that, I’d have done it in a minute because my life has been far from perfect since the night I got word you were dead.” My jaw is tight. “I had a right to be a part of the choice. You took that from me.”
She closes her eyes, and I think she finally understands what she did to me.
My side of the situation.
But when she opens her eyes again, I see the same wariness.
“Don’t you see? With Alessandro? It's like history repeating itself. Your brother is no different than Lorenzo. The same threats, the same impossible choices."
I want to deny it, defend my brother, but I don’t because I know she's right.
"I'm so tired, Adriano." Her voice breaks as the walls finally crumble. "I'm tired of running, of looking over my shoulder, of never feeling safe."
I pull her against my chest, unable to stop myself from comforting her.
"All I want is to feel safe. To be loved." Her words come between ragged breaths. "And for Mirabella to grow up feeling those things too."
"Then why did you run again?" I ask, pulling back to look in her eyes. "I was giving you everything you just said you wanted, safety, love, a family for Mirabella."
Eva's gaze drops. "You can't protect me. Not if Alessandro decides to hand me over to the Bratva."
"Look at me," I say, using my finger to lift her chin until her eyes meet mine. "What do I need to do to make you believe you can trust me? Alessandro will only hand you over to the Bratva over my dead body."
Confusion crosses her face. "How can you still feel that way, after everything I've done to hurt you?"
I shake my head, unsure how to explain the war inside me. "I don't know. I wish I had a better answer. All I know is that as much as I want to hate you, I can't."
The admission costs me, but it's worth it to see that flicker of hope return to her eyes.
"I know something is happening that terrifies you," I continue, holding her gaze. "Something bigger than just my father's threats or Alessandro's distrust. You're the one making this harder than it needs to be by keeping secrets and not trusting me."
Her lower lip trembles as she looks up at me. For a moment, I think she might finally tell me everything.
"I want to trust you. More than anything."
My hand slides to the nape of her neck, fingers threading through her soft hair. "Then do it. Stop fighting what's between us."
Her breath catches as I pull her closer, our foreheads touching. The scent of her fills my senses, clouding my judgment.
I shouldn’t want her like this.
Not just physically, but emotionally.
Like my soul is incomplete without her.
But I’m helpless.
Past the point of what I should or shouldn’t do or feel.
I capture her mouth with mine, and the last threads of my restraint snap.
Her lips part instantly, welcoming me in.
The kiss deepens, growing hungry and desperate as my hands roam over her body, relearning every curve.
I’m mad with need.
It courses through my blood.
Before I can take control, her fingers work at my belt.
She sinks to her knees as she drags my pants and boxer briefs down my legs.
She looks up at me, desire gleaming in her eyes. "Let me show you how much I've missed you.”
Her mouth wraps around my cock, and holy fucking hell.
Sensation rockets out to every nerve in my body.
She sucks me in deep, and I’m not sure how my legs are strong enough to keep me upright.
“Eva… fuck… ” I groan as an orgasm builds faster than I can control it. My fingers grip her head as I let myself fuck her mouth, once, twice but I don’t want to come. Not yet.
It takes every bit of effort I can gather to step away. She looks up at me with confused eyes, my precum wet on her lips. It’s so fucking erotic, I nearly come right then.
“Take your clothes off and get on the bed,” I command, helping her undress.
As she goes to the bed, I maneuver her until she’s on her hands and knees, her pussy staring back at me. I lean over, wrapping my lips around it, and suckle, then thrust my tongue inside. She moans and my dick can’t take it anymore.
“Adriano.” She turns to look at me over her shoulder. The sight of her waiting for me… wanting me, sends a surge of power through me.
“What do you want?”
“You.”
I shake my head. “Tell me what you want.”
Her eyes flash with wild heat. “I want you to fuck me.”
My dick jumps. Desire takes control. I grip her hips and slam into her pussy, driving in to the hilt.
“Yes,” she cries out.
"Mine," I growl, as I pump in and out of her, setting a demanding pace that she meets by rocking back against me, taking me deeper each time.
I grip her hair, wrapping it around my fist as I tug back. “Say it!”
“Fuck me.”
I’m careening out of control to the edge. “No… say who you belong to.”
“I belong to you… always you… only you.”
At those last two words, my release slams through me like a fucking freight train. I drive into her, my cum filling her pussy until it’s dripping down her thighs.
She cries out, clasping around my cock, and fucking hell, its like I’m coming all over again.
We move like wild animals rooting, the sounds of fucking filling my room.
If the whole house doesn’t know what we’re doing, they’re deaf.
But I don’t care.
All I know is that I need this woman in my life like I need air. Yes, sometimes it’s toxic or too thin to breathe, but I have to have it, nonetheless.
The realization fills me with terror because I know that the conversation and this fuck haven’t solved anything.