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“There's rules, Ivy. Laws inside our family business that I can't break.” Dante's brows arched high, lips parting with sadness. “I have a job to do.”

Was he trying to fuck with my head?

I wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Was he going to help me, save me, keep me out of the hands of the man who turned my flesh into his personal stress ball?

Or was he sending me back?

He hadn't made that clear. Dante seemed to keep toying with me. He was tugging on my deepest wish to be free of Remo, but dangling his power over my head. I had no place to go and he knew it.

And deep inside me, someplace so far down and tucked away, Dante had me. He took my virginity, he held the last thing I had to give.

I was his.

The butterflies were unreal, storming my gut and turning my skin into a sun kissed glow. “I didn't thank you for what you have done, but I am grateful. But I need to know if you can give me my life back?”

Walking to the bed, Dante lay beside me, resting his hands under his head. “What would you say if I told you thiswasme giving you your life back?”

“I'd say that's fucked up.”

Turning to face me, he kept his eyes static. “Why is the idea of being here with me so awful?”

It's not . . . But it is.

How do I explain it so he can understand, so he can feel what I feel?

I was tired of being lost and forgotten. I was sick of being just a person with no direction but the options being forced down my throat.

I wanted to see my dad, my family. I had so many questions about why this all happened. And being here would give me none of that.

But as I lay there next to him, his cologne swirled up and hijacked my senses. Dante made my muscles grow weak and my body hum with feelings that warmed me to the bone.

I wanted this man, I wanted to be with this man, and I couldn't understand why or deem any of the emotions hitting my nerves rational.

But I wanted Dante.

I'd be lying if I said the idea of waking up to him every day for the rest of my life hadn't crossed my mind. I'd be lying to myself if I tried pretend that he didn't make my toes curl and my heart beat a million time harder than it should.

But I also needed my family, my freedom . . .

Myself.

“Dante, I need my family. You said you do these things for your family, what if someone removed them from your life?”

Closing his eyes, he let out a long breath. “I've had my family torn apart, it's not what it should be, it's not what it was.” Reaching his arm to my face, he stroked my cheek. “My innocent princess . . .” His thumb traced my jawline, caressing my throat. “You see what you think you have to, but have you really looked at my life? My mother is dead, my brother forced us to turn him away. All I have left is my father, this business . . . My legacy.”

“But what if it wasallstripped from you? What if you had nothing?”

His face was turned to the ceiling, his words floating up and falling down to cover me in lettered ashes. “If you leave, I will have nothing.”

My chest thudded, heart hammering so loud it was drowning out the words inside my head.He really feels for me.

“Why can't we have both?”

Chuckling, he let his fingertips glide down over my breast, circling my hardened nipple. “Sometimes sacrifices need to happen.” Slipping lower, Dante swirled around my bellybutton and smiled. “I won't let you go.”

“So what are you going to do to fix it?” I wanted to reach out and touch his face. Feel the stubble that had taken over his jaw, feel the twitch his muscles made as my hand pressed down.

But I didn't. Folding my hands together, I coiled them on my lap, braiding my fingers. I was nervous for his answer and what he thought he should do with me.