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“Okay.” Maria tried to swallow through her suddenly tight throat from his grave words. “Dom … can I ask you a question?” She stopped the lesson for a moment.

He nodded.

Maria turned to face him. “That morning, when you and Kayne fought and you pulled your gun on him … ” She remembered the words he had spoken to her: I had the gun in my hand, Maria. I might not have been the one to take his life, but I can’t promise you I wouldn’t have done the same as Lucca five seconds later. “Was your finger on the trigger?”

Even though a part of her, deep down, already knew the answer, she wanted Dominic to realize just how wrong she was to ever call him monstrous like his father. She wanted him to know, once and for all, that he was everything Lucifer and she were not.

Dominic Luciano was good.

“No.” Shaking his head, his brows drew together, almost disbelieving it himself. “No, it wasn’t.”

“I know.” Maria kissed his lips hard. “I know you wouldn’t have done it.” She kissed his lips over and over, trying to make him see that he was pure, that he wouldn’t have ever done something that would have hurt her.

Maria made Dominic kiss her until he began to get it through his head, and by the time she was done, he had taken the gun from her and they snuck back inside to quietly go up the steps.

She placed one last tender kiss on his lips before he pushed her hard down onto his bed. Staring up at him, even though she knew he was good on the inside, on the outside, he looked like a mean motherfucker who was about to fuck her senseless yet again.

Dom went to throw his leather jacket off, but Maria stopped him,

“No … Keep it on.”

“What are you doing?” Maria sleepily came into the living area to see Dominic at the table. “It’s late.”

“Go on back to bed, princess. I’ll be up when I’m done,” he assured her, not taking his eyes away from his task.

Seeing his guns laid out on the table, Maria had watched him clean those things every night since she’d been here. Yes, they had only been married for a week, but it was weird. At least when she spent those first two days together in her penthouse, he hadn’t, and her place didn’t give her the creeps. She was going to have to do something about their living situation because, while yes, Maria was spoiled rotten, it wasn’t the house that bothered her; it was the remaining presence of a certain someone.

“I don’t think this is something you need to do every day, Dominic.” Taking his hand, she tried to pull him back to bed. “Come on, It’ll be here in the mornin—”

“No,” he ordered harshly, removing his hand.

What the …?

Maria had never even seen him like this. She hadn’t been with him long, but either way, this wasn’t her Dominic who treated her the way every girl dreamed to be treated.

Ever since earlier today, when she had asked that question about Kayne, he had acted slightly different, like there was a war going on his head, as he refused to believe that he wouldn’t have killed Kayne because it would have hurt her.

Dom grabbed her hand, pulling her back to him and down onto his lap so he could rest his head on her forehead. “I’m sorry.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, touching his beautiful face.

It took him a moment before he told her, “Every night I sat here with my father and cleaned these guns. I couldn’t eat dinner or go to sleep until it was done. It’s a habit I’ve yet to break, and I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she whispered, giving him a kiss. Maria could see he was nowhere near ready to break that habit. It was something they would have to work on a little bit at a time. “I’ll let you finish. Come back to bed whenever you’re ready.”

Giving her one last kiss, he let her go, and then he continued cleaning them.

Maria had to hide the boiling emotions that began to rock through her body. Walking up the stairs and into the room that was Dominic’s but wasn’t at all, it only added fuel to the fire as pure rage soared through her.

Looking through the little window, she stared at the pathetic man on the other side. “Can I go in?”

Lucca contemplated for a second before he nodded. “I’ll give you a minute.”

Maria waited until Lucca was out of sight before she slid the metal door open with all her might, stomping her stilettos inside. The sight of the man did not scare her as she growled at the devil himself, “You.”

The chain at his ankle didn’t even so much as rattle when he saw her. The grotesque man that was only kept alive by an inch of his life had spread his hands out into a cross as he looked up in the sky, welcoming her with open arms when Maria’s hands went to his neck.