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A bright smile colors her face, infusing me with new life.

After I clean and disinfect her wound, I pinch the skin between my fingers and thumb. I blow some air, wanting to soothe her, hating that this will hurt her. If she didn’t take care of the asshole who injured her, I would have loved to torture him, dismantle him until he’d be nothing more but bloody limbs.

“This will hurt. I am sorry.”

She brushes her fingers through my hair, caressing along the side of my head.

“Pleasure and pain, amore. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

She grips the edge of the tub, not making a sound while I do my best to stitch her up so only minimal scarring will be visible.

“You’re doing so well. I am almost done,” I say, my chest filling up with pride and awe.

“Tell me again,” she whispers.

Locking eyes, I grin, the words flowing out of my mouth with ease and urgency. “I love you. And I will never stop. Will love you with all of me for the rest of my existence, mio angelo.”

She breathes a contented sigh, and I finish by applying a bandage. Standing up, I cup her face and kiss her, pouring out all my ardent love and fiery need.

Holding onto my arms, she looks up at me, her features drawn in serenity. “I doubt we can escape, and fighting our way out is highly risky. I don’t care about anything but spending the rest of my life with you. Short or long, it’s irrelevant.”

“It’s the same for me, but I have a plan.”

Plucking out the USB stick from my pocket, I say, “We’ll get the remaining members of the Council at our table. Do you trust me?”

She nods, a smile grazing her lips, and it revives everything inside of me.

Then I call Marco, the member that has fed me information.

“I can’t talk right now,” he says and is about to hang up when I cut him off.

“Where are you?” My commanding tone brooks no argument.

“We’re having a meeting. Luciana killed Augustus and since our men didn’t find her, we’re on high alert.”

“I need the address. I am in Venice, and I want a meeting with the Council.”

“This is not the time.”

“Fucking now.” I grit out. “I have her in my custody.”

The relief in his voice is unmistakable. “Don’t let her escape. Tell me where you are, and I will send you my trusted man.”

After I give him the address, I hang up and he texts me where to meet him. I show the address to her, and she says, “They are at the palace—it’s the Council’s official headquarters. That viper surely summoned a meeting. Donata is always ready to grab her chance.”

“They either comply with our wishes or we’ll kill them all tonight.”

The plan is ballsy, but I’ve lived my life according to a credo that only high risks bring you the highest rewards.

I’d like nothing more than to lose myself in her. Take her far away from here, back home where I can keep her safe, but the woman I choose is a master assassin.

I cup her cheek, saying with a nostalgic tilt of my voice, “You don’t need me.”

She simply wants to be by my side. It should be enough, but fuck, I want to be everything this woman breathes, thinks about, loves.

Reaching her hand out, she grabs mine and places it on her chest. “But my heart needs you,” she says in a soft voice.

Her answer, accompanied by that gesture, unravels me, but there’s not the time or the moment to lose myself in her.