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I sigh and turn to him. “I was fucked-up with jealousy and frustrated,” I admit. “But when I told her she’d get hurt, I meant by you. I wouldn’t hurt her.”

His face flushes that gorgeous shade of pink that makes me want to grab him and strip him naked right here and now. I hold myself back, mainly because I’m starving and I know he is, too.

“Did you want to?” he asks.

My jaw tightens. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.”

He steps closer. “I’m serious. I know you’re dangerous—I know the rumors, at least, but…I don’t actually know you, Dante.”

I grab one of the plates and hand it to him. “Yeah. I wanted to. Sometimes…I can’t think straight. I just wanna choke out anyone who gets in my way.”

Ethan’s face goes pale for a moment or two, but then he swallows. “Do you ever actually do it?”

I chuckle darkly. “Sometimes. But I’m not a monster, Ethan. If it ain’t for a job, I usually leave it alone.”

He nods slowly. “Okay.”

I lead him to the small table in the corner of the kitchen, and we sit across from each other with our food. I dig in immediately, eating faster and in bigger bites than Ethan, who picks at his food a lot more than me.

“Thank you for being honest,” he adds after a second.

“It doesn’t scare you?” Ethan chews at his lip for a second. “It does, but…it also doesn’t, and that scares me, too.”

“You’ve got a lot to process.”

He nods. “Yeah, I do.”

It’s quiet as we eat, at least once Ethan really starts eating, and we’re both focused on quieting our growling stomachs.

Ethan only speaks again once he’s almost done with his plate. “Tell me about your family.”

I scoff. “Where do I start?”

He shrugs. “I mean…are you really the mafia?”

I laugh. “It’s more complicated than that, but yeah. It’s not like the movies. There are several crime families in the state—hell, in this city. All full of people who want control and get together to try to take it. My family just happens to be the strongest in the area.”

“Just happens to be?” His face scrunches. “How long have the Romanos been a crime family?”

I click my tongue. “Since the nineties. Before that the Romanos were lackeys to another family, but my grandfather decided he was tired of following someone else’s rules. I suppose it ain’t just happenstance that we’re on top now. We’ve worked our asses off for it.”

Ethan’s eyes scan me slowly before he takes another bite. “So you were raised into all of it.”

“Yup. Me and my brother, Marco.”

He blinks. “Marco. The one you told to take care of things with the bomb?”

I nod. “Yeah. He’s my older brother. Pain in the ass, but he gets the job done.”

I watch Ethan as he seems to be thinking, staring at the table as he chews. There’s a part of me that’s terrified he might decidethis is too much for him, and I’ll have to deal with the aftermath of a freak-out that pushes him away from me.

But he isn’t going anywhere. He’s still sitting at the table, eating pasta and wearing a bathrobe.

“How did you know about the car bomb?” he asks.

“I didn’t. Well, I wasn’t sure. A rival threatened you, but I figured out where you were and what they might be up to. I wasn’t positive it had to do with your car, but I wasn’t about to fucking ignore it,” I say, my voice lowering, a soft growl escaping me as I think about it. “They’re gonna fuckin’ pay. I promise you that. If you’d gotten hurt…”

Ethan reaches across the table. “I’m okay. You saved me,” he reminds me. “You saved my life, Dante.”