Page 114 of Dark Breaker

But he keeps bending his upper body away from me, arching his back.

That is, until Rosa sits on him.

“Rosa, stop!” he screams.

Those are his last words.

He plunges into the blade and I twist it, ending him. I shove him off me and catch Rosa.

“Fabio, Fabio.” Tears streak down her cheeks. “You came for me.”

Tears. A sign of weakness.

No. I’m only telling myself that so I don’t cry myself.

They’re not a sign of weakness. They’re tears of joy.

“Of course I came,” I tell her tenderly. Adoringly. “You’re my wife.”

I retrieve the knife and slit the tape that binds her hands and feet in turn. Then I hold her tight.

“I was so afraid I’d never see you again,” she says, sniffling. “So afraid.”

“Everything’s going to be okay now,” I tell her.

We hug like that for at least three minutes. Finally I release her when I hear a car pulling up in the driveway.

“What happened to your cheek?” Rosa asks. She touches the swollen handiwork the Jackal left me with, and I flinch.

“A little present from the Jackal,” I reveal. “We thought he took you.” I decide not to tell her that Massimo and Luciano are still prisoners, along with my own brother Nicolo. There will be time enough for that later. “And what happened to your cheek?”

“Carlo pistol-whipped me when I refused to kiss him.”

“Ouch.” I start walking her toward the driveway, and she loops a hand through the crook of my arm. “I appreciate you standing your ground for me.”

“It was for me just as much as you,” she says. “I don’t intend to cheat on my husband.” She pulls me closer. “I actually bit him when he made the attempt.”

I grin, remembering his swollen lip. “Really? Like you bit my tongue?”

“Harder,” she tells me.

“That’s my girl.”

She’s staring at my face, seeming so happy.

“At least we have matching injuries,” she says. “Seems somehow suiting. Let’s people know we’re a couple.”

I laugh. “Not sure if that’s the message we want to be sending though. That we beat each other.”

She plants a kiss on my uninjured cheek. “If by beat each other, you mean with kisses, then I’m guilty as charged.”

I give her a kiss of my own, right on the lips. If my men weren’t on the way, I’d take her right now.

Instead I pull back and return the wedding ring. “You forgot this.”

Her eyes glisten. “Oh Fabio. I’m sorry I took it off.”

“It’s my fault that you did,” I reply. “I’ve patched things up with your brothers. Or I’m working on it, anyway.”