Page 123 of Dark Breaker

I think he’ll come around eventually and realize that yes, he does love me. Caring for someone is only the first step, after all.

And if not, well, I guess I’ll just have to get used to the idea that the love in this marriage is one-sided.

20

Fabio

Ilay awake in bed next to her.

I think I do love her.

I don’t know why I couldn’t tell her earlier. It was just too hard to make myself vulnerable like that. But if there’s anyone I can be vulnerable with, it’s her. I’ve already told her so many other things that I’ve never revealed to a soul. Why not tell her this, too?

I guess because I wasn’t really sure, when she asked me.

I wasn’t lying when I told her I’ve never experienced love. It’s true. Women have always been a form of release for me, nothing more. I treated her like that, at first. But she’s quickly become more.

When she left me, I was angry. But I knew she was still safe with her brothers. I figured I’d get her back again, eventually. Even if it meant killing some of her brothers along the way. I understand now how flawed that thinking was, of course, but that was my mindset at the time.

But after she was kidnapped everything changed. I realized there was a chance I could lose her permanently, and all I could think about was getting her back no matter what, despite the cost. I was consumed by worry, driven by fear. Through hell and high water I would find her. And I did.

If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

Yes, I’ll tell her tomorrow. First thing.

I stare at her sleeping body on the bed beside me. I can only see her silhouette in the darkness. The rise and fall of her chest as she inhales and exhales. She’s beautiful, heroic, with an inner light that I can only dream of having. I’m a destroyer, while she’s a creator. We’re so different, and yet somehow she completes me. I’m really lucky to have her, I realize that now.

Yes, tomorrow I tell her everything.

Tomorrow. It’s going to be such a big day. The Jackal expects us to give him ten million Euros in exchange for Rosa’s brothers and Nicolo. Even if the Jackal releases them, I don’t think we’ve heard the last of him.

One problem at a time.

I close my eyes and the exhaustion of the day finally catches up to me, and I fall asleep.

I awaken to an alarm.

Rosa sits up. “What’s going on?” She’s afraid. I hear it in her voice.

“Someone’s trying to break in,” I tell her urgently. “Get dressed!”

I get up and shove on my underwear, and hurry to the bedroom doorway. I gaze down the hall, toward the elevator.

I can see the telltale flame of a cutting torch as it slowly carves a rectangular outline through the locked elevator door.

Fuck.

I pull on a T-shirt and jeans, than race to the secret armory. I access the hidden panel and the wall folds open, revealing the racks of weapons and other tools of war.

I slide on a bulletproof vest, along with a harness. I shove several grenades into the netting of the harness, along with rifle magazines. Then I grab my high-powered rifle from the rack and load a fresh magazine.

Rosa comes up beside me, dressed in her leather jumpsuit.

“Do you know how to shoot a gun?” I ask her.

She shakes her nervously.

“Never too late to learn.” I grab an automatic handgun, load a magazine, turn the safety off, and offer it to her. “Keep it pointing down at all times, unless you intend to fire. These things have a tendency to shoot when you least expect them to.”