Page 170 of Madness & Mercy

“Are you hurt?” he asks, catching me off guard.

“I’m fine,” I mutter, still buzzing with adrenaline. “Thanks for… sending Enzo. He saved my ass.”

His gaze sharpens. “Don’t thank me,piccolino. If you’d have stayed put like I told you, you wouldn’t haveneededsaving.”

Heat creeps up my neck. “Jesus, you always gotta make it sound like I’m a fucking child—”

“Then stop acting like one,” he cuts in. He doesn’t raise his voice. He doesn’t need to.

I clench my fists, fighting the urge to snap at him, but words fail me. He turns, already heading toward the door.

“Inside.Now.”

Every muscle in my body wants to resist, but my legs move anyway. The air gets heavier with every step. My pulse won’t slow, part leftover panic, part… something else entirely.

He waits until we’re past the guards, past the noise of the estate, and pushes open the door to his office. His voice is quieter now, almost intimate.

“Talk.”

“I’m… uh…” My throat feels like sandpaper. “I’m sorry. I was an idiot, okay? I was pissed at you, but mostly at myself. I thought I could outrun this shit, but turns out… I can’t.”

His gaze lowers, dragging over me until my skin burns. “And whatexactlyare you running from, caro mio?”

I grit my teeth, but I force myself to look him in the eye. “From you... from how I feel about you.”

He tilts his head, his eyes darkening, studying me like he’s already dissected me and found every weak point. “And how do you feel,” he asks, his voice low and lethal, “when you’re with me?”

My pulse quickens. The word leaves me before I can stop it.“Alive.”

He hardly reacts, but his mouth curves slightly like I’ve pleased him… andfuck,I want to keep pleasing him.

“What am I going to do with you?” he murmurs.

I shudder.

“First, you spend twenty thousand on my card. Then you almost get yourself killed…” His breath brushes my ear, and I swear my knees buckle.“Nice yacht, by the way.”

My blood runs cold.Shit.I’d had that thing delivered straight to the port. How the hell did he find out?

“It was stupid,” I mutter quickly. “I’ll return it.”

“No,” he says, his grin sharpening. “Keep it. We’ll have to break it in sometime.”

Oh god. My whole body reacts. Heat, need, and want twist together into something volatile. My legs are trembling so bad, I’m not sure I’ll stay upright.

Before I can even think of a response, Nico moves. One second he’s in front of me, the next my back hits the wall with a thud, his body pressing into mine, caging me in. His hand comes up, fingers wrapping around my jaw, forcing me to hold his gaze.

“Do you know what I’d have done if you got arrested? Or if that bastard put his hands on you?”

My breath stutters. His eyes are burning into me, darker than I’ve ever seen them. “Nico…”

He cuts me off, his thumb brushing my cheek in a touch that’s almost gentle, though his grip says otherwise. “I’d have burned this entire fucking city. Every cop, every enemy, every man with a badge or a gun—I’d have torn them apart piece by piece until there was nothing left.” His mouth lowers until it’s just a breath from mine. “And then I’d have dragged you back to me. Because no one takes you from me. Not the cops. Not Braga. Not Silvio’s men. Not evenyou, piccolino.”

My whole body is trembling now, not just from adrenaline but from the sheer weight of him against me. I can’t tell if I want to fight him or fall apart beneath him. Probably both.

I don’t even realize I’ve stopped breathing until his mouth finally crashes into mine. There’s no patience; just teeth, heat, and fury. I gasp against him, but he swallows the sound, biting down on my lower lip hard enough to make me flinch.

“Fuck,”I breathe, but my fists are already clutching at his shirt, pulling him closer instead of pushing him away.