Page 36 of Power

Enzo Castelli deserves everything coming to him. And she? She’s collateral damage. That’s all she was ever meant to be. A means to an end.

But instead of plotting my next move, I find myself reaching for my phone.

Fuck.

I dial Rafa.

He picks up immediately, his voice edged with suspicion. “What’s up?”

“Put Vittoria on the phone.”

There’s a pause, then a scoff. "What if she tries to use the call to send a message to Enzo?"

"I need to speak to her, Rafa."

A pause. Then, a resigned sigh. He knows I only call him Rafa when I mean business.

The wait stretches and my pulse hammers against my ribs. And then, finally—

Her voice.

Soft, unsure, but unmistakable. “Hello?”

And just like that, my body reacts before my brain can catch up.

Because no matter how much I fight it, no matter how much I remind myself that she’s supposed to be nothing, she isn’t.

She’s everything.

“Having your people give me phones already? Trust me that much, huh?” she says, her stubborn tone igniting something in me.

“Giving attitude already?”

She sucks in a deflated breath. “Well?”

A pause. She’s waiting.

For an answer. For a reason. For something I shouldn’t fucking give her.

But I do.

Because when it comes to her, I never seem to make the right choice.

“I was thinking about you and your body and how much I’d like to fuck you up against the wall right now.”

My admission startles her, and I hear a soft whoosh of breath on the other end. There’s a pause, my words lingering until she snaps back, breathless and distracted.

“What… uh… what are you saying right now?”

I relish the disorientation in her voice; it shows the staggering effect I have on her, just as she does on me. “I just told you, baby. I want to be buried deep inside of you.”

“You’re… far away,” she whispers. “You’re so far away.”

“I know.” I swallow hard, pressing the phone closer to my ear. “That’s why I called you.”

“Okay.” She pauses, then sighs. “I don’t know what you want from me, Dario.”

“Tell me,” I urge.