Page 5 of Ravage God

Isa

Elio, 31

Isa, 23

There was usuallynothing happy about my birthday.

I was born in January in Las Vegas. Which meant that while it wasn’t hot, like how it could be from the beginning of spring and well into fall, it wasn’t like the other places that snowed and offered that true winter experience I sometimes wished for growing up.

Plus, it was also the day my mom died.

There was nothing happy about my birthday, even if Valentino was determined to make it happy every single year.

And this year was no exception.

I had spent most of the day with Valentino, and now we were on our way to eat at some fancy restaurant that would have been hard to get into if anyone but Valentino Gambino had made the reservation.

This birthday dinner was something I looked forward to the least all day, if for nothing than the one other guest who would be joining us for dinner.

Valentino pulled up to a stop in front of the restaurant, and a valet came up and opened my car door for me. His smile was gentle as he helped me out of the car, and I was careful getting up, considering the short dress I had on.

Not as short a dress as the one I had on when I snuck out to that party when I was in high school, but short enough that Valentino had frowned when he saw me in it earlier.

Valentino came up between the valet and me, a dark frown on his face. I rolled my eyes. My brother had spent too much time in this life. He considered anyone coming within a foot of me as a threat. The valet got the warning and backed away from us, bowing his head slightly as if to show he didn’t mean any harm to me. I hadn’t thought he did.

“He was just helping me out of the car,” I said quietly so that no one would overhear.

“He didn’t have to fucking linger.”

“Really?” I asked dryly. “You think he was lingering?”

“Yes,” he answered seriously.

I glared at him and would have said something had he not pulled me into the quiet restaurant. And standing by the podium was the one man I didn’t want to see.

Elio was in a black suit and tie that seemed to have been tailor-made for him. It fit him well, showing off his huge frame.

But then, I didn’t think there could ever be anything Elio wore that would look bad on him.

Not with his features.

His dark auburn hair was shaved short on the sides and back, but long enough on the top that he had it tied up in a man bun. The hairstyle showed off his strong, masculine jawline with a hint of stubble that made my hand twitch with the urge to reach out and touch him.

I tried not to react so strongly as I took him in, from his tan complexion, which seemed to bring out his light, honey brown eyes that always made my breath catch, to that strong nose, broad shoulders…

Everything.

It was everything.

Hewas everything—my most beautiful dream, and painful reality.

And he had only gotten better-looking with age, and I had seen Elio at every stage of his life, considering he and my brother had been friends since they were five. From the angry, hotheaded sixteen-year-old who walked around like he hated the world to the steady man at twenty-four, when his father died and he became his oldest brother’s right-hand man, to now.

The sting of his rejecting me at eighteen still hurt.

What was worse was that I couldn’t seem to shake off this crush.

It didn’t help that Elio was as much a permanent fixture in my brother’s life as I was. Which meant we saw each other a lot.