Page 94 of Ruthless King

“What?”

“I couldn’t kill him. I wouldn’t hurt Stella like that, so I took the bullet instead.”

Dante slinks closer, like a hunter approaching a wounded animal. He folds down beside me when I don’t bite his head off and releases a breath. Like he’d been holding it the whole time. “Where is he now?”

“Fuck if I know.”

“And Stella?”

Her name on his lips is like a blade to my battered heart. “Don’t fucking say her name,” I rasp out.

“Luca, I don’t know how many more times I can apologize. I was just protecting you. I thought the Red Dragons had sent her to fuck with you.”

“You tried to rape her!” I shout.

“I was only trying to scare her, Luca,lo giuro. I thought if I roughed her up a little, she’d admit the truth. I swear I never would’ve actually assaulted her like that. What the fuck kind of monster do you think I am?”

I bury my face in my hands and huff out a frustrated breath. I can’t go another round of this. Not right now. “I don’t want to hear it, Dante. It’s over.”

“Where is she?”

It takes my final threads of restraint not to bash his teeth in. “She’s safe for now. That’s all you need to know. Anyway, it’s probably better this way. The further Stella is from me, from us, the safer she’ll be.”

“Dio, Luca, you’re in love with her.”

His words slice me open, and I grit my teeth to keep the pain at bay. My molars are clenched so hard I’m certain I’ll file them down to nubs.

He stands and paces a tight circle. “Cazzo, fratellino, I’m sorry. I thought she had you all twisted up because you hadn’t screwed her. I had no idea you were in love with her.”

“Stop saying that,” I grit out. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I fucked everything up. She knows about Vinny … she knows everything.”

“Merda.”

“Yeah.” I drag my hands over my face, wishing I could disappear. Admitting this shit to my asshole brother is the cruelest torture.

“Signore?” Magda peers up from across the kitchen island.

“Yes?”

“If I may speak honestly?” She wrings her hands before folding them on the counter.

Dante rolls his eyes, and if I wasn’t so weak I’d slug him for his incessant disrespect of my staff.

“Go ahead, Magda,” I say on an exhale.

“I’ve been working with you for almost five years now, and I’ve never seen you as happy as you were when Stella arrived.” She pauses and fiddles with her apron, keeping her head down. “I don’t know the details of what’s happened between you, but it’s clear to anyone with eyes that she loves you too. Fix whatever you’ve done and bring her back home.”

My heart sinks. The penthouse never truly felt like home until Stella invaded it. She left her mark in every corner and now with her gone, it feels colder than ever before. “I don’t know if I can fix this, Magda.”

Dante shifts beside me, and I can practically feel his unspoken disapproval. My brother has a lot of shit to say about my love life, but his is no better.

“Of course, you can,” Magda continues. “She loves you and love is the strongest thing in this world. Not money, not influence, not power. Love. You go find her, Signor Valentino, and you win her back.”

I steal a glance at Dante from the corner of my eye. I wait for his rebuttal, but he remains silent for once.

I must be totallypazzoor maybe the doc slipped me something when she came because my chest is filled with hope. It’s silly and ridiculous, butDioI have to try, right?

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