Page 16

The Sin.

M y nipples harden as his grip grows stronger on my hip, my body jolting forward as he thrusts into me harder. The dirty sin we’re committing inside Dante’s most sacred place has me both on edge and excited.

“Or perhaps you prefer it that way?” He curls his hand around my neck, bringing his other hand over my nose and mouth. “How far are you willing to go, Nera?”

I know he’s not asking about this moment right now because the tone in his voice hints at something else, something we both know will never be possible.

I push my hips out, meeting his thrusts as he pinches my nose and covers my mouth, the air in my lungs beginning to beg for release. It’s not something I ever imagined I would enjoy, but the assurance and care I feel around Rafael makes me feel free enough to try anything he wants.

My pulse thrums in my throat, and my vision begins to dim, the pressure building inside me as he continues to pound into me.

“Yes, Nera, you see…” he buries himself to the hilt, “without air, your feelings for me float to the surface. You lust for a life that defies everything you’ve ever been taught. Without air, you’d still find yourself searching for me, like a sailor in the throes of a storm, yearning for the safety of the shore, begging for the waves to carry you back to me.”

My pussy clenches over him again as he drives in and out of me. Every part of me buzzes with pleasure. He moans below my ear, deep like the ocean, carrying me into a trance I never want to break free from.

Suddenly, my lungs are heaving for air, the feeling of emptiness rushing over me as he pulls out. Turning me around, he holds me to the statue by my neck. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but watching him place two fingers into his mouth to prime them makes my pussy pulse.

“Spread your legs wider.”

I listen to his command, doing exactly as he asks, and he slips his fingers inside me. “Good girl. Now let’s see if you’re all bark and no bite.”

I smile even as his hand tightens around my neck, my fingers gripping the edge of the statue. Everything inside me screams with the need to come as he fucks me with his fingers, immobilising me with one hand. I should be ashamed of how much it’s turning me on, the way I’m rocking my hips into his hand and meeting his thrusts.

“Don’t you dare come,” he warns. “I’m not finished yet.”

I want to protest, and my body begs to let go. My eyes slowly roll back into my head when he removes his fingers, making me cry out. The desperation in my tone shocks me.

“The next time you think you can strut around and tease me without any repercussions, I want you to remember this moment.”

I smirk and his lip curls into a snarl.

“Oh, you don’t want to take this seriously?” He pries my mouth open, shoving his fingers down my throat, and I gag at the intrusion. He removes his hand, and I suck in the air, flinching slightly when his hand taps my cheek, my saliva mixed with my arousal dripping down my chin.

Rising on my toes, his fingers find my core and as he penetrates me, I focus on his ferocious eyes. “Let me come.” I grind my hips again and he smiles.

“A principessa should not forget her manners,” he rumbles.

“Please,” I beg, now desperate for release. “Can I please come?”

“That’s more like it,” he drawls. “Go ahead, come all over my fingers inside your house of God.”

The dirty words stir something deep inside me as I close my eyes, my body trembling with pleasure coursing through my spine. Before I can come down from my high, he’s inside me, burying himself deeper and deeper as he covers my mouth and nose.

“Seems like you enjoyed that last one.” His gunmetal eyes burn into mine. My body hasn’t had a chance to return to its base levels yet, my heart rate still soaring as another wave of pleasure builds from within. A sharpness grazes the side of my neck, and a stinging pain zings my body back to life.

Did he just bite me?

“You drive me insane, you know that?” he whispers with quiet anguish in his voice. “So fucking insane that I don’t know who I fucking am anymore. You make me want to do things… sinful …things…”

Pausing mid-sentence, he whirls me around. Forcing me down, he bends me over until my shoulder rests on the statue as he fucks me. I’m too breathless to say anything. I feel his cock harden inside me, his groans echoing through the church as he tightens his hold on my hair at the base of my neck.

“Fuck,” he roars softly, his cock jerking inside me as he grunts through his release, filling me with his cum.

As I stand, the remnants of him ooze out of me, running down my leg. Fixing my skirt, I reach for my panties and clean my thighs with them as he shoves himself back into his pants.

What we just did is unforgivable .

No one would ever understand it, and as that thought dawns on me, so does another.

I want to know more about him.

I want to see him reveal himself to me in a way he hasn’t to anyone else before.

I want to unravel him until he’s bare before me.

Stepping closer into him, I rise on my toes and press my lips to his cheek as I stuff my panties into his pocket. “A keepsake,” I utter as his steel eyes smile down at me.

“Are you going to give me your panties every time we fuck?” He chuckles and I run my tongue over my bottom lip.

“Only if you fuck me exactly like that.” Turning on my heels, I stroll down the aisle of the church and out the door, pleased I finally got what I wanted.

Falcon’s Keep used to be a place of solitude for me. A home where I could be myself, unafraid of what my brothers would think of me. Or what my parents would say. Now, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, because all that plays in my head, like a movie, is the thought that if Dante found out about what we just did, he’d murder Rafael right in front of me.

“ Sapevi che ho partorito in un giorno come questo? ” my mother says, absently staring out her window, and I give her a sad smile. She hasn’t been off this island in years, probably since I was born, and it makes me grieve the life she’s lost.

“I know, Mamma , it was the day I was born.” I smile up at her in her chair from my kneeling position, rubbing lotion on her hands. She doesn’t respond, her eyes losing any emotion once there as she blinks at the window.

Santi used to say it was my fault that she’s like this and any time he wanted to hurt me, that’s the insult he’d use.

Mamma lost her mind because you never listened!

His voice is still a permanent echo in my head.

It’s true, though. I didn’t listen. But it wasn’t because I was defiant, it was because I was curious. I wanted to know everything and some things a child shouldn’t know. My father knew I’d never stop asking questions, that’s why he’d answer them in his own way, feeding my curiosity but also satiating it in another. He knew what to say to me, how to get me to agree with him when enough was enough.

I sigh and stand, the heaviness of my father’s death still weighing on me like the Titanic. I should go see him, to tell him exactly what’s on my mind.

Footsteps sound from the empty hall outside my mother’s room and the door opens as Dante walks in, closing it behind him.

“Knew I’d find you here.” He shoves his hands in his pockets, to stop from fidgeting, no doubt. “I heard about the incident in the forest.” He looks around the room, clearly unsure of how to approach this with me, but I stare directly at him.

“Oh, about how some crazy person tried to eat me?” I say incredulously, stepping towards him, his eyes now on me. “Are you going to explain to me what’s going on here?”

“I don’t think you’re ready to hear it,” he admits, pulling out his phone, the buzzing of the vibrations filling the quiet room. Ignoring it, he shoves it back into his pocket.

“Why did you really bring me back, Dante?” I ask, curious as to what he’s planning for me.

“The whole family needs to be at this revelry,” is all he gives me, his face more stoic than before.

“You couldn’t postpone it? For another three months?” I huff, crossing my arms. “ Three. Months.”

He shakes his head and looks at the floor, the frustration now creeping in.

“I could have graduated,” I whisper, stealing a glance at my mother, still dazed in her chair.

Dante pinches the bridge of his nose. “You think a degree would do anything to keep this life from catching up to you?” he questions, and I open my mouth to speak but he continues before I can get a word in. “You think you can forget everything he ever taught you about the families? About money, drugs, or inheritance?” He steps forward, his voice beginning to harden. “You think it’s as easy as getting a degree and fucking off to the next continent, to what? Be with some fucker who has a condo and a trust fund?” I close my mouth, the vein in his forehead now popping as he raises his voice with irritation. “Do you honest to god think that a piece of fucking paper will sever all your fucking ties to this world, Nera!?”

I remain silent, waiting for him to finish, hoping he reveals whatever he’s been hiding.

“I’m sick and tired of you pretending you don’t belong here.” He grips my forearm, and I wince. “Take a look around, Nera, you were born here, raised here, with your brothers who would do anything to keep you by our side. You are the heiress to Falcon’s Keep.”

I furrow my brows and yank my arm free from his hold, my eyes stinging with unshed tears at the truth he’s just shown me. I’ve spent my whole life studying, wanting to become something better than my family, but the truth is, the Della Torre name will follow me everywhere I go.

“The revelry is tomorrow, and I expect you to be there. You will meet with Frances and Tommy.” He demands, rather than asks for my presence and I fight a snarl as I push past him into the hallway. My boots thump on the wooden floorboards, creaking as I make it down the stairs.

I spot Rafael in the foyer and look away, heading straight for the front doors as he catches me by my upper arm, spinning me around.

“What happened?” he questions, looking me over. If one more person grabs me today, I swear I’ll chop off their fucking arm. Pushing him with all my might, he steps back to gain his footing, his gaze moving to the top of the stairs, mine following his to see Dante.

“Ask him .” Without another word, I push past the doors and out onto the road, making my way through the tall black gates. I’m in no mood to speak to anyone right now, so I avoid the greenhouse because I know he’ll look for me there. Instead, I run through the forest, in the opposite direction of the manor. I can barely make out the path I made for myself when I was a child. It’s faint, but it’s still there, the weeds and shrubs now growing over it. Reaching the end, I stare up at the wall of rocks and begin climbing, one by one, and as I get closer to the top, the rush of water grows louder, the rhythmic roars like gentle thunder. Stepping over the edge, I stand and take it all in, watching the water hit the surface of the pool, splashing and breaking apart. The gentle, melodic sounds of the waterfall calm my mind as I remove my boots and socks, then my clothes, keeping my bra and panties on. I wriggle closer to the water, my toes submerged in the warm pool. During the day, as the sun is out, the body of water heats up and, on afternoons like this, it becomes the perfect time to swim. Stepping deeper into the water, I kneel and push off, dunking my head in, holding my breath as I close my eyes and focus on the muted sounds. The soft, continuous rush of water above me, along with the faint echo of my heartbeat create a peace of its own.

Breaking the surface, I swim over to the edge and pull myself up.

This revelry will come at a cost, and with the way Dante has been acting lately, I don’t know whether I should take the next ferry back to the mainland and run, or if I should stay and figure out what he’s been hiding.

I owe it to my mother to stay, to fight and take her with me, but I’m afraid of what I might find.

A branch rustles from below, the sun now setting as the chill in the air returns, and I peer over the edge to see where the sound came from. There he stands, as if he’s put a tracker in me, finding me no matter where I am on this island. Rolling my eyes, I return to my seated position and wait for him to climb up. He huffs as soon as he takes a seat beside me.

“You didn’t exactly cover your tracks well.”

“Thought you’d look for me in the greenhouse, so I came here.” I wring out the water in my hair and stare at the pool, the ripples continuing to create mosaic-like patterns.

There’s a pause before he speaks again.

“A long time ago, I thought everything of your family,” he confesses, catching me off guard. I purse my lips, unsure of how to respond, so I let him continue.

“They saved my life, Nera.”

I look up and meet his gaze, seeing vulnerability in place of the usual hardness.

He casts his eyes to the water. “That night was one of the worst ones I’ve lived. When I came here and met Dante, I knew my life would never be the same again. He made me feel like I was part of something bigger…something better .”

Sighing, he lifts his shirt, revealing the scar protruding from his skin, breaking the perfect strokes of his dark tattoos.

“I thought I was cast aside by my own blood, so I sought to make a name for myself and take everything I could from the most powerful people around me. It started with stealing their money, but it wasn’t enough. Bit by bit, I longed for more. I wanted them to know who I was, to have a reputation so fucking dark that they heard about me from the other side of the sea and regretted ever casting me aside.”

I can empathise with him, with everything he’s saying. I reach out, holding my hand out to him, and he takes it.

“But the one action that landed me here was enough to change me forever. Because of this, I lost someone very close to me…someone I called a father, and eventually, that hole in my heart was filled with Dante’s grace and hospitality.”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, understanding everything he’s telling me. “Why are you still here?” I say softly. “After all this time, why haven’t you gone back?”

He opens his mouth to speak, then it suddenly dawns on me. “Do you…” I pause when his eyes meet mine. “Do you feel like you owe him something?”

“But I do.”

“You don’t.” I shift my weight to my knees and face him. “My father wouldn’t have done this if he wasn’t a good man.”

He laughs at my words and shakes his head. “We are not good men, Principessa .”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

He nods, his eyes moving south to my stomach, the crease in his brows forming as he spots my scar. He looks back at me with the question in his eyes. Pointing to the large scar that runs from below my ribs to my hip, he opens his mouth to speak, but I answer the question before he can ask it.

“They had to remove my kidney,” I explain, taking my hand from his, the vulnerability now switching sides. “I had a tumour when I was eleven and it was big enough to have the entire thing removed.” I swallow, nervous that this is the first time he’s seen me without my clothing.

“Such a soldier, even at the age of eleven.” He smirks and I push him playfully.

“It was a hard time, but I was lucky it was localised, so all they had to do was remove the kidney.”

He stands and begins to remove his clothes as I stare, in awe of his beautiful physique. When I get to my feet, I admire the numerous cuts and marks on his body as the sun completely disappears, the bioluminescent water coming to life in the darkness.

“Up for a swim?”

“With you?” I shrug. “Only if you go commando.”

He doesn’t break eye contact as he removes his briefs, his cock hardening right before me.

“Get into the water, before I throw you in myself.”