Page 28

The Announcement.

W hy would the world be so cruel as to give me everything I ever wanted in someone I shouldn’t be with? What kind of god allows their sons and daughters this suffering? I know loving her will only bring me death.

But I’m ready to die.

I’m ready to give it all up to be the one she loves.

Without her, I wouldn’t taste the salt of the sea on my lips or see the green in the trees. Everything would remain in black and white.

I curse myself for letting her touch me and for knowing what her skin feels like beneath my hands. For a minute, I’m lost in the thought of what it would be like to spend a lifetime together, to grow old and watch our children run in the wind of Falcon’s Keep. As my gaze lands on the thick envelope now on the floor, every bit of hope I had of living that dream fades.

“Raf…” Her beautiful voice surrounds me like a trance, snapping me back into the room.

“Are you ready to tell me what I want to hear, Principessa? ”

My fingers are covered in her arousal as I continue to work the pistol inside her, careful to keep my index finger from the trigger.

“I-I’m so close.” She takes a deep breath, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as her collarbones rise from their resting place, her body shuddering around my gun. The sight of her coming undone, bound on the same table I almost bled out on, makes me tent my pants.

Leaning into her ear, I take in a breath of her luscious scent, my cock growing harder. “You hide like a sin, afraid if you revealed yourself, you’d be seen as dirty, weak, and unworthy.”

Her chest rises and falls, whimpering as I remove the gun from her pussy and bring it up to my mouth. I taste her sweetness, groaning as I gather the traces of her lies from my gun. She watches me with hooded eyes, still working to come down from her high.

“Please, Raf,” she whispers, gently tugging on the restraints.

“Tell me,” I demand, my voice hard as I flick the safety back on and place the gun down on the bench behind me.

“How?” Her lip wobbles as tears gather in her eyes, one of them falling down the side of her face. “Please don’t make me say something I know can never happen.”

My jaw aches, the hurt in her voice waking the beast I’ve caged.

Her soft curls wring themselves into my fingers as I bring her face to mine. “Listen to me carefully, Principessa .”

Another tear falls, the inferno inside me now as hot as how I imagine hell to be.

“I will find a way.”

“Even if you do, Dante will never let it happen.”

I swallow the razor blades and take her mouth with mine. I can’t hear another word about how the world is against it.

Against us .

I won’t.

A frantic energy surrounds us, her lips tasting of frustration and longing. The kiss is rough, like we’re trying to prove something to each other. Our breathing increases and I wish I could erase all her pain and torment.

I’m afraid the suffering is just the beginning of the hell we’re about to endure.

“I need you,” she whispers onto my lips, and I give in.

She looks the other way when I climb on top of her, and there’s a sting right inside my gut. I want her, but I don’t know how I can have her. It’ll take a lot of guns, men, and betrayal to get what I want. I must be ready for it all.

The blowback from something like this will incinerate us all.

I place my hand on her wet cheek and pull her eyes back to mine. They’re everything I could ever need in this life, filled with desire and mixed with stoic heartache. The world is on her shoulders and all I want to do is take the weight of it from her.

Tearing her dress with my knife, I watch it drop on either side of the table, baring her completely to me, just like I’ve done for her.

“Look at me.”

She purses her lips, another tear riding its way down her already damp face. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers, cutting her invisible knife deeper into my gut.

“No, Principessa… ” I unbuckle my belt and unzip my pants to pull my cock out. “Never apologise when your hand was forced.”

Her deep moans send shockwaves to my cock as I enter her and almost lose my mind.

“They will be the ones to apologise, right before they stare down the barrel of my gun.”

I thrust deep into her, her warmth enveloping me, inviting me down a dark cave I’ll be happy to never emerge from again.

The chains rattle against the table as she reaches for me, her head jerking back as I ram into her again and again. I watch her breasts bounce as she bites her lip, her hands curled into fists. I could watch her like this for the rest of my life. Just like I’d love to watch the world burn if I can’t have her.

Grasping her soft curls at the top of her head, I hold her head up, her eyes hooded as she watches me enter her.

“Fuck,” she breathes.

“You think anyone else could ever give you what I can?”

Snaking my hand to the restraint, I free one of her hands as I roll my hips into her. Freeing the other, she wraps them both around me, pulling me in closer to her.

We become one, moving in a rhythm we’ve found together, her beautiful, pleasure-filled sounds right beneath my ear.

“I love you,” she whispers and it’s all I’ve needed to hear. One second, I’m like a god, untouchable and omnipotent, until she takes it away in the next. “But I have to marry him.”

Her eyes find mine and I decide against the harsh words that have sprung into my head. Instead, I make sure this moment is everything it can be.

Me and her.

“I promise this isn’t it, Principessa.”

I move against her, thrusting into her again and again, the metal table shifting beneath our weight. Freeing both her ankles, she locks them around my waist and buries her face in my neck, her kisses making my cock harder than ever.

“Nera.”

She moans, kissing her way to my lips, the last tear cascading over her cheek as she whispers, “I love the way you say my name.” She gives me a small smile as I hold myself back from bursting inside her. “Say it again.”

“Nera,” I drawl as her soft lips rest on mine, her pussy clenching around me. Her eyes roll back into her head with a smile on her face. My cock pulses inside her and I groan, filling her up as she caresses the stubble on my face.

“It will always be you,” she murmurs against my lips, sending my mind back into a frenzy over how I’m going to get her out of this mess.

Helping her off the table, I give her my dress shirt and she buttons it up, the ends falling to her knees. Her midnight hair tumbles down her shoulders and past her breasts as she stands in the heels I gifted her.

“Don’t come to the wedding.”

“There won’t be one.” I stuff myself back into my pants and she looks around the room.

“Will you tell me what really happens here?”

I hesitate for a moment, unsure if I should share it with her, but decide to anyway. I just hope she doesn’t judge me for it.

“Where should I start?”

She steps into me, placing her hands on my chest and I know I’m not leaving Falcon’s Keep because I’ll either be with her or I’ll be buried here for trying.

“Nothing good has happened here since your father made a deal with the Lucchese family.”

Threading my hands with hers, she looks up at me, ready for the truth.

“We ferry the lost souls here to either break them or kill them.”

She looks to the freezer drawers. “Why do you have those?”

“In case their families pay their debts. Then they get their body shipped back to them.”

“And what happens if they don’t?”

I swallow, looking away, not wanting to expose her to this side of Falcon’s Keep, but I fear she’s already seen more than she’s bargained for.

“I gut them. On this very table. Dismember them and dispose of them on the other side of the island.”

She pauses, eyes wide, clearly not expecting what she’s just heard, and I wait for her response. I check over her face for an insight into her thoughts, but she gives nothing away.

“What does Frances give us?”

“Protection and financial aid to work off a debt. A lifetime of servitude for a stupid fucking thing I did when I was young, angry, and impulsive.”

“But my father was already indebted to Frances before he met you…”

“No, he wasn’t. He cleared that and set up here to get you all away from it. He fucked it all up by taking me in. I stole from Enzo. A possession that belonged to the Lucchese family.”

“What was it?”

I smile, remembering the first time I held the Fabergé egg in my hands. Something small and seemingly insignificant that could feed most of Italy’s homeless.

“A Fabergé egg.”

Her eyes widen and I explain exactly what I had to do to get it, how close I came to losing my life to prove a stupid fucking point.

“I get it…why you feel like you’re indebted to my family.”

“No, Nera, I am. Your father didn’t have to help me. He could have handed me to Frances, but instead, he made a deal so everyone could keep their lives. That’s when I promised I’d give Falcon’s Keep all of me. Blood, sweat, tears, and everything in between.”

She gives me a small smile and weaves her arms around my neck as she rises on her toes.

“I release you, Raf. You no longer need to be tied to Falcon’s Keep if you don’t want to be.”

I hold her closer to me, my lips tracing hers. “You can release me from Falcon’s Keep, but I’ll forever be tied to you, Principessa .”

The house bustles with activity. Multiple people run around as I lie on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I’ve never once felt this powerless in my life. I consider the choices I have and I can count them on one hand. Either way, this is going to turn into a bloodbath. I just have to decide how to reinject the blood that’s been poured back into Falcon’s Keep so we don’t bleed out.

There’s a shuffle at my door, then a shadow disappears as I notice an envelope on the floor that’s been slid into my room. It’s emerald green, my favourite colour. The words on the front are enough to explain the contents, so I don’t open it.

You’re invited…

Throwing the envelope onto the dresser, I dig out my phone and scroll through my contact list. All ten of them, until my thumb hovers over the one name I swore I’d never contact again.

Erhan Kara.

I take a breath and hit call.

There’s a long dial tone before he answers.

“Never thought I’d see your name again.” The other end of the line is quiet as he waits for my response.

“I wouldn’t be calling if there wasn’t something in it for you.”

“I’m listening.”

“I need your cavalry. Might also need your doctor.”

His chuckle is deep. I have second thoughts about involving Erhan, but the only other person who can take on Frances is someone who isn’t afraid of dying. Someone who has governments in his pocket and on speed dial.

“I’m sure Dante has his own doctors for your fever.”

“It’s the black plague and Dante is dead.”

I swear I hear him smile with his response. “When?”

“Two days.”

The line clicks followed by beeping when he hangs up. I stare at the screen, hoping I made the right choice, then dial Darcy’s number.

She answers after a few rings.

“Raf! Hope you’re calling me to tell me something good.”

It’s so nice to hear her voice. The sister I sometimes wish she was by blood.

“I just called to say thank you.”

She laughs at something Nicholas says. “What? I didn’t catch that.”

“Take care of yourself, Darcy.”

Hanging up, I shove the phone back into my pocket after switching it off.

Let’s go to war.