Page 127 of Unforgiving Queen

She snapped her head up and met my eyes. When I gave her a small nod, she smiled sheepishly. “It was a bit too savage, I know.”

“I fucking love it.” I rested my forehead against hers. “If he was still alive, I’d tear him limb from limb.”

I might have passed the point of being obsessed with her, but the need to protect her was a separate, raging beast that would gladly tear this world apart. It screamed that I failed her. The image of her bruised face mocked me with the evidence of my failure.

“I saved you time and effort, then.” After a moment of silence, she looked at me, the heaviness of her gaze way beyond her years.

In fact, it reminded me so much of Dante that it rendered me speechless. Right along with a single thought that pierced through my skull.The video clips. Dante had been getting them for months now. Did he know? Was that the reason he’d been so quick to accept the marriage arrangement? It would make sense.

Fuck! Dante wasn’t the type to take anything lying down. He’d fought losing battles before, more than once, and always found a way to destroy his enemies. It led me to believe he had an ulterior motive. Did he view Reina as his enemy? Was it revenge?

“Who else knows about this?” I asked her, blood rushing to my ears. “Who knows you killed Angelo Leone?”

She gulped. “Nobody.” She had to be lying. Reina and the girls shared too strong a bond to keep such big secrets from each other. Besides, she might’ve been alone when she killed Leone… but what did she do with his body? I waited patiently for her to continue rather than bombard her with questions. “What if Dante finds out? Or the rest of the Omertà members?”

“Nobody will touch you,” I assured her. “Including Dante.” I’d failed in so many fucking ways, but I wouldn’t fail in this one. “What did you do with the body?”

We made our way down the Grand Canal, the buzz of people laughing around us lifting the heaviness that had descended on our gondola. Reina’s eyes swept over the dreamy Venice landscape before she returned to look at me.

“I cut him up and then took him into the catacombs. May he rot in hell.”

May he rot in hell indeed.

47

REINA

We dined at a luxurious restaurant overlooking the Grand Canal.

The staff fussed over us, although the fact that Amon had booked out the entire restaurant might have had something to do with it. It was magical. The chefs prepared food to feed fifty—antipasto, chicken limone, risotto, cured meats, a tower of Raffaello and Ferrero Rocher chocolates, and of course a wedding cake that just about brought tears to my eyes.

“So we can find each other in every galaxy,” Amon murmured as we stood in front of a celestial-themed cake designed to represent the night sky and covered with tiny fairy lights that glinted like stars. “You thought there were stars in my eyes, but you were wrong.Youare my stars, my moon, and my sun. My everything. They’re only there when I look at you.”

Emotion clogged in my throat. I could still hardly believe that one day had made such a difference, going from existing to living. Thriving, even. We were moving at a whirlwind pace, and as happy as I was, a part of me was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

For something to happen.

Maybe that was precisely the reason I couldn’t say those three little words again. Not yet anyhow. He’d given me his reasons, but something held me back. My scars still felt fresh, and I knew it would take a lot more than a few romantic gestures to heal the deepest ones.

So instead of saying anything, I wrapped my hands around his waist and buried my face in his chest. Life without him had been unbearable, and I had no intention of ever going back. Not when I finally felt like I could breathe again.Liveagain.

He took my chin between his fingers and guided my head up to meet his eyes. They were filled with so much affection my stomach dipped in anticipation. After a moment of silence, he brushed his lips against mine.

“Trust this.” It was as if he’d read my thoughts. Or maybe he knew me to my core.

“You know, we have to plan a honeymoon,” I said, changing subjects. “I think I’ll plan it since you did all this.”

“Anything you want.”

I chuckled. “Anything, huh?”

“What my wife wants, she gets.”

“Just you wait until I tell the girls that.” I felt my face drop as I let out a heavy exhale. “How about you give me my phone back?”

He grinned. “I thought you’d say that.” He reached into his pocket and I snatched it before he even had the chance to pass it over. He chuckled and said, “It’s easy to make you happy. Although, there better be only one type of man featured on your Instagram.”

My cheeks burned. “You saw that?”