Page 62 of Vicious Behaviors (The Next Vicious Generation #3)

“Stop it, Marcello,” she says with utter resolve.

“You have let that thing rule your life long enough. I will not let it rule us. You deserve to be loved. I will not let anyone make you believe differently. Because I love you. Me,” she presses her hand to her chest where her heart still beats.

“I refuse to let any fucking alter take you away from me.”

She calls the voice an alter, unaware I’ve seen the devil’s true face tonight. It’s the same face she is looking at with longing and unconditional love.

“You don’t understand.” I shake my head, pounding at it with my closed fists. “You don’t know.”

I’m not sure how long I’m in this anguished state. All I know is that it subsides the second Izzie wraps her arms around me, preventing me from hitting myself just in case I end up hurting her.

“Izzie,” I choke through my tears, burying my head in her hair.

“Is everything alright down there?” I hear my brother Jude call out from upstairs. I open my mouth to reply, to tell him that Izzie is not safe as long as I’m near her, but Izzie covers it with her hand, preventing me from saying a word.

“Everything is fine, Jude. You can go back to sleep. Marcello just had a nightmare, that’s all. I promise you, I’ll never let him drink again.”

“Yeah, good idea,” I hear Jude say, but I can hear the hesitation in his voice. Like the true champion he is, he wants to fight all my demons for me, even the ones living in my head.

“Goodnight,” Izzie says, her voice overtly sweet, her own way of saying there is nothing to see here.

“Good night, Izzie. Good night, little brother.” And with that, I hear his footsteps return to the guest room.

“You should have told him,” I mumble once he’s gone. “Jude could protect you.”

“I can protect myself, thank you very much.”

I lean my heavy head back and look her straight in the eye. “But you didn’t. You didn’t protect yourself against me. Why?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yes.” I nod, feeling suddenly too exhausted to even do that.

“Because I have faith. Faith in us. Faith in you. Faith that you would fight him with everything you have, and protect me.”

“That was a big gamble.”

“You’re worth betting on.” She smiles meekly. “I meant it when I said I loved you. I’ll fight for us with everything I have. But in the end, it all comes to you. Is what we have worth fighting for? Or are you going to let him win?”

As her words take root in my soul—her love healing parts in me that have been broken for so long—I don’t need to think too long about my answer. “I’ve never wanted anything in my life. Not until you came along. All I want is you, bella. That’s all I’ll ever want.”

“So fight for me. Fight, Marcello.”

“How?” I ask, tormented.

“I have a few ideas on how we can tackle your alter problem,” she says, surprising me.

“I just want you to be open to it when I discuss it with you. Tonight has been one whirlwind after another. I would rather have this conversation once you’re clear-headed.

Which probably won’t be tomorrow since I’m pretty sure you’ll have the worst hangover known to mankind. ”

I know the last part of her speech was meant to lighten the mood, but I don’t have it in me even to smile.

“What else?” I ask instead, wanting at least the bullet points on her thoughts to beat this thing.

“I think it’s time you sit down with your family and tell them what you’ve been living with.

After attending some lectures and reading on the topic, I truly believe that hiding your condition only ends up exacerbating it.

No more secrets, Marcello. They’re killing you, my love.

Your family needs to know everything. The trauma…

the guilt…the pain you endured. They need to know it all. I need to know. Everything.”

“Anything else?” I ask, feeling too mentally and emotionally exhausted to put up much of a fight.

“Just one more thing,” she says, before leaning in and pressing the sweetest kiss on my lips.

My soul finds peace in her kiss, and before I know it, my hand rests gently at the back of her head, letting me savor the moment a little longer.

When our lips part, Izzie presses her temple on mine while draping her arms around my neck.

“Don’t you ever beg me to kill you again, Marcello Romano.

There’s no world I’d want to live without you in it. ”

“Izzie?” I whisper, running my thumb over her cheek.

“Yes,” she hums, her eyes soft, thinking life is done testing us.

I stare into her liquid-gold eyes and see the truth embedded in them, which in turn spurs my own. “I did it. I killed him. I killed Father McDonagh.”

She closes her eyes and lets out a long exhale. “I know,” she confesses, her eyelids fluttering open again. “I tried to convince myself that someone else had done it, but deep down, I knew it was you.”

“And you’re an FBI agent,” I add, watching her swallow dryly as the truth we’ve been trying so hard not to say out loud, spills from my lips.

“And you’re a mafia prince—the next in line to be the Capo Dei Capi of the Chicago syndicate.” She shrugs. “Every couple has its challenges.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Tell your face that.” She smirks, her gaze falling to my mouth, a soft smile now cresting my lips.

“No more lies, bella. “

“No more lies.”

“It’s you and me in this now. You and me.”

“Always.”

“Wake up, sleepy head. Rise and fucking shine,” Jude bellows the next morning when he comes down.

“Shh! Don’t wake Izzie up,” I warn, turning to the love of my life to ensure she’s still asleep. I hurry to cover her naked frame with the bedsheet, positioning myself in a way so my brother won’t get an eyeful of my woman. He would do the same if the roles were reversed.

“Sorry,” Jude says once he reaches us. “What’s with the long face?”

“Nothing. Long-ass night, that’s all.”

“Tell me about it,” he mumbles. “I hardly slept a wink.”

Same. After what happened to Izzie—what I let happen to her—sleep was the last thing on my mind. With all the revelations we confided in each other and the make-up sex afterwards, my mind worked nonstop all through the night.

“Hey, you still hit Nonno’s gym in the morning?” Jude asks, suddenly looking out of his element.

“Every day.”

“Good. How about we leave our cars here and jog to DeLuca’s? The girls could pick us up afterward.”

“I could go for a run. Just let me grab a quick shower and get dressed. I’ll meet you in twenty.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he says almost sheepishly before hurrying back upstairs.

What got into him this morning?

“Talk to your brother,” I hear Izzie mumble, still sounding half asleep.

“Did we wake you, bella? ” I coo, pressing soft kisses on her shoulder.

“Talk to Jude, Marcello,” she repeats instead of answering me.

“Talk to him about what?” I ask absentmindedly, too busy pressing another kiss on her shoulder.

I make my way up to her neck, my heart stopping at the ugly red marks on her skin.

I kiss her bruises ever so lightly, promising myself to blow my fucking brains out if I ever let it lay a finger on her again.

“You know damn well what,” she scoffs. “If you love me, you’ll tell him everything you told me last night on your run.”

“Are you seriously stooping to blackmail right now, bella? ”

“Whatever gets the job done, Mar.”

“Mar?” I chuckle, my heart swelling two sizes at hearing her call me that.

She shifts toward me and smiles. “Is that okay? I heard Stella and Annamaria call you that a few times. I like it.”

“I do too,” I groan, getting hard just by one little word.

“Did you know,” she says as I kiss the slope of her throat and slowly make my way down, “that in a few Latin-based languages, like Portuguese and Spanish, ‘mar’ means ‘sea’? The Italian version is close too. Though spelled differently, it sounds the same. ‘Il mare’,” she says in Italian, grabbing my chin lightly and pulling my face to meet hers.

“It suits you. It suits the color of your eyes.”

“Goddamn it, bella. You’re making it really hard for me to leave this bed right now. Are you sure I can’t tempt you to join me in the shower?”

She laughs softly. “You told Jude you’d be ready in twenty minutes. If I did that, you wouldn’t be ready even in two hours.”

“He can wait,” I say just as I’m about to crawl on top of her.

“Go!” she giggles, throwing a pillow in my face.

“Fine.” I pretend to pout. “But you’ll pay for that later.”

“I’m okay with that,” she coos, lifting off the bed to plant a quick kiss on my lips, leaving her mouthwatering breasts exposed long enough for me to see her hardened nipples salute back at me.

“Oh, you’re going to pay dearly for that,” I say, slapping her ass just to hear the little gasp of want fall from her lips.

I reluctantly get up and go upstairs to take a shower. I would much rather spend my morning doting and worshipping my woman. After what I’ve put her through, I have a lot of apologizing to do, and I fully intend to atone for all of it. Loving Izzie will be my penance and my salvation.

I know it’s going to be an arduous road ahead of us.

We still haven’t discussed how we’re going to deal with our chosen professions as well as the alter inside me.

After talking to Izzie last night, I’ve decided to not call him by his rightful name anymore.

That gives him too much power, and he’s had enough ruling over me to last a lifetime.

Alejandro once said that he serves me and not the other way around.

I don’t know if that’s entirely true, but if I’m to ensure that what happened last night doesn’t happen again, then I need to test that theory.