Chapter 53: Are you trying to scare me away?

Finally, he stepped back, loosening his tie as he moved to the window she’d stood at earlier.

"My mother," he said, his voice carefully controlled, "was Claire Ashworth Valentino. American. Beautiful. Kind. She met my father when she was twenty-two, on vacation in Rome. He was thirty-five, already a made man, already dangerous." He stared out at the city. "She didn’t know what he was. Not at first. By the time she understood, she was pregnant with me, and she loved him enough to convince herself she could handle it."

Eve stayed silent, giving him space.

"They married. She moved to Italy. Had me. And for eight years, she tried to be the wife my father wanted....obedient, quiet, the perfect mafia princess." His jaw clenched. "But she wasn’t built for that world. She was soft. Gentle. She collected bird books and taught me all their names. She cried when my father brought business home, when there was blood on his hands, when men screamed in the basement."

"Dimitri...."

"When I was eight," he continued, his voice empty now, "my father’s enemies kidnapped her. Held her for six days. My father refused to negotiate. Said paying ransom showed weakness." He turned to face her, and the rawness in his eyes made her chest ache. "On the sixth day, they sent her back. Alive. But they’d injected her with a virus.....something slow, something that would make her suffer."

Eve’s hand flew to her mouth.

"I sat beside her bed for six days," Dimitri said quietly. "While she died. While the fever ate her from the inside. And I named every bird in her books, because she asked me to, because it was the only thing that made her smile." His voice cracked. "And my father did nothing. He didn’t come to her room. He didn’t hold her hand. He didn’t even attend her funeral."

"Oh my God," Eve whispered.

"That’s what happens to women the Valentino men claim to love," Dimitri said, his voice hard now. "They’re used as weapons. Leverage. Collateral damage. My father claimed he loved my mother, but he valued power more. And she paid the price for his choices."

He crossed the room to her, stopped just inches away.

"That’s what Enzo wanted you to know. That loving me puts a target on your back. That you’re already a weapon someone can use against me." His hand came up, cupping her jaw. "And he’s not wrong, cara mia. The second I touched you, the second I made you mine, I put you in danger. Everyone who wants to hurt me will come for you first."

Eve reached up, covering his hand with hers.

"Are you trying to scare me away?"

"I’m trying to give you the truth. All of it. So when you decide to stay...." His voice roughened. "If you decide to stay—you know exactly what you’re choosing."

"I already know what I’m choosing," Eve said fiercely. "I’ve known since the first night. Maybe even before that, when I was eighteen and kissed your cheek and didn’t understand why you looked at me like I’d destroyed you."

"Eve...."

"You’re not your father, Dimitri." She stepped closer, forcing him to meet her eyes. "You would never leave someone you loved to die alone. You would burn the whole world down first. I know that. I’ve seen it. You torture men who betray you. You exile men who hurt me. You called your Nonna to move into your penthouse just to keep me safe from a brother I didn’t even know existed." She rose on her toes, bringing her face close to his. "You’re not him. And I’m not your mother. I’m not soft, I’m not gentle, and I sure as hell don’t break easy."

His hands slid to her waist, gripping hard enough to leave marks.

"He’s going to use you against me," Dimitri said, his voice rough. "Enzo. Isabella. My father. Everyone who wants what I have. They’re going to hurt you to hurt me."

"Let them try," Eve said. "I chose you knowing you’re the Devil. I chose you knowing your world is violent and dark and dangerous. And I’m choosing you again right now, knowing that your brother just walked into my office and tried to plant doubt in my head." She pressed her palm over his heart, feeling it thunder beneath her touch. "I’m not going anywhere, Dimitri. Not for him. Not for anyone."

He kissed her.

The kiss was hard, desperate and claiming. His hands tangled in her hair, angling her head, and she opened for him instantly, meeting his ferocity with her own. The kiss tasted like possession and fear and something deeper...something he still couldn’t name but she felt blazing between them.

When he pulled back, they were both breathing hard.

"I was going to tell you tonight," he said against her mouth. "Everything. Enzo. Isabella. The arrangements my father made. All of it."

"I know."

"I’m sorry he got to you first."

"I don’t care about him." Eve’s fingers curled in his shirt. "Tell me the rest. Now. All of it."

Dimitri stepped back, running a hand through his hair, and for the first time since she’d known him, he looked tired.

"Isabella Russo," he said. "Daughter of Lorenzo Russo, head of the second-most powerful family in Italy. When I was fifteen and she was nine, our fathers arranged an engagement. A political alliance. She’d be raised to be my wife, and when we married, our families would control everything."

"Jesus," Eve breathed.

"She was groomed for it from childhood. Trained to be the perfect mafia wife.....ruthless, elegant, dangerous. She fell in love with the idea of me before she ever met me." He met her eyes. "She’s in love with someone who doesn’t exist, but that won’t stop her from wanting what she was promised."

"And Enzo loves her."

Dimitri’s eyes sharpened. "Marco told you."

"I asked. He answered. Don’t be mad at him."

"I’m not." He moved back to the window, his shoulders tense. "Enzo has been in love with Isabella since they were teenagers. She barely knows he exists. She wants the power I represent. He wants what I have. It’s...." He laughed, but there was no humor in it. "It’s a fucking disaster waiting to happen."

"And your father?"

"Antonio." The name came out like poison. "Still pulling strings, still trying to control me from his throne in Italy. He wants me to marry Isabella. Wants the alliance. Wants to make sure his legacy continues exactly as he planned it."