Twisted Emotions (The Camorra Chronicles, #2)

by Cora Reilly

“You are a Falcone now. My brother’s wife. You fall under my rule. That makes you mine to protect.”

“Your nights are safe. You are safe now, Kiara. Even in the dark, there’s nothing you have to fear, no one, because I am there and they will have to go through me. And no one ever has won against me. I am the most dangerous thing in the dark, but you don’t have to fear me.”

“I’m stronger than you. That is fact. If I wanted to hurt you, nothing would stop me. That is also fact. But as I told you, I have no intention of hurting you. My being naked doesn’t change that in any way. Nor would you being naked around me change it. I’m more than capable of controlling my urges just as any other man would.”

“You don’t understand. It doesn’t matter that he did this to me. They will blame me. Somehow the victims always end up being treated like accomplices. You are a man. You don’t understand.”

“Don’t you understand? I’m a woman. I’m guilty by default. It’s always like that. They will say I asked for it. A smile means I’m flirting. A nice word means I’m asking for it. Revealing clothes mean I’m inviting touch. That is fact, Nino.”

“Yes. I want her to be treated like family. I want her protected. I want her safe from any threat. She is a Falcone now. She is mine.”

Remo looked at us curiously. “Don’t let any of those fuckers put you down because your father was a traitor. Don’t let them put you down for any other shit either. You are a Falcone now. If one of them doesn’t show respect, tell me or Nino and we’ll handle them.”

And if I was being honest, it had been difficult for me to stand back and watch him touch her, hold her, kneel between her legs. It was something I had never experienced before. I couldn’t place an emotion on what I was feeling.

“I love you,” she whispered, and we both stiffened at the same time. Her breathing hitched against my throat. Love?

Could you love someone who didn’t have emotions? Someone who analyzed love as if it were a mathematical problem? It wasn’t a question that needed answering. I knew the answer. I loved Nino, even if he could never love me back.

“Maybe I don’t have to simulate,” he said in that smooth voice. “Maybe I love you.”