More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“They are my brothers, my flesh and blood. I’d die before I ever hurt them.”
“That wasn’t so bad,” I drawled. “But if you want to bring me to my knees, you’ll have to use your mouth.” She huffed. “I’ll figure out another way to bring you to your knees, Remo.” If anyone could, then it would be her.
We were both caught in an undercurrent, dragging us down into its unforgiving depth, unable to swim to the surface on our own.
“Oh, Angel, trust me when I say you’ll remember me for the rest of your existence.”
“When I saw you in that dress, I knew I needed to be the one to rip your innocence from you. I knew I needed to be the one to make you bleed. Who knew you’d make me bleed in return?”
“Nothing tastes sweeter than your lips, even when they’re spewing lies, Angel.”
“You are mine, Angel. Body and soul,” he rasped. And God help me, he spoke the truth.
I turned my head slightly, meeting Remo’s cold gaze. “I’m not the only one who lost something,” I whispered. “You gave me part of your cruel black heart, Remo, and one day you will realize it.”
“I never thought you’d give me this look on the day I released you— as if giving you freedom is the worst betrayal of all. You shouldn’t want someone to cage you in. You should long for freedom.”
If there were a Hell, I’d walk straight down into it to make a deal with the Devil so he’d give me the chance to kill the man just once. Maybe twice.
“Nothing better than bonding over shared torture,”
“I still can’t stand your fucking face, Remo,” he said with a smirk. “But for this I might hesitate a millisecond before cutting your throat once we’re back to being enemies.” “That millisecond will be the moment I’ll cut your head off, Matteo,” I said with a twisted smile of my own.
“We aren’t blood but we are brothers, Fabiano. I’ll walk through fire for you.”
Remo Falcone was indeed the cruelest man I knew, and I had to be the coldest bitch on this planet, because even still my stupid heart thudded faster when I thought of him.
The man who’d robbed me of my innocence, of my future … of my heart. Body and soul. I own you. Oh, Remo, if you knew what you gave away …
And the moment the words left my mouth, I knew it with certainty. This child would be born, and whoever tried to take it from me would see how strong I was.
mid-May I gave birth to the most beautiful creations I could imagine and knew with absolute certainty that everything I’d wished for them would never become reality.
Nevio and Greta were Remo.
“You are the one from all of us who deserves death the least, Adamo.”
“It’s us against the world,”
“How could I marry him when I was pregnant with your children?”
face. Complete and utter shock, and more than that … wonder. “When you gave me up, I carried your babies in me, Remo. You gave us up.” “I thought you’d return to me,” he rasped. “You pushed me away.” “I set you free.” “I wasn’t free,” I hissed. How could I ever be free when his name was etched into my heart? “You were pregnant,”
“Oh, Angel, have they sent you to deliver the ultimate blow? Tell Dante he wins.”
“How could I get rid of the most beautiful creations I can imagine? Greta and Nevio are pure perfection, Remo.”
“Have you come to tell me before my death that I’ll never see them? Angel, I must say you are crueler than I could ever be.”
Our children are beautiful.” My voice became fiercer with every word. “They are meant to hold their heads high, not be ashamed for who they are. They aren’t meant to bow, aren’t meant to live in the shadows. They are meant to rule. They are Falcones. They belong in Las Vegas where their names carry power and respect. They are meant to rule at the side of the cruelest, bravest man I know. Their father.”
My lips brushed his lightly. “How strong are you, Remo Falcone?”
“Strong enough to take you and our children home where you all belong, Angel.”
“Swear not to kill my family. Not my brother, not my father, not my uncle. Swear it on our children, Remo.”
“Where my children go, I will go,” I said. “Don’t you think I’ve suffered enough for all of your sins? Don’t turn me into another pawn in your chess game. Set me free.”
“He’ll love and protect them,” Kiara murmured. Remo would protect them. Was he capable of love? I wasn’t sure.
“She’s here to protect her children because the Outfit didn’t accept them. Not because of you.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t care why she’s here. All that matters is that she is. I told you before, I don’t have a fucking heart that can be broken, or have you forgotten?” Nino touched my shoulder lightly. “I know you better than anyone else, Remo. Or have you forgotten?”
I’d been certain that I’d break any woman, but Serafina was strong. She’d proven me wrong, had twisted my game until I felt like the loser, like the one who’d been checkmated.
“Each of us would lay our life down for
these kids,” Nino said. “You brought them here. They are Falcones. They are Remo’s kids. He burned for us. We will burn for them.”
“I saved the father of my children so they would be safe.” “My brothers would have protected them even if your family had killed me.”
“Nobody will protect them like you will. You’ll go through fire for them.”
This was no longer a battle of wills, a twisted game of chess. These stakes were too high.
“Are you running from me, Angel?” He backed me into the wall, his palms on either side of me. “I’ve learned that doesn’t work. You always catch me,” I said, leaning back because with him so close, I was having trouble focusing.
“You aren’t a coward. You saved me. You went against your family to protect our children. You gave up everything for them … and for me.”
“Regret over the past is wasted energy. We can’t change the past, no matter how much we want to do it.”
“Hardly anything worth having can be gained without loss, pain, and sacrifice.”
“Have you let anyone touch what’s mine?”
He knew the answer, could see it on my face. “No,” he said quietly. “All of you is only mine.”
“You set me free, remember? I belong to myself.”
“You will never surrender to my will because you think I want you to. Was it too painful?”
wanted to surrender to you, to give myself to you like that. You already own every other part of me.”
“I love death. I love spilling blood and causing pain. I love to see terror in
people’s eyes, and that won’t ever change,”
“You are the cruelest man I know. You took everything from me.”
