Twisted Cravings (The Camorra Chronicles, #6)

by Cora Reilly

“Adamo,” I whispered eventually. He dropped the knife, his eyes darting to me. It took a heartbeat before they really saw me. “He’s yours now,” he said in a raspy voice. I nodded and grasped the gun. Pulling the trigger was easy, and strangely enough felt almost like an act of mercy.

Dinara shook her head with a small smile. She pressed a kiss to my lips. It tasted of blood and tears, and even that didn’t disgust me. “Poet and killer. You never cease to surprise me, Adamo.” Her eyes shone with resolve. “I think I’m falling for you.” Surprise washed through me. “What happened to not yet?” Dinara shook her head. “Why should I be scared?” There were probably a hundred reasons why our emotions should scare us, but I didn’t give a damn about a single one of them. I cradled her neck, pulling her closer.

“I’ll go every step of the way with you. I’ll give you the justice you deserve, even if it takes my last breath.”

“That’s the plan, yes,” I said slowly. “But I thought you could join me.” Surprise crossed Dinara’s face. “You want me to spend the holidays with your family?”

“I have to do it,” Dinara whispered. “I have to kill her.” I kissed her temple. Whatever it took to help Dinara, I’d do it.

“You can’t save me, Dad. No one can. I need to claw myself out of the abyss my mother threw me into.” “Don’t speak that name.” “Killing those men felt good, so good. Their pain took away some of my own.” Dad cupped my cheeks, searching my eyes as if he hoped to find the little daughter that he’d dressed in princess dresses. But that girl was dead, died many painful deaths to be reborn as something vile and vengeful.

“Adamo,” Dad repeated, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “What’s really between you and this Falcone boy?” “He’s not a boy, Dad.” Dad just kept staring into my eyes. “Is it serious?” “What would you do if I said yes?” “You’re going to be torn between two worlds.” “It’s the same world, just different sides.” “Exactly. You know I can’t allow you to date the enemy. Nobody will understand it.” “They don’t have to, as long as you do.”

“Please, Dinara. You won’t feel better if you kill me. You’ll be guilty.” “Guilty?” I rasped. “As guilty as you feel for what you did to me?” I raised the gun, pointed it straight at her head. Her frantic eyes searched the room for an opportunity to escape, to save herself. My finger on the trigger shook. I only had to pull the trigger to end this but I was unable to move. I wasn’t sure what was holding me back. I didn’t love the woman before me, but until this point, a tiny, silly part had hoped everything would turn out to be a big misunderstanding, that there was an explanation that would prove my mother’s innocence.

New tears pressed against my eyeballs. “Just like you needed money last time but back then you couldn’t ask me for it, so you sold me to old men who molested me.” I began to shake, anger and utter despair battling inside of me. I ripped the knife out of its holster and whirled around. With a hoarse cry, I smashed the blade into her chest. Her eyes widened and her lips parted in a silent cry. Then she crumpled to the ground, taking me with her because I was still clutching the knife. I landed on my knees beside her. I released the knife, gripped her shoulders and began to shake her. “How could you do this to me? How? How?” I screamed. My tears blinded my vision and my throat was raw from screaming. “How? Why didn’t you love me enough to protect me? Why?” I kept shaking her and screaming but she couldn’t answer me, and no matter what she’d have said it would have never given me the answer I wished for.

I released her and curled up, my face buried in my hands, which were sticky with her blood. I sobbed and shuddered. “Why didn’t you love me?” Adamo knelt down beside me and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me against him. “She was a monster and never deserved to be your mother. You are lovable and I love you.” I froze against him, sucking in a shaky breath. I lifted my face. I must have looked a mess with blood, tears, and snot on my face but Adamo’s expression was full of love. “You love me?” “Yes, even if I’m breaking our keeping it casual pact. I don’t care. I won’t hide my emotions. I fucking love you and you better deal with it.” I let out a strangled laugh. “I love you, too.” I kissed Adamo but when I pulled back his lips were coated with blood. My eyes sought the corpse of my mother right beside us. Her blood was slowly spreading under her body and her lifeless eyes stared at the ceiling.

AWWWWW ADAMOOOOOOOOO

I sighed. “It’s time for me to leave.” Adamo pressed his lips against mine and kissed me passionately. When he pulled back and released me, Dima’s expression had darkened even more. “Did you tell him goodbye?” Dima asked when we got into the car together. “It wasn’t a goodbye. It was a see-you-later.” Dima sent me an exasperated look. “That’s not what your father wants.” “It’s what I want,” I said sharply.

Dad smiled joylessly. “It doesn’t matter. The fact is that you can’t see Adamo Falcone again.” Anger rushed through my veins. “You’re asking me to stop seeing Adamo?” “I’m not asking you. You won’t see him again and you won’t set foot on Camorra territory.” “You can’t order me around like that. It’s my life. I always respect you but you need to respect me as well.” Dad’s face became hard. “You can stop seeing him, or I’ll find a way to move him out of the picture in some other way. It’s up to you, but the end result will be the same. Adamo Falcone won’t be a part of your life.” My mouth fell open. “Are you threatening to kill him?” Dad perched on the edge of his desk, his business expression replacing the look he usually gave me. “I’ll do what’s necessary to protect all of us.” His voice didn’t leave room for an argument. For him the matter was settled and my opinion was irrelevant. This side of him wasn’t new to me, but usually I wasn’t on the receiving end of it. I glared. “You aren’t protecting me by keeping me away from Adamo! I thought you wanted to see me happy but you’re obviously only concerned about business.” “If open war breaks out in Chicago, everyone’s going to be at risk. You, Galina, the boys, my men. I have responsibility that goes beyond your infatuation with a boy you hardly know.”

Adamo saved me. He gave me what I needed to forget the past. He brings me happiness in the present and he makes me excited for the future. Isn’t that more than a silly infatuation?” For the longest time, I’d tried to pretend I wasn’t in love with Adamo, had feared any kind of commitment, but now that I was past the point of denial, it made me all the more furious to have others question feelings I’d battled for months. “I’m not someone who allows emotions easily. You know me, Dad. If I tell you that I want to be with Adamo, then that means something.”

“Dinara,” I said imploringly, taking her hand. “Tell me what’s going on.” Her eyes locked on mine then she pulled her hand away. “I didn’t return for the race tonight. I won’t race again. Racing was always only a means to an end, and so were you.” Her voice wavered when she said the latter. “Liar,” I growled, stepping closer again. I wouldn’t allow her to put distance between us, not physically and not with words either. We’d gone through too much. We were both haunted by inner demons—demons only we could understand. Maybe we’d been born on different sides but fate had thrown us together because we were meant to be, because no one would ever see the world the way we did. “If I was only a means to an end, you wouldn’t be here right now. You would have left without an explanation or ditched me over the phone. But you are here, Dinara. Why?” She held my gaze, trying to appear resolute and emotionless, but I’d seen every emotion in those green eyes and knew her too well to believe her charade. “I simply thought you deserved to find out in person after everything you did for me. I’m not ungrateful, even if I used you for my purposes.” I smirked. “You need to do better to convince me.”

Dinara glared. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not here to convince you, Adamo. I’m here to inform you about my decision. This is the last time you’ll see me. I won’t stay in camp, nor will we ever meet again. I belong in Chicago with my people.” “Your people? The people that want you to dress up as a fake version of yourself? The people who only know one side of you, but not every aspect of yourself, not the dark parts only I got to see.” Dinara reached into her pocket and took out a smoke. Her fingers were unsteady when she lit it up. “I thought you wanted to stop?” She shrugged. “It wouldn’t work.” “The not-smoking or us?” She took a deep drag and glanced at her boots. “Both.” She peered back up at me. “Listen, Adamo. This is a courtesy. I won’t explain my reasons. What we had was fun as long as it lasted but it was never meant to be forever. You have to accept my decision. But even if you don’t, it won’t change a thing. Dima and I’ll fly back to Chicago today and I’ll return to my old life, and so should you.” “We aren’t the same people from our old lives. We changed.” “I should go now. This is pointless,” Dinara clipped and tossed her cigarette to the ground then stomped it out with her boots.

Despite her words, she didn’t move a muscle, as if she was rooted to the ground. I took a step closer. “You can trust me with anything, Dinara. Didn’t I prove that over and over again in the last few months? Tell me the fucking truth. Is this because your father doesn’t want you to be with me?” I asked in a low voice. Dinara looked away, obviously fighting to keep her expression neutral. “We always knew that our relationship had an expiration date. We’re from two different worlds.”

Gosh poor Adamo just wanted some love in his life for once and its bein taken away AGAIN

“I like your kind of baggage and your messed-up brain. I want you, and no one else.” I lowered my head and kissed her fiercely and for a moment she kissed me back with the same passion, only fueled with despair, then she ripped away. “It’s over, Adamo. Accept it. Move on. It’s what I’ll do.” She stumbled toward the car.

“If Grigory lays a hand on you, he’ll pay the consequences, Adamo. You are my brother and I’ll rip his Russian ass apart if he touches you.” This was Remo’s way of showing he cared for me. I knew that now,

Gotta love Remo💖💖

“Have you lost your mind?” I asked, horrified. Dad’s expression made it clear that he’d hoped I wouldn’t find out about Adamo’s arrival. Disposing of him would be more difficult with me here. Adamo shrugged. “I lost my heart,” he said wryly.

Adamo took a step closer to my father. I didn’t detect a hint of fear in his expression, there was only determination. “I waded through blood for your daughter, and I’ll do it again, even if it’s my own, because Dinara is worth shedding every last drop of my blood for. I won’t give her up, no matter what you do or what you say. And if it takes torture and death to prove my feelings for your daughter, then that’s what I’m willing to do. I love her and no force on this earth can shake that, so if you don’t want me to be with your daughter, if you want me to give her up, then you’ll have to end my life today.”

father could like his daughter’s lover. “Dad,” I said firmly as I headed toward Adamo. One of Dad’s men tried to stop me, but I sent him a glare and walked past him. I took Adamo’s hand and faced my father with him as a unit. “I love Adamo, and I, too, am willing to wade through blood for him. I won’t let you kill him. If you want to protect me, if you want me to find happiness and be in the light, then you’ll allow Adamo and me to be together. I can’t live without him. I won’t.”

Before I could voice my thoughts, Adamo said, “I think we both know that I’d never find a home in Chicago and I have absolutely no intention to leave my family or the Camorra. Both are part of my identity, of my very being. Leaving the Camorra would be like leaving myself behind and changing who I am. Your daughter loves the man I am today, not an alternate version of me.” Adamo’s dark eyes slanted to me and I gave him a nod. I didn’t want him to change. I wanted the man I’d met.

“Can you imagine living in a motorhome with me, or is such a living arrangement not fit for a Bratva princess?” Adamo asked in a low voice, pulling me even closer and cupping my ass. I cocked an eyebrow. “I prefer freedom and being with you to a palace. What about you, Camorra prince?” Adamo grinned. “I’ve been living the nomad life in a tent and car for a couple of years now. I don’t need much.”

“You are my family,” I murmured. Dinara pressed herself closer to my body and kissed my throat. “I love you.”

“Thanks, Remo. I know I often didn’t show you my gratefulness for what you’ve done, but I won’t ever forget what you did to give Dinara justice. I’ll try to be less of a dickhead toward you in the future.” “That’s a start,” Remo said wryly.

I hung up and dialed Savio’s cellphone. He picked up after the tenth ring. “This better be good,” he muttered. “You’re interrupting my marital duties.” I could hear Gemma hissing something unintelligible and something that sounded like a slap. Savio chuckled.

TMI TMI TMI!!!

“We love each other,” I admitted, even if I felt exposed admitting this to Savio. He and I didn’t usually share our deepest darkest emotions. “Loving the enemy seems to run in the family.”

“It’s okay for you to bring her along. Gemma and I won’t judge Dinara before we meet her. We’ll give her a chance.” “Thanks, Savio,” I said honestly. “I don’t have time to keep chatting with you. I need to satisfy my wife.” He hung up and I shook my head with a smile.

Idk why thats cringing me out when i read a book on him

She noticed my curious gaze and leaned against the kitchen counter. “Adamo always seemed so restless when he came to visit, especially during the Christmas holidays, but today for the first time since I’ve known him, he looked as if he exuded calm. He’s arrived. You are his anchor and no matter where you two live or if you keep traveling with the racing camp, he’s found his home in you. That’s wonderful. We all need something that gives us roots so we can grow for the future, and you are each other’s roots.”

Kiara's TedTalks>>>>>>

Dinara let out a disbelieving laugh but didn’t comment. I formed the wrapper into a makeshift ring, then took her hand again. “Dinara Mikhailov, will you marry me?” I held up the wrapper ring, which glittered in the headlights, making it look more sturdy than it was.

“You are out of your mind!” Dinara exclaimed, but her eyes were soft and she had trouble fighting her smile. I lifted the ring a bit higher. “I’m afraid I need an answer.” She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again, she said, “Yes.” I pushed the wrapper ring on her finger, then staggered to my feet and wrapped my arms around her. I kissed her fiercely as she pressed close to me. “For a second I worried you’d say no.”

“I’ll kick your ass Falcone,” she called over the roar of the engines. I answered by letting my car howl. “Not if I kick your ass first, Mrs. Falcone.”

Why is this so cute 🤭🤭

“Yeah.” I stroked Roman’s unruly head. We’d chosen his name because it worked in Russia and Italy, so we didn’t offend either of our families. “But the rules are the rules.”

AWWWWWW THEY HAVE A SON AHGGGGGGGHHHHHHH