Bound by Vengeance (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles, #5)

by Cora Reilly

I doubted they’d be using them against me. They were my friends after all but I didn’t want to risk it.

girl… these two faces bitches are NOT your friends!!

Cosimo led me back to my friends and a look passed between Anastasia and him.

the friend and arranged fiancé are fucking aren’t they??????? ugggg good these two stuck up people can have each other!

I was her punishment, a fate worse than death, a way to deliver the ultimate punishment to her father who had displeased them so greatly.

Tears welled in my eyes and I didn’t stop them, let them squeeze past my lids and trail down my cheeks. It felt good, a relief after pretending to be strong. I wasn’t, not really, but maybe I could learn. I could be strong for my family, what was left of it. If not for me, at least for them,

“I never sent them into fights. I bought them when they were getting too old to win.” His voice was gentler when he talked about his dogs, even though it still held the hard edge of a growl due to his injured vocal cords.

I’d never found the sight calming or even inspiring. For me it had always looked too vast, too uncertain. Something I couldn’t control or comprehend, not even begin to. Cara, she, too, was like the night sky. As beautiful, there was no doubt about it.

“There are other things that make people strong, not just pain. It’s horrible what happened to you. Someone should have protected you. All the people who stood by while you were tortured, they should rot in hell.” “You shouldn’t care,” Growl murmured. “I know.” I didn’t say more.

I was like a moth drawn to her light. The only light that had ever penetrated the darkness that was me and my life.

And Anastasia, how could she do this? I’d always known that Anastasia could be vicious and selfish, but we’d been friends since we could walk.

girl how are you surprised!!!??? she’s a snake!

I was a monster. Would always be. But I could appreciate something precious, something as valuable as Cara, and I would never destroy it. I wasn’t good, there was nothing gray about me. I was all black but I was trying to be good to her. Never as good as she deserved but as good as I was capable of. It wasn’t enough, I realized it every day. I would never be enough.

Cara’s suffering had led to the most precious thing in my life, and still I couldn’t regret it. I was selfish. I was glad I’d been given the chance to have someone like her.

“But I’m not as valuable as that piece around your wrist.” “You are worth more than anything I’ve ever owned or will ever own.”

“Maybe that’s enough. If things can’t get better, than at least I can pretend they will.”

I didn’t know what was going on in her. Perhaps she didn’t hate me as much as I suspected. Sometimes she looked as if she didn’t hated being around me that much.

my brother in christ IF YOUD TALK TO HER INSTEAD OF HITTING AND QUITTING YOU MIGHT KNOW

Something had changed. And the reason for it was Cara. In some way, Falcone had set everything in motion. By giving Cara to me, he’d signed his own death warrant, because I wanted to help Cara get revenge.

his love for cara is what sets him free from falcone? 🥹 omg that’s so fucking precious

Perhaps she’d stop hating me if I did. I couldn’t hope for more than that. I knew nobody could ever truly come to care for me, and I’d accepted that.

you deserved to be loved too!!!!!!

But I want to help you be happy. I want you to get out of this miserable city and life. I never wanted that for me, but you, for you I want everything.”

he wants to help her be happy even though he knows it’ll mean he loses her😭

“Yes, she is. She’s worth more than you and I. She’ll be worth losing everything for.”

“Maybe you should see someone, a shrink. I heard about this shit. Stockholm Syndrome.”

hey now🤨 let us love our dark anti hero mafia men without judgment mmkay?

I loved his good parts and I loved his ugly parts, loved him more than I should.

“Now I’m fucking scared to lose all that, to lose you. I never knew I needed you but now I can’t imagine being without you. I…I love you, Cara.”

“Ryan?” “That’s my real name.”