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August 31 - September 4, 2023
“You are with me now, si? You are mine as I am yours. I told you once, I am the most honest man you will ever meet so do not ask questions you do not want the answers to.”
“You don’t understand this yet, but you do not need your armor all the time now. Not when you have me.” He lipped the edge of my jaw all the way up to my ear, where he spoke his next words on a purr. “I will be your sword.”
His gun raised between us, the butt pressed right to my heart, but I didn’t shy away from it. I was a man who only feared one thing, which I was learning was infinitely more dangerous than a man who feared nothing. I would not lose Elena. Not for anything. Not for my bloody kingdom and stacks of crisp bills. Not for my honor or my family, my Italian ideals. She was it. Mine. Forever.
“Elena,” he called when I turned away, waiting until I looked back to smile and say, “You’ve made me happier than I’ve ever been before. You had the courage to follow me here and I won’t ever forget that or stop striving to be worthy of it.”
This love was all teeth and claws, fight and passion. Light was easy to love. This love was dark. It was night as black as my eyes and as stormy as hers. It was seeing the shadows in each other’s souls and being drawn into their abyss. It was knowing we would never understand each other, not fully, and it was loving that challenge as much as the mystery. This was what happened when two villains fell in love.
“But I trust you. So, yes, Dante. Whatever it is, I trust you, and I believe you when you tell me you’re going to give me a dream one day. I haven’t had one of those in so long, and I’m happy to wait a little longer for it.”
“This beats for you. It bleeds for you. I am yours. Your sword, your champion, your lover, and your home. You don’t understand this yet, but I will never hurt you, Elena. I only ever hurt for you because fuck me, you’ve been through too much already. I will only ever hurt those who hurt you because I love you, and I won’t let anyone else ever get away with putting pain in your heart without consequences. Mi senti?”
“Are you wet for me, Lena?” he said against my damp lips. “If I moved my hand between your thighs, would you soak my fingers?”
“You want me to fuck you hard, my Lena?” he asked darkly, twisting my nipples tight between his knuckles until I hissed. “Because after tonight, I need to fuck you until you feel me on every inch of your skin.”
“Io sono con te,” he said so softly, lips barely moving, that for a second, I wondered if I imagined it. But no. I am with you, he’d said. A reminder. An affirmation that even with his brother and best friend, he still wanted me to come first.
“But to betray you would be betraying myself. I won’t do that to either of us.”
If Dante wanted to drag me into the bowels of hell, I’d go with him gladly. Love makes animals of us all, all instinct and heart with no capacity for reason.
Rocco's grin was smug as he squeezed my hand, patting it the way one would a puppy’s head. “You’re a good girl.” I couldn’t help the laughter that escaped. “Oh, Don Abruzzi, I promise you, I’m not.”
“I would do anything for you, Elena. Men have said that to women before, but they couldn’t know what it means, not really. I will kill and die for you, but I will also shop for you because I like you in the clothes I’ve bought, and I’ll cook for you because I love to watch you rediscover the joy of indulgence. I will make love to you when your heart is aching and lonely, echoing with the past, and I will fuck you when you can’t stand to be empty of me for one second longer. I am capo dei capi of the New York Camorra, but that is not the most important title I have anymore. In fact, it means
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