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Loving him wasn’t the end of everything. It’s funny they always make it seem that way in the books and movies. Loving him was just the beginning.
And thirdly, most importantly, I was indisputably and irretrievably in love with a mafia Don, a man who could and most certainly had killed people with his big, bare hands. A man by the name of Dante Salvatore. A man who had changed my entire world.
He’d taken that bullet for me. Put his entire life at risk for me. That such a powerful man would gamble his kingdom and livelihood for little old me made me feel nothing short of a queen.
“I want to be the one to make you lose control. I want to watch you bend and break beneath my hands so I can glue you back together with pleasure.”
“There has never been another man for you,” he said fiercely, eyes flashing up to mine and filled with primal possession. “I am the only one to touch you this way, to bring you this pleasure. Forget the past, Elena, because I am the only man in your future.”
Dante Salvatore, the educated, sophisticated Duke’s son, wasn’t before me now. This was the mafioso. The Don. The Devil of NYC.
“Partner? Mmm, I don’t think so. I like the sound of… my lover, my woman, innamorata mia, amora mia.” My love, my heart.
“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.”
“In New York, you were my champion, hmm? My lawyer and my advocate striving to keep me safe. Well, Napoli is my courtroom. Put down your weapons, relax your shields. For once in your life, you do not have to fight all your own battles. I will fight for you. Here and now, I will be your champion.
“Do not ruin it by insulting my people, mmm? I belong with my man as much as he belongs with me. No one will take him from me, not God or the devil himself. Not even you, the mighty capo dei capi of Napoli.”
“I’ve told you, Elena, whatever you and I are made of, it is the same. No one exists for me but you. No one makes you come alive but me.”
“You have nothing to fear in me, capisci? You have had enough to fear in your life and I will break apart the entire universe if it dares to harm you again. Do you understand me?”
“A sailor does not leave the sea because it storms, and it does not begrudge the ocean her moods. I have no intention of giving up on you, Elena, because there is no part of you I do not find worthy and fascinating.
“I realized that I need to stop being a passive participant in my own life. I think I’ve been the victim too long. I want to be the kind of woman who fights for what she wants. And I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want you.”
Dante was home, so no matter what, I would never be homeless. I’d have his shelter, his protection, and his love to guide me through the worst of life and the worst of myself.
“It is a privilege, Elena, to know you intimately. To know what makes you hurt and what makes you blush. To know what your demons are so I can slay them for you when you don’t have the strength or watch you overcome your own nightmares because I love to watch my fighter conquer everything in her path. It is an honor to know you, and I won’t ever take that for granted.”
“You aren’t my lawyer anymore, Elena. Tu sei la mia regina.” You are my queen.
And I loved him then even more fiercely than I had the moment before that. Because that was who Dante was. He was a dangerous man with the biggest heart I’d ever known, and he never hesitated in offering his love, guidance, or protection to those in need.
“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.”
No matter the adversity, I could always count on one constant. Elena Lombardi was a weapon. And she was mine.
“No one will take you from me without a fight,” she whispered vehemently.
“Anyone who tries to come between our love will suffer then die,” I swore to her,
Maybe you haven’t heard of me. I’ve been known by a lot of different names in my life, Umberto, but in Napoli, they called me ‘principe ereditario dell'inferno.’” The Crown Prince of Hell.
There was no shame in being Dante Salvatore, ruthless mafioso, the Devil of NYC, the Mafia Lord, or the Crown Prince of Hell.
Dante had dragged me into the dark depths of his anarchic life and shown me the pleasure to be found in the shadows, the exhilaration of living on the knife’s edge of danger, and the headiness of power unfettered by morality or laws.
“They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but so is goodness,” I told her, folding her into my arms, her slightness fitted perfectly to my broad chest, her head tucked beneath my chin. “By my definition, there is no one braver or worthier of love and admiration than you.”
“I’m willing to take a life-altering risk for a life-altering reward,” she told me steadily, her flames cooling to ice-cold surety. “I don’t know what love means to you, but to me, it means loving someone no matter what baggage they come with for as long as they’ll let you love them and as hard as you possibly can. The only risk I fear is one where I lose you. You fell in love with a fighter, Dante. Let me fight with you.”
How many more times would I make her prostrate herself until she proved to me she wanted this? Wanted me. Not just the Duke’s second son with the money and prestige. Not just the mafia Don with the edgy dangerous sex appeal. Me. Edward Dante Davenport Salvatore.
“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.”
I’d never been a lucky man, but standing there with Elena in my arms in the only place that had ever really felt like home even with enemies all around us, I felt like a fucking god.
“You need me to kill this man to prove to you that you are worthy of love. You are worthy of passion. You are worthy of respect. In all my life of hardships, Elena Lombardi, you are the truest thing that has ever been worth fighting for. You deserve the loyalty and love you give to everyone but yourself, and now I know, this figlio di cane made you feel like a beggar when you are a motherfucking queen.”
“All your life, men have hurt you. I didn’t understand until now. Seamus, Christopher, Daniel. None of them showed you how goddamn tragically beautiful you are, Elena. But I will. I’ll prove it to you every single day until I die, mi senti?” Do you hear me?
He grabbed my hand and pressed it hard over his madly beating heart. “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?” Do you hear me?
He was my drug. Even after taking a hit, I craved more with an intensity that was next to madness.
“Dante might call himself Salvatore now, but he’s still a Davenport. When they see something they want, they don’t only take it, they make it theirs irrevocably in every way they know how.”
Cosima was always in love Alexander. And now I know how sciocco I was because the way I love you makes the possibility of ever having loved someone else or ever loving anyone else again impossible.” He wrenched the hand he still possessed onto his chest over his heart. “You own me, Elena. You and only you.”
I would love Dante to the fullest extent of my soul because he had taught me how to love again by healing my heart with his pure kindness and loyalty.
How can you compare the beauty of a single bulb to the brilliance of light from the sun?”
If I wanted to stay alive and keep her out of jail, Elena Lombardi would have to become my wife.
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.
The little priest stepped forward, opened his Bible, and in twenty minutes of compact Italian vows, I went from Elena Lombardi, the coldhearted, lonely lawyer, to Elena Salvatore, Donna and wife to Don Edward Dante Salvatore.
“I’m going to kill you because I want to live more than you do. Because I’ll do anything it takes to stay alive and keep my woman at my side.
Fighting for love is an endless battle and it’s also the most epic war you’ll ever wage.
“Some people have hobbies, art, music, playing sport. Mine is learning you.”
You told me I was your hero, but I hope you know, Lena, you are my hero too.”
She was my ice queen and my fiery donna. My very own enigma I’d spend the rest of my life unraveling.
Dennis was just fighting for his career. I was fighting for my capo and our life together. There was no other option but to win.
He didn’t know that I would go to hell and back for Dante Salvatore.
“Nothing will come between us again. I will kill anyone who tries.” “I know,” she said simply, tracing her fingers over the edge of my jaw. “I will too.”
“Yeah, I’m a monster, Dennis. Yet you fucked with me and mine. You knew who I was, what I was, and you still thought you could get away with trying to ruin my life? Ruin Elena’s life?” I clucked my tongue against my teeth. “No, no one gets away with that.”
