When Heroes Fall (Anti-Heroes in Love Duet #1)

by Giana Darling

To the strong women who have earned their armor by battling their entire lives for respect, admiration, and a love worthy of their greatness.

Nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first understood.”

“All monsters were men once,”

He shouldn’t have been so distinguishable in the dark, but then again, that was where monsters like him thrived, so perhaps it made sense.

It should have been obvious to all and sundry that Dante was a wolf.

“You say nothing for a woman with eloquent eyes,” he said then, jarring me from my introspection.

“Knowing my thoughts is a privilege I don’t share with strangers.”

“You can cage the man, Elena, but not the idea. No collection of walls is strong enough to hold me or mine.”

“You are very poetic about organized crime.”

“Who knows, lottatrice, maybe you’ll find more pleasure being in bed with the devil than you would have imagined.”

It was simple. I was the son of an evil man. There was a difference between a bad man and an evil one.

“You have five seconds to tell me what I want to hear, or I’ll kill you.” It wasn’t a threat. A threat implied probability, a chance either way. No, my words were a promise.

Italy had embraced me the way darkness consumed sight, swallowing me up intractably in her shadows. Tore became my father, his Soldati my brothers and cousins and uncles. To find out now that one of them had gone against a bond that was meant to mean more than blood set my soul on fucking fire.

I’d end them.

In the mafia, sometimes the only honor to be found was in revenge.

every woman must be a fighter, Elena, because history has tricked men into thinking women are less.”

“I’m wearing heels bigger than your dick, so if this is a pissing contest, I think it’s safe to say I win,” I said lightly, finally looking up to deliver Ethan a mega-watt smile I’d learned from Cosima.

But in my heart, I knew the truth. I was the child of a sinner, and sin was in my blood.

I was too proud to go unnoticed in my profession, too greedy to accept pennies, too envious to be content with what I had at any given time, and too aroused by power to let it slide through my fingers.

I wanted to be the kind of a woman who was called a hero, but I’d spent most of my life being called a villain. If enough people treat you like a villain, you become one.

There was nowhere I felt safer than in the arms of my mother.

Because the truth was, I was intrigued by Dante in a way I’d never been with another soul. He was such a contradiction in terms, a puzzle that my lawyer’s mind couldn’t help but want to piece together.

We were speaking loudly to be heard over the ambient noise of the party around us, and I used it as an excuse to lash forward and grab her hand before she could protest, tugging her closer so she stumbled in those high heels and right against my body. It was a move I was coming to deeply enjoy.

At first, it was difficult to like Elena Lombardi. She was constructed like a work of modern art, all sharp angles, rigid lines, and dominant sensibilities; beautiful and intriguing but difficult to understand. It was only upon further reflection and intense study that the impact of her beauty moved through you, as complicated a feeling as she was a woman.

“Only old people dance the Saltarello,” she said. “Then again, you’re basically an old man, aren’t you?”

I scowled at her, the hand on her hip moving to the small of her back so I could press her fully to the quilted muscles beneath my suit. “I assure you, I’m still incredibly virile.”

“For an old man,...

“I’m thirty-five, Elena. I’m hard...

Alone. God, I was so fucking tired of being alone.

“It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as a respect for right.”

“New York City is the most beautiful at night.”

“Then again, most things are,”

“I’m your lawyer, Dante. Nothing more.”

“You were more than that from the moment I met you,”

“For once in your life, be brave,” he demanded. “And maybe I’ll give you what you’re too terrified to ask me for.”

“I want to leave.”

“No,” he purred darkly. “No, you want me to fuck you senseless without asking for your permission. If I don’t ask, you don’t have...

Come to the underworld with me, it seemed to say. Come and play with me in the shadows where you belong.

“Okay, alright, fuck! Chill.”

“Chill?” Frankie asked, then looked at me as if he was affronted. “I look anything but chill to you, Lena?”

“As a cucumber,” I agreed, because what el...

I didn’t have anything more in me to give. I’d felt so much all my life I’d resolved to feel nothing at all. For years, I’d kept my heart black, my lips red, and my personality ice cold.

Some of them ended up like Elena, fractured and glued back together through sheer resolve and tenacity of spirit.

Elena Lombardi had so much heart. She was overfull with emotion, and she had no idea how to hide that vulnerability from people unless it was behind a mask of icy indifference and cool disdain. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t trust others with that tender, swollen organ so much as she didn’t trust herself to use it.

I would show Elena Lombardi what it was like to live and love freely.

And I’d do it by loving her.

I’m sorry it’s been one in a long line of circumstances that have made you feel unloved.”

“You are the most frustrating man on the planet,” I muttered.

“You are the most infuriating woman,”

“Are you flirting with me?”