Ruining Dahlia (Mafia Wars, #3)

by C.R. Jane

It was like I’d been in purgatory all this time, and now that I’d found her, I’d been brought into the light.

Gabriel didn’t pout. He was perpetually happy, like a golden retriever. Unlike a golden retriever, he could change into a monster when needed, but even when doing his work, he was usually so fucking happy that it made me sick.

“Dahlia,” I murmured, and she winced because she could hear the ache in my voice. “If I have to, I’ll love you enough for the both of us.”

“I would sooner die than hurt you,” he confessed softly, like I was a priest absolving him of his sins. “But if you ever let another man touch you again, there isn’t a place they could hide in this world. I will hunt them down to the ends of the earth, and every scream they give me will belong to you.”

Lucian kissed me like he never wanted to stop. Like he couldn’t get enough. And I was right there with him. That kiss destroyed me. That kiss remade me. That kiss…may have been the end of me.

"If you ever looked at me once with what I know is in you, I would be your slave."

I was beginning to understand that most of the people on this planet were just trying to do the best they could. And maybe most of the time it was impossible for that to be the best thing for you too. But it didn’t mean that they didn’t care.

We never realize how heavy the secrets are that we keep, until we let them go.

“Haven’t you figured it out by now, Lucian? Our girl’s not a principessa. She’s a mother-fucking queen,”