When She Falls (The Fallen, #3)

by Gabrielle Sands

“Is that how you talk around your father?” “You’re not my father.” “No, but I’ve been called daddy on occasion.”

“You should thank God that your loyalty will never require you to sell your body to another. That Damiano will never ask you to let a stranger take you home and spend years pumping you full of his children.”

“Should have thought of that before he laid a finger on you.”

“I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

🥹🥹🥹

If she was engaged to me, I wouldn’t squander a single second. She’d be glued to my side. If she wanted to eat, I’d feed her. If she wanted to sit, it would be on my lap. If she wanted to shower, I’d wash every inch of that perfect skin and then dirty her up again.

palms against the glass beside my head. “I don’t want to be your first, Peaches. I want to be your last. And I don’t want your fucking virginity. I just want you.”

“I’m taking Gemma to the hospital. You better not be here when we come back. I don’t give a fuck that this is your house. I don’t give a fuck that she’s your daughter. No one touches her. You hear me? No one. If I’m a dead man, I’m dragging you down to the depths of hell with me.”

I can’t stand seeing her like this. I wish there were a way for me to absorb all her pain so that I could free her from the burden.

I’m not a man of honor. I don’t give a fuck that you’re engaged. I want you, and I’m taking you. It’s not a question. It’s a fucking statement.

“You came to me last night. You wanted to be with me. Well, here’s our chance. And I’m taking it for both of us, because if I walk away from you right now, I know I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

“If you knew how much pleasure I get from spending money on you, you’d realize you’re doing me a favor by getting that necklace.”

know what it cost me. And I’d pay that same damn price again and again if it means I can keep you safe.” “You

“Gemma, none of it matters. Until I met you, I didn’t even realize how fucking hollow my life has been. For the past decade, I’ve lived to serve Damiano, and I did it willingly. It gave me purpose and meaning. But it’s never made me truly happy.”

I know that I chose you. Despite everything stacked against us, I chose you. I love you. I spent a decade forgetting how to love someone, and yet a few weeks with you is all it took for me to learn it all again.” His laugh is humorless. “You are the air I breathe. You are the ground that keeps me standing. Without you, I’m nothing, Gemma.”

The reason why I never got seriously involved with anyone after Sara was because I stopped believing in love. I didn’t think it was something meant for me. I couldn’t put myself out there after having my heart ripped out. I couldn’t be vulnerable again.