Chapter 10 - Tending the Lion
The estate medic stitched Alessandro up in the master suite. It was a clean through-and-through graze, avoiding bone and artery, but the blood loss was significant. By the time the medic left, Alessandro was sitting on the edge of his massive bed, shirtless, a white bandage wrapped tightly around his muscled shoulder.
I stood near the door, arms crossed, the adrenaline crash leaving me shivering.
"Come here," he commanded softly.
I crossed the room and stood between his knees. He looked exhausted, his hair rumpled, the dangerous syndicate boss stripped down to a wounded man.
"You’re shaking," he noted.
"Someone just tried to kill us," I replied, my voice cracking. "And my daughter is down the hall. This is exactly what I was terrified of, Alessandro. This world."
He reached out with his good arm, wrapping it around my waist and pulling me flush against him. I didn't resist. I rested my hands on his bare chest, feeling the steady, powerful thud of his heart.
"Cole overplayed his hand," Alessandro said, his voice a low rumble against my stomach. "A daylight hit on a Moretti car? The Five Families will turn their backs on him by midnight. The Mayor will abandon him. He just signed his own death warrant."
"But he still has Daniel’s murder covered up," I whispered. "Without the proof, he just goes to jail for a botched hit. He doesn't go down for what he did to my husband."
Alessandro tilted his head up, looking into my eyes. The proximity was intoxicating. The heat rolling off his skin, the scent of gunpowder and rain.
"Rocco found the foreman," Alessandro revealed quietly. "The one who lied about the safety harness. We squeezed him. He confessed everything. He has the original manifests showing Cole ordered the cheap steel, and he has the recording of Cole ordering your husband to be pushed."
I stopped breathing. Three years of pain, of guilt, of agonizing grief, suddenly untangled.
"We have it?" I choked out, a sob tearing from my throat. "We actually have it?"
"We have it," Alessandro confirmed.
I broke down. The tears I had been holding back for three years spilled over. I collapsed against him, burying my face in the crook of his good shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably. Alessandro didn't hesitate. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight, burying his face in my hair.
"I've got you," he whispered fiercely into my ear. "I've got you, Maya. He will never hurt you again."
I pulled back slightly, looking down at this terrifying, beautiful man who had turned my world upside down. The air shifted. The comfort dissolved, replaced by a heavy, magnetic tension.
Alessandro’s gaze dropped to my lips. Slowly, deliberately, he cupped my cheek.
"Maya," he breathed, a question in his voice.
May you like
I didn't answer with words. I leaned down and pressed my lips to his.
The kiss was explosive. It wasn't gentle or tentative; it was raw, desperate, and possessive. Alessandro pulled me down onto the bed, his good hand tangling in my hair. I kissed him back with a fierce hunger, pouring all my grief, my fear, and this terrifying new love into him. The fake engagement shattered, leaving only the undeniable, burning truth between us.
