by Blaire Drake
I stared at her. I knew she was lying—I could see it in the way she kept looking between the island and me. I didn't know what she wanted with my gun, but she held her distrust the way you'd hold a newborn baby; carefully, softly, and very, very obviously.
And then it hit me.
She didn't know how she'd been found at home.
For all she knew, the person who notified her father was Isaiah, Darien, or... me.
“Fine.” I turned away and rubbed my forehead.
She had every reason to distrust me—and I had nothing to say back that could make it better. If getting her ass the hell out of California and letting her take me to a place only she knew exists wasn't enough, I was fresh outta fucking ideas, and quite honestly, I just wanted a goddamn beer.
Or to beat the shit outta someone. That would calm me down, too.
“I don't know what you're planning,” I said quietly, my back to her. Instinct startled inside me, and awareness buzzed across my skin. I knew exactly where my gun was, and so did she, because I knew without turning around and looking that it was in her hand and it was pointed at me. “But shooting me isn't going to make it happen any quicker. You shoot me, and you're on your own. As strong as you are, you aren't ready for that.”
“I wouldn't be alone. I could call Gaige.”
I laughed, and then I turned. I was right. She had it pointed at me, and to an untrained eye, her hold was steady. Finger over the trigger, ready to go. But my eye wasn't untrained. It was trained by the best. It was the sharpest eye you could have, and I could see what she was trying to hide.
The tiny tremble of her hand as she held onto the gun. How relaxed her finger was as it hovered over the trigger. She wasn't even touching it. Whatever craziness she had running through her head, she didn't mean it.
Clearly the craziness was to kill me... But she wouldn't do it. I knew her too well.
That didn't mean I didn't want to push her.
I did.
Fuck.
I wanted to push her so hard. See if she'd even come close to pulling the trigger.
I wanted to see how far she'd go before she'd break.
And I hated myself for it.
But not enough to stop.
Not enough to stop and let her calm down like she needed to. I wanted to push and shove and bend her in every possible direction until she snapped. Because when she snapped, there was a good chance I'd have her naked body against mine once again.
When she was standing in front of me the way she was, angry as fuck but hot as hell, there was nothing I wanted more than to rip her clothes off and fuck her until she screamed. When she was standing up to me like this, I wanted to make her submit to me. Bend to me. Break for me. I wanted to fight her until she succumbed to my will and gasped and begged for more the whole way through it.
I wanted to fuck her so hard and so thoroughly that she'd forget anyone other than me had ever pounded her tight pussy.
I wanted to fuck her so hard she'd never doubt again that she belonged to me—that she was mine.
Chapter Thirteen – Adriana
The silence was terrifyingly loud.
It was an oxymoron in every way. How could silence be loud? Silence was the absence of noise, yet it was deafening, because the sound it made couldn't be heard. The vibrations that traveled through the air danced like weightless feathers on a breeze.
I wished I knew what he was thinking.
Hell, I wished I knew what I was thinking.
I didn't know why I was holding this gun.
I had even less of an idea why I had it pointed at him.
Maybe I wanted to convince myself I could do this. That was I strong enough. That he was wrong. That I wouldn't be alone.
I had to believe that Darien was alive. Isaiah, I literally could not care less about that bastardo, and I knew Gaige would fly here in the eye of a tornado if he had to.
I wouldn't be alone without Hunter.
The next problem was that I didn't want to be without him, either.
That was the scariest thing.
“You think you can trust Gaige, Addy?” Hunter's silver eyes sliced into mine, but I held my ground. He cracked his knuckles in front of him, a darkness gliding over his face. “You really think you can trust anyone that isn't in this house with you?”
I lifted my chin. “You think you can tell me who to trust?”
“Not for a second.” He took several steps forward—I took them backward. His lips quirked, but the darkness, almost hinting at a warning, still played across his features. “But I can tell you who I think you should trust. The decisions you make in the end are entirely yours. Let me tell you one thing, though.” His arm shot out and he grabbed the barrel of the gun.
I let go of it when he yanked it away from my hand. “What? We're gonna switch places again?”
He clicked the safely on slowly, then ran his roughened fingertips down the side of the gun. The move looked calculated, and a shiver rattled across my skin as his glided so easily over the shiny edge of it. He glanced up, his eyes seemingly the exact same shade of metallic gray as the barrel, and reached to the side.
The gun clanged quietly as it touched the marble surface of the island. I hated the way it echoed through the room like a threat.
Fuck that stupid gun.
“I'm waiting.” I put my hands on my hips and started him down. “You're not really saying much, are you?”
He stepped closer to me. So close that if I inhaled too deeply my breasts would brush his chest, yet we weren't touching. But he was just there. Right there.
“If you think you can trust Gaige Pontarelli, then where is he right now?” Hunter's voice was low, but there was nothing quiet about the thoughts that ran through my head.
“I can trust him,” I protested, even as a niggle of doubt worked its way into the back of my mind.
“Then why didn't he demand to come with us, huh? Because while I wanted to wring his fucking neck for standing around like an iceberg waiting for a heatwave, he was concerned with why you needed an escape vehicle you own.” He dipped his head so his mouth hovered over my ear. “And by his own admission, he doesn't trust me around you. So, if he cares so much, Principessa, why the fuck isn't he here?”
Why isn't he?
I wanted to argue that point. I wanted to give excuse after excuse. I wanted to yell at Hunter for manipulating my thoughts, but he wasn't, not really. I'd wondered it myself as we drove here. Fleetingly, admittedly, but I'd wondered. Several times, actually.
Was it because of Hunter?
But then he was right there, too. Gaige didn't trust this man standing in front of me, yet he let me leave with him to go to a place he didn't know about. Hell, it's not like we were going for frozen fucking yogurt, was it?
It hit me in that moment, as silver eyes found mine.
I couldn't trust anyone.
Not Isaiah, not Darien, not Gaige. Not Hunter.
No matter what he said, I was alone. The only person I could trust was myself. Nobody had any allegiance to me. No one's loyalty was really required. I was the youngest, but I was also a woman. The only reason my mother every had power in this world was because she demanded it.
I was given it because she demanded it.
That wouldn't wash any longer. Not now, not in the situation we were in. I'd left Los Angeles, hell, California, and the only person I had was a boy I once loved who then wanted me dead.
And now...
I wished I could read minds. I wanted to know what was going on inside Hunter's head, what kind of storm was forming beneath those gorgeous gray eyes. I wanted to know every inch of his mind, because I wanted to know if I was safe. If I was honest with myself, I wanted to know if he wanted me safe. If he cared like he said he did.
Because I had no idea what was happening.
“I wish you'd killed me,” I whispered, stepping away from Hunter. “I wish you were brave enough to do it. It would have been easier.”
> I turned away from him and walked into the main living area. No footsteps followed me, so I flattened my hands on the seat that stretched the length of the ceiling-high bay window and leaned forward. I could see the lights of the Vegas strip in the distance. They glared out against the darkness of the Nevada desert that surrounded the city, looking almost fake with their brightness.
It was the only light I could see except for the gauzy haze of the almost set sun. Even then, against the strip, even the sunset looked awful.
Hunter's light footsteps vibrated across the wooden floor.
“Do you know why this community is dark? Why there's no-one else here?” I asked him without turning around. “My great-grandfather and grandfather built it. The basements used to all link together in an underground city. They brewed alcohol there during the prohibition and shipped it out. It worked, because while all the other families were being arrested for brewing on their property, the Romanos were never caught. After my great-grandfather died and the prohibitio n was over, Nonno sealed up the doors. The idea was that eventually the Romanos would relocate to Vegas because he loved to gamble, but it never happened.”
Hunter came and stood next to me, his hands on the seat next to mine. “Why not?”
I shrugged. “The Gardarellis took over, I guess. Nonno figured it was easier to keep a strong working relationship with them instead of overthrow them. Mamma thought the same. Who knows if Enzio kept that up?”
“He did,” he confirmed. “If only for his own selfish needs.”
I nodded slowly. “I figured as much. Mamma never told me much, but I had a feeling she kept a relationship with Gemma Gardarelli. They were close friends once.” I exhaled slowly. “Anyway... No one lives here. The Gardarellis are the only people to have access to the community.”
“Is that why it's your safe house?”
“No.” My eyes traced the Vegas skyline. “It's the safe house because it's the only part of the business that my mother never owned. Nonno put it in my name to protect it from my father. He never trusted him. Enzio has no idea this exists.”
“So why didn't you live here when you left?”
“Because then it wouldn't be safe anymore.” I slowly turned my face toward him. “I'm not even sure Darien knows about this place.”
“Then why tell me?”
“If he finds out, I can't trust you.” I looked back out of the window, even though he was looking at me. “It's that simple.”
“You're wrong not to trust me, Adriana,” he said quietly, eyes on me. “You have every reason not to, but you're wrong.”
“You keep saying it, yet everything has gone to shit ever since you showed up.” I pushed off of the window seat. “I've had to leave behind the closest man I had to family, my best friend, my house, my cat, my education... Why? Because of you, Hunter. You. Nobody else. Just you.”
Emotion balled in my stomach as that fact hit me hard. I've had to leave my life twice because of men I thought loved me once. My father, then him.
The saddest part is that Hunter hurts more.
I wished he didn't. I wanted to rewind.
“You didn't have to do it. You didn't have to do what he said. You knew that. But you did.”
“I had no choice. You know that.” He turned, hitting me with his gaze. “We've already done this, Adriana.”
“I don't care if we've had this conversation a thousand times. We'll have it a thousand times more because right now I'm so angry and it's all your fault.” I ran my fingers through my hair.
He reached for me.
I stepped back. “Don't you dare try and touch me right now, Carlo Rosso. Don't you fucking dare.”
“What do you want me to do?” He held his arms out at his sides. “You want me to waltz back to New York and take the fucking bullet, huh?”
“Yes! Because you should have taken it in the first place.” The words shot out of me, and I couldn't stop them. “You should have taken it instead of come and try. The Hunter I knew never would have walked out of that office alive.”
“Newsflash, Principessa, I'm not the Hunter you knew.”
“No shit! I didn't notice. The Hunter I knew had integrity and honesty and he would have done anything to keep me safe even if it meant his own life.” My heart hurt as I saw the pain flash in his eyes. “He never would have thought about hurting me for a second. Yet this Hunter? The one right in front of me? He's done nothing but hurt me.”
He stared at me. His fists clenched and relaxed at his sides, and he raised one shaky, clenched hand, before releasing the fist like he was dropping something. He stormed past me, grabbed the key from his pocket, and walked to the door.
The key went in. Lock clicked. Door slammed. Echoed... Loudly. Over and and over.
I covered my face with my hands. I just wanted him to feel my pain. I just wanted to get rid of the swirling potion of anger and helplessness I felt. Every time I felt like I was getting somewhere, something happened that put my whole plan back ten steps.
I was there again. I could feel it. The plan to retake my family was slipping further and further from my grasp, and the only person to blame for that was me. I was letting my emotion get the better of me. I wasn't thinking like a Romano.
I was thinking like the twenty-three year old girl who'd just found her best friend and soulmate.
I was thinking like the twenty-three year old girl who was confused and maybe a little in love with the man she hated just as much.
You're an idiot, Adriana. Such a fucking idiot.
The door slammed again.
I looked through my fingers as Hunter appeared, his hair disheveled as though he'd scrubbed at it with both hands.
“You wanna talk hurt, Addy?” His eyes blazed with a tsunami of emotion. They mingled together so thoroughly there was no way to tell them apart. “You wanna talk to me about fucking hurt? I loved you. We were only kids, but I loved you harder than I ever thought someone could. I remember looking at you and thinking that there was no one else that I could ever spend my life beside. You.” He pointed his finger at me, jabbing it for extra effect. “Just. Fucking. You. Until you left. A part of me fucking died. Do you understand that? You may as well have ripped out my heart and half of my soul and taken it with you, because you practically did. How the fuck do you think I ended up like this? As the fucking Romano family assassin? I had nothing to live for. It didn't matter if someone killed me. I didn't care.”
I took a deep breath.
“I've killed at over fifty people in the last few years. Well over. Those are the ones I remember. You wanna know hurt, Adriana? There it is. I carry so much blood on my hands that I can barely see my skin. Any shred of light I had disappeared when you did. Life meant nothing to me if you weren't in it.” He rubbed his hand down his face incredibly slowly. “I loved you. A part of me still does love you. You don't love someone as much as I loved you and have that go away. Gaige Pontarelli knows that because he loves you, too. And that's why I fucking hate him, because I know you love him back. You were everything to me. Were. Are. Whatever. Hate me as badly as you want. Hurt me. Go ahead. I don't care. If I don't have you, then I don't have fucking anything. I should know. I've had nothing for ten fucking years.”
My jaw trembled and I looked away from him.
I wanted to hurt him.
I had.
I hurt him before I'd even tried.
He thought I was in love with Gaige.
“You... You think I'm in love with Gaige?” I asked softly. My voice shook with every word.
He nodded sharply. “I know you are, Adriana. I see the way you look at him.”
“I don't love Gaige. Not like that.” I kept my eyes on his face as my words filled the air between us. “I know how he feels about me. Believe me. Everyone does, but even Gaige himself knows I don't feel the same. How could I ever love him when a crazy mad part of me still loves you?”
He met my eyes.
“How could Gaige ever be my whole life
when the person I loved more than anything was thousands of miles away from me? Don't you get it, Hunter? I'm so angry with you because I have ten years worth of heartbreak. I didn't know you thought I was dead. I just thought you didn't care. You broke my heart.” I link my hands behind my neck, letting my elbows rest on my chest. “You are the only person who's ever broken my heart and you didn't even know you did it.”
His shoulders heaved, his nostrils flaring as he took a deep breath. Once again, the silence between us screamed out with the heavy emotion that lingered in the words we'd spoken. They hung heavy in the air, their honesty startling.
I didn't know what I expected.
It definitely wasn't for him to come me.
He reached behind me and carefully, unlinked my fingers. His roughened hands took mine as he slowly lowered my arms to my sides. My heart beat quickly, clenching with sadness as his touch skated across my skin like a gentle gust of wind.
He was hesitant, a world away from the Hunter from the past several days. He was closer to the boy I knew once. The boy I fell in love with.
But people change, and so does love.
I didn't want a soft, gentle brush of his fingertips on my skin.
I wanted a bruising grasp on my hips.
I didn't want a delicate kiss.
I wanted my bottom lip bitten.
I didn't want my heart stolen.
I wanted my breath fucked out of me.
I didn't want the boy I fell for.
I wanted the man he was.
“Show me you,” I whispered. My hand reached up to his face, and my thumb glided along the rough stubble on his jaw. “I don't care if you single-handedly wiped out a whole country. I don't care if you've tortured or physically abused people. I want to see you, Carlo. Show me you.”
He grasped my hand. “I can't.”
“Yes, you can. What if this is the only chance we have? Because tomorrow, I'm going to New York. I don't care if I have to drive there. I'm going whether you like it or not. I'm going whether or not you come with me.”
Chapter Fourteen – Hunter
I shook with restraint.