Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
Nora’s eyes shone, and her fingers threaded through mine. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
“I’ll kill him,” I vowed. “Once we get out of here, I’ll kill Giuseppe. He won’t be able to hurt you ever again.”
She didn’t defend her father. Instead, her expression hardened with her own righteous anger. “He sold me to Dante. He tried to sell Giana. I don’t know what he’ll do to her if I’m not there to protect her. She won’t be safe until he’s dead.”
So, my wife had no qualms about me murdering her dad. Good.
“I’ll get us out of here, and I’ll protect Giana too,” I swore. Somehow, I would find a way to save us all: Nora, my friends, and myself.
Failure wasn’t an option. Dante would not break me.
She didn’t reply to my fierce declaration. Instead, she reached through the bars and caressed my cheek, gently tracing the dried blood at my temple with her thumb.
“Does this hurt?” she asked, eyes soft on my face.
I leaned into her tender touch. “No.”
She started to withdraw again so she could retrieve the cloth to clean away the blood. But I was hungry for more contact, my skin tingling beneath her fingertips.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward me, my other hand tangling in her hair to drag her closer. The metal bars were cold on my cheeks, contrasting with the heat that flashed through me at the way she softened to my harsh touch. Her lips met mine, desperate and frenzied. My teeth sank into her pillowy lip, tugging her impossibly closer and urging her to open for me. Her head tipped back, and she welcomed me with hungry lashes of her tongue.
The lust that’d always simmered between us ignited, burning through reason and thought. The self-loathing and fear that’d tormented me since Dante had stolen my wife away from me was consumed by fiery passion. All that existed was her pliant mouth beneath mine, her silken hair around my fist, and her soft, desperate gasps as I stole her breath.
When I had Nora in my hands and under my control, I didn’t have room in my mind for shame. Power surged through my system, coiling my muscles tight with the need to roughly ravage her. My cock stiffened, aching to drive into her wet heat and claim her the way I had when I’d killed our enemies and fucked her in the dance studio. Possessiveness clawed at my insides, the need to dominate and mark my wife tormenting me.
The bars grew icy against my body, bitterly cold reminders of all that separated me from her. She wasn’t confined as I was, but Dante had effectively caged us both.
I kissed her more deeply, desperate to take everything I could. The short reprieve from reality had been a mercy, and I didn’t want it to slip away.
I was so intent on claiming her that I didn’t hear him coming.
Nora’s sharp cry was muffled against my tongue before she was sharply yanked away from me. A low, feral growl echoed through the basement, and my stomach dropped.
What had I done? I shouldn’t have allowed Nora to treat my wounds, much less kiss her. The monster’s green eyes blazed, and his nostrils flared like an enraged beast as he dragged her back from the bars, wrapping her in a possessive embrace.
“Don’t hurt her!” I bellowed, a touch of fear for her roughening my demand. I slammed my body against the bars, as though I could break them and save her from him.
“What I do with my wife is none of your concern,” Dante seethed.
She squirmed in his arms. “Let me go, you brute!”
His arms clamped her tighter, trapping her against him. She was so small in his ferocious hold, his bigger body practically enfolding hers.
“But no,” he told me, something savage twisting his features into a cruel mask. “Your friends will be the ones to suffer for this.”
Ice encased my bones, and I clutched at the bars with a white-knuckled grip.
Nora stopped struggling and stiffened. “I’m the one who came down here. I’m the one who kissed him. Don’t take it out on his friends.”
Dante took a breath, and his entire demeanor shifted. The jealous rage melted away, and he brushed a kiss over her cheek. “You’d prefer to take their punishment, pet?”
“No!” I snarled.
Nora’s eyes tightened with fear, but her chin tipped with defiance. “You didn’t forbid me to come down here,” she challenged. “You said I could go anywhere I wanted in the house.”
He gripped her hips and spun her so that she was facing him. His mouth firmed to a grim line as he fixed her with a forbidding stare.
“You’re a smart woman, Nora. You knew I wouldn’t want you down here. You knew I wouldn’t want you to kiss him. You’re mine.” The last was little more than a growl, and his fingers sank into her hips.