Page 218 of Vicious Intentions
I push the door open again, only to find Anna still perched on Matteo’s lap, his hand hidden beneath her dress and her gaze glazed over with desire.
“Great. I’m going to have to bleach my eyes now. Thanks for the visual, little sis.” I groan dramatically, covering my eyes with my palms. “This is going to haunt me forever.”
Anna’s cheeks flush crimson, but Matteo doesn’t so much as twitch to remove his hand.
Fucker.
“Let’s get something straight,” I say, dropping my hands back to my sides. “I don’t like you. Never have. Not since the day we met.”
“I understand,” Matteo replies calmly, finally pulling his hand from beneath my sister’s dress and settling it properly at her waist instead. “But every family has its struggles, do they not?”
“You’re not my family.” I scoff.
“Yes, he is.” Anna rises from Matteo’s lap and moves to stand in front of him, looking taller than she has in weeks. Stronger too. “Because he’s mine.”
“Anna…”
“No. I know what you’re going to say, but you need to hear me out first.” Anna takes a shaky breath before squaring her shoulders. “I love Matteo, and he loves me. If you hurt him… if you kill him… then you might as well use the same bullet on me, too. Because if Matteo dies here tonight…” Her voice cracks. “Then so will I.”
Shock and panic surge through me at the conviction behind her words.
“You’re not thinking straight,” I argue, shaking my head. “That’s what’s making you say these things.”
“No, Stella.” Anna walks toward me slowly, her blue eyes brighter than they’ve been in weeks. “I’m more lucid now than I’ve ever been. Don’t you see, sis? I love him. I’m in love with him, and he loves me just as fiercely.” A fresh batch of tears gathers in her eyes. “If you take him away from me, then you take away the best part of me. The very reason I have to keep living.”
“Anna, don’t,” Matteo says hoarsely behind her, devastation bleeding into every syllable. “Don’t say that.”
She turns toward him with a heartbreaking smile. “It’s true, my love. When I said I couldn’t survive another day without you, I meant it. I won’t live in a world you’re not in. I won’t. I refuse to.” Tears spill down her cheeks. “Please don’t ask me to live without you, Matteo. I just can’t do it. Not anymore.”
Then she turns away from her devastated husband and looks back at me.
“If you let him die here tonight, then I’ll follow him.”
She means it.
Holy fuck… she really means it.
“You’re bluffing,” I choke out, praying I’m wrong and that it’s not conviction I see in her blue eyes.
“I’m not,” she deadpans.
“Fine.” I throw my hands in the air. “You’re not bluffing. But this is blackmail, Anna. Emotional fucking blackmail.”
“Do you think I want to die, sister?” She lets out a halfhearted laugh. “Because I don’t. I want to live a long, beautiful life. With my husband, Stella. With my husband,” she repeats more forcefully. “If I can’t have that life with him, then I don’t want one at all. Might as well shoot me now and get over with it.”
“I won’t let that happen,” I snap immediately. “I’ll lock you in a room and keep guards on you twenty-four-seven before I let that happen.”
“Like you already have since bringing me back to Chicago?” Anna arches a brow, sadness still clinging to her smile. “Do it then. Maybe it won’t happen tonight or tomorrow…” Her gaze softens. “But the second you lower your guard is the second I’ll return to my husband.”
A chill crawls violently down my spine at the certainty in her voice.
Then Anna takes my hands into hers and gives them a gentle squeeze.
“Don’t look at me like that, Stella. You of all people know what it feels like to live half a life.”
Her words hit their mark instantly.
“Need I remind you how miserable you were when you and Kill were apart? You walked around like a ghost, sister. I bet there were days you prayed for someone to put you out of your misery too.”
