Page 149 of The Mafia King's Reign
I look away completely because he can’t be serious.
“Why? Because I wanted to rescue my father. I thought,”
“You thought what?” He whips around, and I see fear. “You thought you could rescue your father from who? From these guys? From another family? From me? You walked into a fucking warehouse alone?”
“You wouldn’t tell me anything!” The words rip out of me. “You keep me in a beautiful cage, you touch me like you love me, you look at me like I’m the only thing that matters, and then you won’t tell me if my father is alive or dead!”
“Because I’m trying to protect you!”
“By lying to me?”
“By keeping you out of a war you don’t understand!”
The silence that follows is deafening.
“I may not understand your war or your world, but I understand love.” I turn back to look at him. “You do these things. You hold me like you did, you look at me like that, and you make me feel like you love me, but…”
“I do love you.”
I blink. “No, you don’t.”
“Valentina…”
“How can you love me and plan to kill my father? Do you know how much just the thought of that hurts me? People don’t intentionally hurt the people they love, Salvatore.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I am not going to kill your father.”
“What?”
He exhales through his nose. "I'm not going to kill your father."
“You’re not?”
“No.” He says it quietly. “I declared your father untouchable under my protection.”
The words don’t make sense at first. They bounce off the walls of my chest and I have to let them in slowly, one at a time.
“When? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to. The other night, in the garden, but…”
He stops. Looks down. Whatever he was about to say, he swallowed it.
He stands and steps back. “Get some rest. I need to go. Don’t be surprised if I increase your security. After tonight, they’ll retaliate.”
He walks toward the door.
“Salvatore…” I call softly.
He’s already halfway to the door, but he pauses just for a second. Just enough for me to feel it. That invisible thread between us tightening.
There’s so much I should say. So much I want to say.
None of it comes out.
“Thank you,” I whisper instead, my voice fragile in the quiet room. “For saving me… for protecting my father.”
He doesn’t turn around fully, but I see the slight tilt of his head. Feel the weight of his attention like a touch.
