Page 91 of Mafia Obsession

A strange, hollow quiet opens in my chest. No screaming. No relief. Just…space.

Ares stands up from the bed. “David worked for a man named Elias Black. A ringleader of contract killers.”

“Killers?”I say on a clipped breath. “In Westchester?”

“You knew?”

“I didn’t think David was a killer.” I shake my head, though I really didn’t think too much about anything David did. “I figured he was a low-level bag man collecting debts or…” Clearing my throat, I add, “He didn’t care about my career, and I stopped caring about his the minute he turned violent.”

“Because you planned to leave him.”

“Yes.”

“You no longer have to worry about your abusive, despicable husband.” He kisses me. “But you still have to be careful.”

“Me?” I push to stand. “Why? I’m nobody.”

Ares pins me back to the bed with his muscular, glowing, naked body. “Do not ever say something like that again. You are not nobody. Not to me.”

“I meant?—”

“And you are certainly notnobodyto the Bratva. From my intel, I believe they were the ones who really want you. They run Chicago. Perhaps it has something to do with your father.”

I shudder. Now Ihaveto get to Chicago and get my sister. I’m ready to sit up and tell Ares about her, but he leans against me with his full weight.

“There’s only one way to make sure no one ever touchesyou or takes you for me.” His hand curls around mine.

Oh shit…

“How?” His words make my heart race, and I’m certain I won’t like what he’s going to suggest.

“You will marry me.”

Chapter 34

Lourdes

“Marry you?”I gape at him.

A glowing dawn bleeds into the darkness. The storm has moved offshore, and everything grows quiet. Ares’s weight is still pinning me to the mattress, his gray eyes searching mine.

“I didn’t just come back here to be with you.” He kisses me on the forehead. “I came back to get you. I’m needed in New York. I want to be wheels-up at noon. Please pack.”

He lifts off the bed, and after putting his pants back on, he leaves the room.

Shocked and stunned, I just sit there. Naked. Still sore from how he took me. Claimed me. Not just because I’m no longer married. More like a rival adversary of his wants me. Does that make me some kind of prize to stroke his ego?

Angry, I stand up to get dressed and go find him.

With the house so quiet, I hear him in the study. He’s at his desk signing papers. Contracts and orders that I assume have to do with the damaged shelf.

Fingers knotting together in front of me, I say, “Can we talk?”

He straightens at the sound of my voice. “We can talk on the plane.”

“Ares, there are things I need to say.”

“You can always tell me what you want. What you need. I would rather have that than silence.” The intensity in his gaze steals the next breath from my lungs. “I want to give you everything,” he continues, lowering his voice. “But you must accept that there are rules about security. You didn’t grow up in this world, Lourdes. You don’t see what I see.”