Page 92 of Bound in Vengeance
I bolt upright, my heart hammering against my ribs as my combat instincts instantly flare. Through the shadows, I see her shaking violently, her chest heaving as she scrambles backward, desperately trying to leave the bed as if something is chasing her. She is completely shaken, utterly disoriented, and I can see the sudden flash of deep shame in her eyes for being this frightened, for breaking down in front of me.
“Hey!” Grabbing her firmly by her upper arms, I force her to lock her panicked gaze onto mine. "Sienna. Look at me," I command, my voice low, rough, and absolute. "Look at my eyes. You’re in our bedroom. You’re at the estate. Don’t run from me."
She gasps, her breath coming in ragged, shallow hiccups, her body still trying to pull away from the memory of the nightmare.
"Breathe," I order sharply, pressing one of her trembling hands flat against my bare chest, right over the steady, heavy thrum of my heart. "In and out. Match me. Right now."
I force my own breathing to slow down, making it deep and pronounced until she has no choice but to follow the rhythm. Her fingers dig into my skin, her chest finally rising and falling in sync with mine.
"Listen to me very carefully," I say, leaning down until my forehead almost touches hers, grounding her with my sheer weight. "No one in this room can hurt you. No one is getting past that door. You are safe, and I am right fucking here."
Strangely, the blunt, commanding edge of my voice works. The panic slowly drains from her posture, the rigid terror in her muscles melting away as my strength becomes her shield. She stops shaking, her forehead dropping heavily against my uninjured shoulder as she lets out a long, shuddering breath.
"What's wrong?" I ask quietly, my hand moving to track slow, grounding circles on her back. "Is it what happened at the warehouse? The shooting?"
A hollow, self-deprecating laugh escapes her lips, a sound so entirely devoid of humor it cuts right through me. "What happened at the warehouse is child's play compared to what happened to me in my father's house."
I completely still. My hand stops its movement on her back, my muscles locking as a cold, dangerous focus takes over.
Sienna doesn't look at me yet, her voice melting into a raw whisper. "Every nightmare I have... it’s always linked to my father. He used to lock me in dark rooms. Sometimes he'd starve me just to teach me a lesson."
She finally looks up at me, and even in the heavy shadows of the bedroom, I can see the moonlight catching the tears pooling in her eyes. The vulnerability on her face is agonizing. "How can a father hate his own child like that, Alessandro?"
A fierce, protective rage roars to life in my chest, but I swallow it down because she doesn't need my anger right now. She needs an anchor. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her tightly against my chest, needing her to feel the absolute solidity of my body.
"I grew up here in Manhattan with my brother," I say, my voice low and scraping through the quiet room. "But when I was still barely a kid, my father packed me up and sent me off to Italy."
Sienna shifts slightly in my arms, her tear-stained cheek resting against my chest as she listens, entirely focused on my words.
"He claimed I was a difficult child. Wild. Uncontrollable," I continue, the old, bitter truth tasting like ash in my mouth. "He said he didn't want to deal with me. But the truth was much simpler—he just didn't want me. So I was left in Italy, on my own, forced to survive by myself in a brutal world, while my father and brother stayed here in the States enjoying the empire. I didn’t see my father for years. I didn't even see him before he died. I only came back to take the seat."
I cup her chin, gently forcing her to look up so she can see the absolute certainty in my eyes. "See, Sienna? Sometimes family treats you like absolute shit. But that’s okay. That is a reflection on them, on their own failures and malice. It is not on you. Understand me? You have me now. I’ll take care of you. Massimo will never be able to touch you or hurt you, ever again."
A single, soul-crushing tear slips out of her eye, tracking down her cheek. Before I can wipe it away, she flings her arms around my neck, clinging to me with a desperate, fierce intensity.
"Alessandro," she chokes out, her voice thick with emotion but ringing with an unbreakable promise. "You have me too. Always. I’m your family now."
Her words absolutely wreck me.
For a man who was cast aside, who grew up believing he was meant to be entirely alone in the dark, hearing her claim me as her family tears down every single wall I have ever built. It cuts straight through the armor of the Don, leaving me completelyexposed to the terrifying, beautiful realization that I am no longer fighting this war by myself.
I know I’m just meant to comfort her, to be the unyielding rock she needs right now, but I can’t help myself. I lean down and press my lips to hers. It’s meant to be a simple kiss. Just a tender brush of reassurance to feel her warmth and assure myself that she’s really here, whole and safe in my arms.
But the moment our lips touch, it completely shifts.
Sienna gasps into my mouth, her fingers tangling tightly into the hair at the back of my head, and she kisses me back with a sudden, desperate intensity. Any remaining boundaries between us melt away into the dark.
We kiss deeply, our tongues running against each other in a fierce, breathless rhythm, while our hands frantically claw at any piece of clothing we can find.
She’s wearing a soft silk pajama set, and I slowly work the material down her shoulders, peeling it off of her piece by piece, without ever breaking the contact of our lips. My palms slide over her soft curves, worshiping the feeling of her hot, bare skin beneath my touch.
Just as I get her completely naked, her own hands slide down the waistband of my sweatpants, shoving them down my legs without pulling away from the heat of our kiss for even a single second.
When her fingers wrap directly around my cock, the sheer, sudden friction makes my vision go completely white. I almost lose it and come right there. A ragged, animalistic groan rips from my throat into her mouth, and I have to forcefully pull away before I completely disgrace myself.
I try to shift, to take control back like I always do, but Sienna presses her hands firmly against my shoulders, pushing me back into the sheets. "Alessandro, let me."
My protective instincts instantly flare, and I start to refuse. She is the one who just woke up screaming from a nightmare. She is the one who needs comforting, not me. I'm supposed to be her shield, not the one doing the taking.
