Page 145 of Brutal Revenge

He’s pale and shaky, and his eyes are wide and unfocused.

Anyone would swear he just crawled out of a war zone.

Thirst for a bloodbath thickens my veins when he finds my eyes across the lemon grove. Before he speaks, I know what he’s going to say will kill me.

“They got her.”

The world wobbles as fury rages through me.

“Who?” I demand. It can’t be Azra. She’s inside, cleaning up for lunch. She’s safe. No one would touch her here. Not if they want to live.

“Azra.”

I jostle my head, clearing out the gunk of bone and skin splinters. I must have heard him wrong. Surely.

“Who?” I ask again.

Everything inside me goes silent.

Then it explodes.

“Azra,” he repeats. “They just took her. In town.”

The comforting heaviness in my chest switches entirely to violence, and my vision narrows as my hands curl into fists.

Someone took my wife.

Someone touched what’s mine.

And now, that someone is going to die.

Chapter 47

Azra

An hour earlier…

Ileave the orchard with my heart feeling heavier than it ever has. It’s a comforting fullness from the weight of truth settling into place.

One conversation with Matteo, and suddenly, so much about him makes sense.

His mother loved him deeply, and his brothers and father love him now, but he has never truly had anything that’s solely his. Not space, time, or identity. Not even his grief was his own.

He’s always had to share and fight for attention… until now.

There’s something I can give him that is entirely his.

Me.

I’m already his—every stubborn part of me—but he needs more than words to prove it. He needs a symbol of our union, and I can’t get that alone, which is what brings me to Dante’s office.

I knock softly before entering. Camille colors quietly in the corner, her little legs swinging as she hums to herself, and Lucia and Dante stand near the desk, speaking in low voices.

“I just hate the thought of him in foster care,” Lucia says, worry tightening her voice. “He should be here with us.”

Dante cups her cheek before wiping away a rogue tear. “We’re close,angelo. I promise it won’t be much longer before Gabriele is with us, where he belongs.”

Their relationship is almost as new as mine and Matteo’s, but the love between them glows. It spreads happiness through me and tells me what I stubbornly tried to deny.