Page 39 of Damiano De Luca (The Five Syndicates)
Prom, where I had shared my first kiss with him.
My eyes shifted to his lips.
His eyes narrowed, and he took a step closer. “Ren.” His voice was deep and guttural and touched me in places he didn’t belong.
I couldn’t understand why he still tried to talk to me. I was nothing but walls and a shady past. His efforts to talk to me defied logic, and I was sick of not understanding his motivations.
“Why are you talking to me, Damsel?” I shook my head. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just want to know why you’re giving me your time. Our history isn’t pretty.”
“Why do you always focus on the bad stuff?”
“Look around, Damsel!” I nodded my head to the pictures of Vincent at the front of the ballroom. There were dozens more on easels throughout the room. “Bad stuff happens! People in this world don’t gather together because good things happen. We’re here because the bad things matter.”
“You had my back in the showdown between me, Ariana, and Bastian. You had my back in the roundtable negotiations. You have always had my back.”
If he kept going, his logic would break my shield, and I’d be vulnerable again, which could not happen. “I can’t talk to you about this. I have to mingle.”
He shook his head. “No, you don’t. No one wants to talk to me, and you’re out of the mafia game. No one expects you to make rounds of idle chit-chat. You showed your face. That’s all they want.”
“So, what are you suggesting?”
“Talk to me, Princess.”
“Knight,” I corrected automatically. “I’m not the princess. I’m the knight. And we are talking.”
“No, talk to me. Spend the night with me.”
“That’s presumptuous.”
“Not like that, and you know it. Spend the night talking to me.”
I looked around the ballroom, full of people I didn’t know or care about. Then, I looked at him. The only man I’d ever loved.
Damn him for chipping away at m
y walls.
“I can’t.”
“You can, but you won’t.”
“I don’t know why you’re pushing this!”
“Over the past three days, you stood up for me in front of a law enforcement agent and later in a room full of mafia bosses.” He leaned forward, and I could feel his breath on my ear as he spoke into it. It fanned across my skin. “You’re caring, brave, and badass. And by the end of this trip, you’ll be mine.”
I moved quickly when he backed up, startled by the way I’d leaned into his touch. I was seconds from leaving when I noticed he had my phone in his palm. He must have swiped it when he had leaned into me. Déjà vu hit me hard.
“Phone.” I held out my palm. “My phone, please.”
He typed something into my phone, and I racked my brain for anything damning he could find on it and came up empty. “You really should password protect this. You’re a Vitali, for Christ’s sake.”
“I’m a schoolteacher, not a Vitali.”
“As long as your last name is Vitali, you’re a Vitali.”
“I’m not having this conversation with you. Give me my phone back.”
“Done.” He slid my phone back into my palm. Our fingers touched, and he let his hand linger until I yanked mine back. A smirk lined his lips, and he gave me a mocking two-fingered salute. “See you tonight, Princess.”
