Born in Blood Collection Volume 1 - Cora Reilly Page 0,403

in its holster.

My throat constricted as I walked toward him. “This means war.”

“We can come up with a story. I’ll pretend I’ve lost my mind. I’ve been lusting for you forever but you were never interested in me and today I snapped, and barged into your bedroom and attacked your husband, who tried to defend himself with the letter opener, which I then used to stab him. We can make it look like I tried to rape you so nobody suspects you were involved. Nobody would doubt it the way you look.” He stroked my cheek. “The bastard died too quickly for how he treated you.”

I couldn’t believe he was suggesting something like that. It was bad enough that I’d dragged him into this at all. I wouldn’t make him look like a disgusting rapist to save my own hide. “I won’t pretend you tried to rape me. You are the only man I want to be with.”

Romero wrapped me in a tight embrace. His smell, his warmth, the way my body perfectly fit against his; this felt right. My eyes found Benito on the ground. I’d tried to be his wife and failed, but I couldn’t be sad about it. I’d never wanted this, and he’d known it from the start. He would have forced himself on me, maybe that didn’t deserve a death sentence but he lived in a world where death was almost always the punishment. His eyes were still open and it seemed they were staring straight through me. The longer I stared at him, the worse their look seemed to get. I shivered violently.

Romero pushed me gently away. “Don’t look at him.” He walked toward the body and turned Benito so he was facing the ground, and no longer me. And just like that I felt better. He was still dead, but at least he wasn’t looking at me with that reproachful expression anymore.

I stumbled toward the bed and sank down. My legs were too shaky to hold me. Romero stood for a moment before he joined me. He brushed his thumb over my cheek, catching a few stray tears. I hadn’t even noticed I’d started crying again. “He’s dead now. He can’t hurt you ever again,” he said roughly. “Nobody will ever hurt you again. I won’t allow it.”

“If you confess to murdering Benito, you’ll be killed and then you won’t be around to protect me from anything.” Maybe it was a low move to play the guilt card but I couldn’t let Romero take the blame.

Romero’s gaze settled on Benito and the puddle of blood slowly spreading around him, turning the beige carpet into a sea of red. “We can’t cover this up. Even if we got him out of the house without anyone noticing, we could never get the blood out of the carpet. People would suspect something. Someone will have to take the blame for this.”

I buried my face in my hands, desperation clawing through my insides. “I should have let him have me. I should have endured it like so many other women before me. But I had to act like a selfish bitch.”

“No,” Romero said sharply, wedging a finger below my chin and tilting my face up. “I’m glad you stabbed him. I’m glad he’s dead. I’m glad he didn’t get what he doesn’t deserve. You are way too good and beautiful for this bastard.”

I pulled him down to me and kissed Romero. I would have deepened the kiss, despite everything, would have lost myself in Romero as I always did, but he was more reasonable than I and pulled away. “I have to call Luca. As his soldier, I need to confess to him at least, and then it’s up to him to decide what happens next.”

“And what if he decides to kill you so he can keep the peace with Chicago?” I asked quietly. “You know how angry he was when he found out about us. Even Aria couldn’t convince him to risk war for me.”

For a long time Romero merely looked at me, then he picked up his phone and lifted it to his ear. “Then I’ll accept his judgment.”

“No,” I said suddenly. I shoved his phone away. “Let me call Aria. She can reason with Luca. He listens to her.”

Romero smiled sadly. “This is something even Aria can’t do anything about. Luca is Capo and if he needs to make decisions that protect the Famiglia, he won’t let Aria mess with his mind. You said