He turned to face me as he left my husband’s mangled body on the bed, standing upright so he towered over me. He reached out to score his thumb along my cheek, painting it red with Ramon's blood. He did the same to my other cheek then leaned down and caught hold of my chin. I realised I was shaking, relief making my knees nearly buckle.
"My warrior," he breathed, then he moved, circling me, keeping his hands off of my skin no matter how much I craved more of his touch. He growled when he saw the reddened belt marks on my back and as he returned to stand in front of me, his eyes were full of despair. "I broke my promise to you. I swore no one would ever hurt you again."
"You can't control life," I breathed and he shook his head in refusal of that, reaching up to hold my chin in the gentlest of grips. "There will always be times when it hurts."
"Then I promise you this," he growled, stepping closer until I was intoxicated by the scent of blood and man on him. "I will spend every day for as long as I have in this world making you smile and moan and sigh with pleasure. And when life hurts you, I'll be there to soothe the ache, to fight your demons, to follow you into the fires of hell and burn there to ensure you live to smile again. I promise that your sunrise will always come, no matter how dark the night gets."
I forgot to breathe as I leaned into him, placing my hand on his muscular chest and feeling the familiar thrum of his heartbeat beneath my palm. Then I pulled his sweater up a little and painted the words I love you on his skin and his eyelids half closed as he gazed at me, leaning towards me, slow and cautious.
"I'm not made of glass," I whispered, a smile pulling up the corners of my mouth. It seemed impossible to be smiling again, to be back in the arms of my mountain man with the world opening up before us to do whatever we wanted with.
Nicoli gripped my waist, growling as he tugged me close, but before I could fall into the kiss I so desperately craved, the door flew open and the rest of the Romeros poured into the room.
"Woah, sorry to interrupt this bloodfest of a kiss, but we need to fucking go," Frankie said as he took in Ramon’s butchered body. He was the least covered in blood of all of them and somehow still had his hair perfectly in place and his dress shirt tucked neatly into his pants.
"I dunno, I think it's Ramon-tic," Enzo said, laughing like a hyena as he looked to my dead husband.
I snorted a laugh and Nicoli chuckled darkly.
"Come on, let's get back to shore. Everyone onboard is either dead or twitching into the afterlife as we speak," Rocco said with a wild glint in his gaze.
Nicoli took my hand as they turned away and I yelped as I realised he'd taken the one cut open by the shard of glass. He released it instantly, looking down at the jagged slice in my palm, cursing before heading away to Ramon's closet. He ripped a shirt in two then moved to bind my hand before grabbing Ramon's suit jacket which he’d worn at the masked ball and holding it out for me to put on. It swamped me but I was grateful for it as we headed outside and the freezing air whipped around us.
The deck was wet with blood and my bare feet slipped in it a few times as we followed Nicoli's brothers to the speed boat hanging on a crane at the back of the yacht. Frankie got the controls working, lowering it into the water while Enzo and Rocco disappeared off down a stairwell together.
"That's not good," Nicoli muttered.
"What isn't?" I asked as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
"Those two heading off together," he said with a smirk.
We waited for them to return and I took in the carnage around us, my heart lighting up at everything the Romeros had done to reach me.
“Thank you,” I said to Frankie and he gave me a lopsided grin.
“You’re family, Winter. And a Romero will do anything for family,” he said intensely.
"Go go fucking go, power rangers!" Enzo bellowed as he and Rocco came tearing back up the