Faked A Dark Mafia Romance - Vanessa Waltz Page 0,48
crumbled a wall inside me.
“I belong to you, not him.”
A flicker of heat flashed through his ice.
I flew into his chest and grabbed his neck, the pressure on my lungs excruciating. I threaded my fingers through his hair. I buried my burning face in his shoulder and kissed him. I yanked at his dress shirt, desperate to prove my feelings. I’d have to give him a reason not to go—a piece of my pride to soothe his. I tugged until he yielded an inch. I pressed my mouth against his, sucking his lower lip.
His breathing quickened, but he didn’t reciprocate. Usually, Vinn didn’t hesitate to take control of me. He’d crush me in his embrace and rip off my clothes if I let him, but suddenly he refused to yield.
“Vinn, I only went there to help you. I’ve had a crush on you since I was four.”
“That’s touching.”
“It’s the truth!”
A dark smile carved into his cheek as he straightened, his imperial frame towering over mine. “You are such a liar.”
My spark of hope vanished.
“I’m not lying.”
“I caught you trying to leave.”
His palm lifted to my face and stroked me. He was like marble pressing into me, the coolness sinking into my chin. Normally, his touch warmed me like the sun, but cold shivered down my spine instead of excitement. I was wet for him because his attention was on me, but my desire was toxic.
Ill-fated.
I clenched my jaw to kill the shaking. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“Shut the hell up.”
“Why would I lie?”
He lowered, hissing into my ear. “Because you’re in love with another man.”
Shit.
It was my fault he believed that in the first place. I’d only provoked him out of a selfish need for vengeance. My stupid lie had gone way too far.
He cupped my face and leaned in, brushing his lips across mine. His whisper breezed my mouth.
“Stay. Here.”
“Vinny—”
His fingers tightened, catching my breath before it escaped. “Don’t call me that ever again.”
The pulsing knot inside me demanded me to argue.
How many times had I visited him in the hospital and rehab? I cared about him. How did he not know that in his marrow?
I had to prove it.
Witnessing him in this state twisted my guts. I’d jabbed a knife between his ribs, and he’d bleed to death if he went outside. If I let him go, there was a good chance he’d do something reckless. He would die like Daniel, who was ruled by his emotions. Daniel did whatever he felt like, and that attitude had gotten him killed.
A horrific image of Vinn in a coffin burned me like acid. Desperation clawed my throat as I dug into his back. I sank my nails into him, determined to stop him.
“Vinn, let’s talk.” I shoved myself in between him and the door. “Vinn, wait.”
“Out of the way.”
“Let me prove it!”
“What?”
I detached from the wall, sliding my arms around his waist. I tried to squeeze ten years’ worth of affection into his stiffening body.
It was a one-sided hug, but Vinn’s smoldering gaze didn’t make me feel unwanted. Something of the boy he was flashed through his ebony pools. I anchored my hands on his shoulders. My lips pressed into his cold cheek.
“You want to convince me?” he said gruffly.
“Yes.”
Vinn considered me, eyes slanting. “Kneel.”
“W-what?”
“Get on the fucking floor and kneel.”
His tone froze me like the ocean in winter.
“Vinny.”
“I’m not your Vinny.”
Eighteen
Liana
I kneeled.
Heat stole into my face as my legs struck the marble. I lowered my gaze, unable to stomach the cruel twist of his mouth. I didn’t want to degrade myself, but the alternative was letting him go.
I’d cried all the tears when my brother called a year ago with the horrible news that Vinn had been shot. I couldn’t swallow my sobbing fast enough to breathe. His shooting had detonated me. If he walked out the door, the same thing might happen.
He couldn’t leave.
His jacket and keys hit the tile. I was the third inanimate object he’d discarded. A dull ache pulsed in my skull as he curled a finger around my chin, the gesture unbearable in its tenderness.
“Good girl,” he praised. “Now beg me to fuck you.”
I looked up from the floor pinching my flesh, his slacks, over the bulge that jolted me with hope.
“W-what?”
“Beg me to fuck you.”
I fingered my throat, the burn from my cheeks spreading like a head-to-toe bath. Fantasizing about sex with Vinn wasn’t the same as committing to the act.
“You want me? Right now?”
He nodded, his expression marked with loathing.
I’d pictured