a handful of sand, then watched as it trailed between my fingers. “I want to know if you're going to kill me. Not if you want to.”
He sighed heavily and came and sat next to me. His steel-gray eyes cut through me, and he opened his mouth before closing it again and looking away.
That didn't answer my question, either.
I got the feeling that it wasn't a good idea to push him for an answer. I could have. I could have stood and demanded he tell me. I could have ordered him and really... he had to do it. He knew the mafia blood flowed through my body, not my father's.
But I wouldn't. I would never use that against him, even if he was currently the biggest danger to my life.
I was weak where Carlo 'Hunter' Rosso was concerned.
I wished I could be strong. I wished I could blank him out and be as cold as he sometimes seemed to be, but I just couldn't. Not with him.
“No.” The word fell from his lips so quietly I almost didn't hear it. “No, Adriana. I don't think I can kill you.”
“Then what?” I asked just as quietly, turning to face him. I finally let my knees go and stretched my legs in front of me. “What will you do when he finds out I'm alive?”
“I guess I'd take my fate.” He looked at me now, and his eyes were stripped bare. It was so dark now that I couldn't see his face, but his eyes? I saw those just fine.
“Seems futile. He'll just send another for me.”
He lifted his hand toward me, and I held my breath, but he dropped it. No. I grabbed his hand and raised it to where it was before he dropped it, and his lips twitched. I let his fingers go.
Hunter reached forward and cupped my cheek. His thumb brushed across my skin. “You won't die my hand, Principessa. Lo prometto.”
I promise.
I covered his hand with my own and glanced away briefly, then took a deep breath. “Then will you protect me?”
“Con la mia vita,” he replied, unblinking. With my life.
I moved onto my knees, facing him. “My father can't stay where he is.”
“What do you mean?” Hunter's hand fell from my face, taking mine with him, but he grasped my fingers tightly.
“The family is mine, Hunter. You know it as well as I do.” I tucked my hair behind my ear as I held his gaze. “And I want it.”
“You want to overthrow your father?”
I nodded. Yes. That was what I wanted to do. I'd been dreaming of it for too long. This was the best chance I'd probably get. “I promised myself when we left that one day he'd pay for his sins. He'd pay for selling me and making me leave my home.” For making me leave you. “I don't know if I'll ever get another chance.” And I refuse to let you die for me.
“Do you realize that's nearly impossible?” His thumb brushed back and forth across my hand. “You'll probably die before you get anywhere near him. Since you left... He owns most of the Hamptons, Adriana. He's expanded the businesses beyond anything you could imagine, and he has a hand in just about every single crime you've heard of. Probably some you haven't. With Alexandria not there, he's taken the family to a whole other level.”
“Not a good one, by the sounds of it,” I muttered.
“Depends on your definition of good.” Hunter smirked. “But no... Not really. He's made the family the most ruthless. That's why what happened to Enrico Giordano happened. Enzio demanded that we sent a message to the others, both inside and outside the family. He wanted everyone to know that we weren't to be crossed. You speak, and you're tortured.”
“Sounds like he's enjoying being king.”
“God, you mean. He basically runs New York. He has the NYPD in his top pocket.”
That sounded about right. Mamma had always charmed them, but I suspected my father took a much different stance on that. I couldn't see him charming the cops. Holding a gun to their heads? To their wives heads? Their kids? Sure. Charming them? Not so much.
“For now,” I said quietly, sitting back on my ass. I slipped my hand out of Hunter's and looked down the beach. He was God for now.
Unfortunately for him, not everyone believed in God.
I guessed I was one of those people.
***
“Adriana Romano, you've lost your mind.”
“Come on, Darien! It makes sense!”
“You're supposed to