Hunter - Blaire Drake Page 0,83

power he held, and she became his unwilling victim.

He'd already broken her heart once.

I didn't want her to see him and know he was nothing like the man she remembered.

Then again, maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe she'd see him and how the life was and say she wanted out. She was about the only person that could do that. She'd been away long enough that she could hand the family to someone else and allow them to control it.

She wouldn't, though.

I smiled as I pushed a thin lock of hair from her eyes. She was a spitfire. Ferocious. A fighter. She wouldn't go down without giving her all.

It terrified the fuck out of me.

I didn't think I could I survive if she didn't.

If she died... For real this time... I'd take any bullet, any torture, any pain.

I could live with her loving another—just—but I couldn't live if she didn't.

I guess that was the curse of loving your best friend. There was no one there to hold your hand when you had a broken heart.

For me, anyway. She'd be okay. She had Gaige. I hated it and I hated him, but if I died trying to kill Enzio, he'd be there for her. If I was honest with myself, I'd probably have to give her up anyway.

If Enzio died and she took control, she'd be on a timeline. She'd need a real ring on her finger by the end of the year. Someone worthy of being the Boss, the Don, the Godfather. Someone strong enough to do it.

She moved her hand around my side and rested it against my chest. It was her left one.

I softly took her hand and looked at her bare finger. There was still the faintest indent of where the ring was on her skin, pale pink, and I brought it to my mouth and closed my eyes. My lips brushed over it, and my heart squeezed.

I didn't lie to her earlier.

I would marry her in a heartbeat.

Less than.

I always would have.

I always would.

I set her hand back against my chest. It would never happen though, because as soon as she took control of the family, I would step aside for her to take the sensible choice.

I would make the most of her now, while I could, because soon, she would hate me.

As soon as she found out I was lying to her with every breath I took, she'd forget she ever loved me.

She would kill me.

And I would deserve it.

***

“Hunter!” Addy yells. “There's a spider in the toilet and it's going to eat me!”

“Really, Addy? A spider? We're not in Australia,” I call back, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. The last time she tried this it turned out to be an ant. I'm struggling with my confidence in her ability to name bugs right now.

“I swear! It's huge! Get rid of it! Now!”

I sigh and go upstairs, taking two at a time, until I reach her in the bathroom. “Adriana, that's not a spider.”

“Then what is it?”

“A centipede.”

“Ew!” she shrieks. “So it has one hundred legs? That's disgusting!”

I roll my eyes and pull two squares of tissue from the holder. I fold them up and then pick up the bug with my bare hands. She screams and runs out of the room, and when I have the centipede safely encased in the tissue, I hold it in front of me.

“It's coming for yoooooouuuuu!” I tease her, stomping across the hall.

“Carlo! Don't you dare bring that near me!”

“It's gonna eat youuuuuu!”

“I hate you!” She runs down the stairs at lightspeed and flings open the back door.

“It's on you!” I shout, pointing at her back.

She screams, throwing her arms out. She spins several times, but when she pauses to bat at her shoulders, I see the tears in her eyes.

“Hey.” I run to her in the middle of the patio. “I'm joking, Addy. It's not on you.”

She freezes, her bright eyes finding mine. “You promise?”

“I promise.” I take her into my arms and hug her. She wraps her arms around me, then pulls back and punches me square in the chest.

“You idiota,” she scolds me. “You owe me ice cream for that.”

“Do I?” I raise my eyebrows.

“Si.”

“I have no money.”

“So go call your mamma before I call mine and tell her you've been mean to me again.” She pouts and folds her arms petulantly across her chest.

Eleven years old and she has more attitude than half the women we know.

“Okay, okay, I'll call