My life is miserable. I live a pathetic existence. But, at least, I have a life. I never thought I would be okay with giving up control to anyone, least of all my brother. But that is where I’ve found myself.

He makes most of the big decisions about the direction of our family while I run the day-to-day business. I handle the meetings and the tactical team. Basically, my life is the same as it was before, but instead of taking orders from Enrico, I take them from Matteo. My life is a little better but only slightly.

Right now, all I want to do is go back to my bedroom, sleep, and try to forget about everything. I’ll have to drink a fifth of whiskey to have any shot of sleeping without dreaming about Nina. But that’s what I’ll have to do tonight. I need a dreamless sleep.

I unlock my door and walk inside. I still immediately. Someone is here.

Enrico?

Clive?

Erick?

Or any number of my enemies. Someone is here to hurt me. I pull my gun out, ready to take out whoever is here. I might not be happy, but I don’t want to die. Not anymore.

I silently search my rooms, looking for the intruder, but I don’t find anyone. My heart beats faster as I go from room to room until I only have my bedroom left. I creep to the door and throw it open with my gun aimed. Then, I see my target standing in the center of the room.

Nina.

I close my eyes and open them again because I’m sure that my mind is playing tricks on me. Someone else is standing in my bedroom. Not Nina.

“Hello,” she says in her sweet voice.

Then, I know she’s real.

I lower my gun. “You can’t be here.”

She nods. “I won’t stay long.”

Please stay, my heart begs.

“How did you get in here?” I ask, hoping that Matteo doesn’t know she’s here.

He has been dealing with her rejection worse than I have.

“I snuck in. I know I shouldn’t have, but I needed to see you alone.”

I exhale, trying to seem unaffected by her presence. “Matteo has been a mess without you. He says he has his shit together. But he’s lying.”

“I’m sorry I hurt your brother.”

I stare into her eyes, searching for why she is here. Revenge? Closure? What?

“I was hoping you would answer a few questions that I have left.”

I feel the tightness in my chest when she speaks. I would do anything for her. I’d die for her. I almost did. But the way she said that has brought up too many memories of her exchanging questions for sex. It’s not fair—what her words do to me—and she knows it.

“Of course,” I say instead of trying to keep my shit together.

She bites her lip. She’s nervous. As nervous as I am. But I don’t know why when she has all the control. She has all the power she always has.

“Why did you save me?” she asks.

“Because you saved me first.”

“How did I save you?”

“I hated my life before I saw you. I was tired of my father’s games. I was depressed. I wanted to kill myself. I was going to kill myself that night. I thought it was for the best. If I were gone, my father would have no choice but to let Matteo inherit everything. But then you fell into my pool. I saw how obsessed you were with me, and it intrigued me. It gave me something to live for. I was curious about you, about your obsession, and I couldn’t kill myself without knowing more about you even though, for your safety, I knew I needed to stay far away. Your obsession with me kept me alive.”

I closely study her, but she guards her feelings well.

“What do you dream about?” she asks.

“You.”

“Who do you love?”

“You.”

Seconds pass before she does anything, but slowly, a grin creeps up on her face. “Good. Because you are the only one I dream about. It doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t understand why my heart aches for you when I love so many others. I love Heath. I love Matteo. But I don’t dream of either of them. I don’t obsess about either of them. I love them, but I love you more.”

I run to her. Wrap her in my arms. And kiss her with everything I have. It doesn’t feel real until she kisses me back just as hard, holding nothing back. Our tongues push into each other’s mouths, begging each other for more. Our hands dig into each other, promising never to let go. We are never going to be able to stop, but we can’t stay here.

I force myself to stop.

“What are you doing?” she asks, panting hard.

I grin, soon planning on never stopping. I’ll fuck her forever if she lets me.

“We can’t stay here.”

“Why not?”

“Because Matteo will kill one or both of us if he finds out that you chose me over him.”

She frowns. “Are you sure?”

I nod. “He’s not in a good place right now. We need to leave.”

“But can you really leave your brother? Can you really leave your life and everything behind to run away with me? To live a life of always hiding, always running, never being safe?”

I pull her back to me, threatening our safety with another kiss. I’m not sure that, once I start kissing her, I’ll be able to stop ever again. She draws me back in, promising that she doesn’t ever want to stop either.

“I’ll gladly give up everything for you. I love you, Nina. I’ve always loved you. Even when I wouldn’t allow myself to feel it, it was there. I love you. You are my obsession. You are the reason I’m living. I’d rather run and hide with you forever than live a life alone here. The only chance of ever being happy is with you.”

She grins and quickly kisses me again. “Good answer. I love you, too. I’ll run with you forever. It’s the only way I’ll ever be free.”

I kiss her one last time, and then we run. Hopefully, we won’t have to run forever. Matteo is going to be pissed that Nina chose me. That I’m abandoning him now. But he’ll soon forgive me. He’s the least of our worries. One day, we will have to stop running. We will have to face our enemies. But that day is far into the future. Right now, I will enjoy running. I’ll enjoy living for the first time in a long time. I’m free as long as I have Nina by my side. Forever.