nna

now felt charged, the air t

to fray as his legitimate busin

fractions, his dark temper a palpable fo

, deepening their public intimacy in a calcu

cks of books, my focus narrowed to my college applicat

f Domenico's loyal soldiers stood over my table

e Lyla had collapsed from what was

infirmary," he ordered, "ou

n look up fro

nico," I told the soldie

run out, and I am not a dog

jaw tightening, but he turned

broken mafia pact seemed to press

ces at me as I walked the halls, w

d after fi

ear the stairwell, moving with the pre

band of steel so tight I felt the im

shoulders hit the cold br

th hot and smelling of

defy my order

iming the stress of my defiance had

nd you will apologize to her," he o

tight, a knot

ll the nights I had spent correcting

into his pitch-bla

old him, my voice trembling not with fear,

ed slightly, his face

d ever spoken to him li

eared at the top of the stairs, l

lative tears, telling Domenico to let me g

hardened again at th

d burned him and walked up the stairs

a gaze full of a profound

so wildly out of line," he coldly declared, "our

nothing to

l future Don and his

in complete, unwa

l our final exams, we

as finally, truly free. I should have known a man like Domenico w