BOUND TO THE BEAST
I kiss him back with everything I have, pouring all my fear and love and determination into it.
When we break apart, we're both breathing hard.
"Ti amo," he whispers in Italian. I love you.
My heart clenches. I don't speak Italian, but I understand those words. I've heard them in movies, read them in books. But hearing them from Luca, raw and honest and terrified, makes them real.
"I love you too," I whisper back.
His arms tighten around me, and for one moment, I let myself imagine we're anywhere else. A different life where we met differently, where we could just be two people who chose each other without guns and blood and Viktor Russo.