Aria moved closer until there was no distance left between them. She rested her forehead against his chest, feeling the steady, heavy rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her cheek. Luca let his hand fall to the back of her head, fingers threading through her hair with a touch that was too gentle for a man who had just ordered two executions.
"How do you stand this?" she whispered. "The weight. The decisions. The blood."
His breath left him slowly. "I do not stand it," he said. "I endure it. Because if I do not, everything my family built falls apart. Everything I promised to protect disappears."
"And what about you?" she asked. "What about the man behind the Don?"
He did not answer immediately. Instead, he guided her to sit on the edge of the council table. She felt the cold surface through the fabric of her blouse as he stood between her knees, his hands resting lightly on her thighs.
