Chapter 7 - ECHOES OF A BROKEN VOW
The aftermath of the siege was a quiet chaos. The estate was heavily guarded while the cleanup crew worked above. We remained in the lower levels. Later that night, after I had finally convinced Nico that the 'loud fireworks' were over, I found Damiano in the lower kitchen, staring blankly at a cup of black coffee.
"He asked me to read him a story," Damiano said softly as I walked in. "I didn't know how to do the voices. I'm a king to thousands of men, Sienna, but in front of that boy, I don't know what the hell I'm doing."
I sat across from him. "You protected him. That's a start."
Damiano looked up, his gray eyes—so exactly like Nico's—searching my face. "Why didn't you trust me, Sienna? Six years ago. Why didn't you think I could keep you safe?"
"Because you loved your power more than you loved us," I said honestly, the old wounds tearing open. "You were never home. You were always fighting a war. I didn't want my son visiting his father behind glass, or worse, in a graveyard."
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Damiano stood up, circling the table until he was standing right in front of me. He pulled me up by my waist, his grip desperate and possessive. "I built the power to build a fortress for you. Everything I did, every drop of blood I spilled, was to make sure no one could ever touch you. And then you vanished. You took my soul with you, Sienna."
Before I could reply, his mouth crashed down on mine. It wasn't a gentle kiss; it was six years of agony, rage, love, and desperation poured into one desperate collision. And God help me, I kissed him back, pulling him closer, remembering exactly why I had fallen for the devil in the first place.
