Romeo Pagani by Abigail Davies

I was sent to save her, but instead, I utterly destroyed her.
Being a Pagani man in this world came with a warning.
We were dangerous, foreboding, malicious.
Our reputation was enough of a threat to keep people in line.
I embraced who I was.
I’d always known what my place in the mafia would be which was why I’d trained since I was a little boy, learning everything my father demanded.
So when I was sent undercover within another mafia organization on a rescue mission, I wasn’t happy.
This wasn’t what I did.
I wasn’t the kind of man to save people; I eradicated them.
Until her.
The person I’d been sent to find.
The woman who had been kidnapped.
The niece of our associate.
I should have been helping her, but instead, I’d hurt her.
I’d stolen part of her that she would never get back.
And for the first time in my life, I regretted the pain I’d caused.
She should have hated me—I despised myself.
But she didn’t.
She trusted me to save her, even after everything I’d done.
She’d burrowed her way so deep inside of me that I had no idea where I finished and she began.
So I made a plan, one that the mafia wouldn’t approve of.
But I didn’t care, because for her, I would do anything to make sure she was protected.
I had to keep her safe, even if it meant putting us all at risk.
I’d spend the rest of my life making it up to her.
But I knew our time was limited.
She’d be gone before I knew it, the only question was whether I’d let her go, or trap her by my side, whether she liked it or not.