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  Cold sweat is running down my back by the time the elevator reaches the top floor again. I haven’t thought this through, but I just know that I can’t allow Matteo to let this happen to him, just for me.

  I burst through the doors of his office, chest heaving. Matteo’s face floods with relief when he sees me, before he wrestles the passive mask back in place.

  “Get off of him.” I’ve never been in a bitch fight in my life, and I don’t know what has come over me, but before I can even think, I’m wrestling my way in between them, shoving Emilia off of Matteo.

  Off of my husband.

  “Sorry kitten, but I only do ménage a trois with women that I’m attracted to.” Emilia simpers at me then, with a forceful move that makes me sick, reaches for Matteo’s cock again.

  I swallow thickly. “Get the hell away from my husband.”

  I press back, feel Matteo’s reassuring weight behind me. But then his hands are on my shoulders, pushing me away. “Cara mia, I have no choice.”

  “You do now that I have a recording of Emilia attempting to rape you.” I flinch at my own use of the word.

  Emilia whirls on me, wild eyed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m not forcing myself on anyone. We’re meant to be together.”

  “You have a recording?” Matteo murmurs in my ear, his hands clutching my hips like a lifeline. I nod, my heart in my throat.

  He pushes forward off the desk, tucks me behind him protectively. And as he stands tall, facing down his crazy-ass stepsister, I feel relief wash over me.

  “Get out.” His voice belongs to the strong, alpha male that I know. “We may not get you thrown in jail for this like you tried to do with Riley, but I think this will cast enough doubt on anything that you’ve tried to set up.”

  Emilia looks at him, dumbfounded. “What are you saying?”

  Matteo shakes his head in disgust. “I’m saying, get the hell out of our lives. Before I mess with you the way you’ve messed with us.”

  Emilia screams, a sound full of pure rage and not a little bit crazy. “We belong together! He promised!”

  “Emilia, go.” She doesn’t listen, dropping to the floor in a ball and continuing to hurl obscenities.

  Matteo sighs, the sound heavy. “Emilia, please.”

  She doesn’t appear to even hear him. I watch him hesitate, and I understand. For all that he projects that he cares for noone but himself, I know Matteo Benenati better than that.

  This is his sister. And she is beyond help.

  We stand there for one more long moment. Then, finally, Matteo straightens his clothes, wraps his arms around me, lifts me. I feel like I should be the one carrying him, but I understand that I need to let him take this piece of his dignity back.

  And to be fair, I could use his strength. As least until I get some of my own back.

  Chapter Fifteen

  RILEY

  MATTEO IS SILENT on the way home, but I don’t mind. We’re both edgy, on overload, and I’m content to just curl against him.

  I want to ask him if he’s okay, if there’s anything I can do for him. But those are typical female responses. With Matteo...

  He’ll be affected by what almost happened at some point, I’m sure. But I think I need to let him come to me.

  When we fiRst sat down, Matteo pulled out his phone and sent off a flurry of e-mails. I didn’t ask what he was doing. But as the car pulls up in front of the house and I see that there are several distinctly feminine bags on the front steps, I sit straight up, dread sinking into my heart.

  “What are you doing?” Matteo just shakes his head, exiting the car when Franco opens the door. I scramble after him, temper flaring bright.

  “I asked you a question!” Catching up to him as he strides toward the house, I catch his arm. He whirls, and the anguish in his eyes stops me cold.

  “My world isn’t for you.” He sounds like he’s choking, reaching for air, and I know the sensation exactly. “Since you met me you’ve been stabbed, nearly arrested, and splashed across the headlines. No more. You’re going home.”

  I’d thought my heart had broken earlier, when I saw Matteo with Emilia. But that was nothing, nothing, compared to what I feel right now.

  “You’re... divorcing me?” I whisper. I almost choke on the words.

  “You deserve better.” He laughs humorlessly, smiles sadly.

  “Don’t I get a say?” I’m furious, heartbroken, terrified. He can’t do this. He just can’t.

  Matteo runs his fingers through my hair, kisses me sweetly on the mouth. “No.”

  “Franco just had to fill up the car. He’ll be back to get you in just a moment.” He presses one last kiss to the top of my head. “Goodbye, Riley.”

  And then he’s gone. Leaving me all alone. I stand there, numb, until the car pulls back in front of the house. I think it’s strange that Franco doesn’t get out to grab my bags, the way he normally would. Then again, I don’t want them. I’ll never be able to use anything from here... it’s too painful.

  Leaving the bags on the step, I slide into the car. I don’t say a word, knowing that Matteo will have given Franco full instructions. I assume I’m being taken to the airport, the place where this all started.

  The promise of tears steals my breath as the car travels down the long drive. I hold them back, but the ache in my chest is real, and it hurts enough that I want to die.

  As soon as the car passes through the first copse of trees, Franco stops the car. I frown, pressing the button to lower the privacy window, wanting to ask him where we’re going.

  And terror strikes my head when I see that the driver isn’t Franco at all, but a wild eyed Emilia.

  “Hello, Riley.”

  EMILIA

  Riley Tremaine ruined my life.

  Matteo was supposed to be my prince. He was supposed to save me. He promised me, with his words, his kisses, back when we were just kids. He was the only one who understood—Carmine touched him too, but with fists instead of hungry caresses.

  He was supposed to save me from his father, from the unwanted touches in the dark.

  He never did.

  But that was okay. Carmine had always told me what a good girl I was. Had promised me that as long as I did what he wanted, someday I’d rule the company.

  And I’d known then that Matteo would come to me with the company, and we would be together then. So I’d let Carmine do what he wanted.

  I love Matteo so much. We are meant to be together. Two halves of one whole. And I could have gotten him to give in... the Matteo I knew would have seen the reason behind our marriage.

  But then she came along. She ruined everything, turned him against me.

  The idea of them together makes me sick. He’s mine. Mine.

  The gun that now sits on the seat beside me is one that I’ve carried for years. It’s the one that Carmine held to my head the first time he came to my room, before I understood what a gift he was giving me.

  There’s poetic justice in that.

  Matteo hurt me terribly today, accusing me of trying to rape him. I did no such thing. He wanted me. He’s always wanted me.

  And no matter how much he hurts me, I will always love him. I will do anything for him

  It’s all Riley’s fault.

  And so she has to die.

  MATTEO

  I look down at the estate from the window of my office. It’s the same as it’s always been... beautiful. Rich.

  It’s never seemed so empty.

  Raking a hand through my hair, I crane my neck, trying to see if Riley is gone. A flash of pink on the front steps catches my eye... did she leave her bags behind? Why would she do that?

  A light flashes in the first cluster of trees that line the long drive. Squinting, I can just barely see through the leafy green.

  I can make out something soft blue... Riley’s sundress. And something blood red...

  The dress that Emilia was wearing today.

  “Oh,
fuck!” My heart stops in my throat as my brain begins to whirl, trying to process what I’m seeing. And that’s the thing... I can’t see.

  But if Emilia followed us back here after all of that... Riley is in danger.

  I sprint down the stairs, out the door, and across the great expanse of land. My lungs burn, and for the first time, I curse the long drive that was installed for privacy.

  I hear them before I round the corner, Riley’s low murmur, Emilia’s hysterical tone. And then there are, splashes of red and blue.

  Riley is pressed against the car, her hands held out before her.

  Emilia is pointing a gun at my wife’s heart.

  “No!” I’m just steps away from Riley, just steps, when Emilia sees me.

  “Stop right there, or I’ll shoot her.” I can hear that hysterical edge in her voice, but with it is a deathly calm.

  It nearly stops my heart. In her mind, only one of them is leaving alive.

  “I’ll go with you,” I say calmly, ignoring Riley’s protest. “I’m the one you want. Let her go.”

  “You don’t understand!” Emilia whirls on me, and adrenaline surges as she levels the gun at me before returning it to Riley. Her face is set in an expression that tweaks something in my memory, and I realize that I’ve seen it on her face many times before.

  I just don’t know what it means.

  “If I don’t understand, then why don’t you tell me?” I try to keep my voice calm, but terror is clawing at my insides. And it’s not terror for me... right then, I realize that I would give my life for Riley without thinking twice.

  “You’ll never understand. I see that now.” Emilia looks at me, smiles sadly. “It’s all such a mess. And he promised me. Carmine promised me that if I just did what he wanted, I could have the world.”

  Cold fingers of dread probe their way into my gut. “As long as you did what he wanted?”

  Emilia laughs, and the sound is without mirth. And right then I understand.

  “Dio, Emilia.” I feel nauseous. “For how long?”

  “Since I was fourteen. Right through until he died.” She steals a quick glance at me before returning her attention to Riley. “So I’ve paid my dues, you see. And I would have everything I ever wanted right now, if it wasn’t for this stupid little virgin.”

  I feel frozen. I don’t know what to do, so I open my mouth and just start talking.

  “Emilia, we can fix this.” My heart hammering, I start to walk toward her. The gun, I need to get the gun. Pasting an understanding smile on my face, I hold out my arms. “Look. It’s just me. Let’s go to the house and talk this through.”

  Emilia looks uncertain, the hand holding the gun lowering. “I can’t shoot you, Matteo. I love you.”

  But then I smile at her, and her eyes search my face, and something in her expression changes.

  “It’s too late, isn’t it?” Her eyes are heartbreakingly sad. “You’ll never be mine now.”

  The hand holding the gun lifts. I shout, and time seems to move in slow motion.

  Emilia aims the pistol, not at Riley, but at her own head.

  I jump toward her, but she’s scurried back, toward Riley.

  A blur of blue, of red, and the crack of the pistol firing.

  And then there is nothing but silence.

  Chapter Sixteen

  RILEY

  I WAKE UP IN a bright white hospital room. A steady series of beeps accelerates in my ears, scaring me, but then I realize that it’s just a monitor, just my own pulse.

  And my hand is numb. Squinting against the light, I turn to find Matteo sitting at my bedside, dark circles under his eyes, holding my hand tightly between both of his.

  My heart thuds in my chest. He’s here. We’re alive.

  We’re together.

  “If you ever do something that stupid again, I will tie you to the bed for the rest of your life.” The words could be joking, but Matteo’s tone is dead serious. “You could have died.”

  I frown, searching my memory. Emilia... guns.

  Tackling her to the ground so that she wouldn’t shoot herself.

  I flush. It was an infinitely stupid move. But...

  “You would have hated yourself forever.” I saw it on his face when Emilia told him about Carmine’s abuse.

  “I should have known. I had no idea.” For a moment Matteo looks less like the superstar CEO of a massive corporation and more like a lost little boy. “I should have... given what he did to me.”

  I wait to see if he will tell me more, though I understand now what he suffered at the hands of his father. But he doesn’t comment further—clearly he’s not ready, so I don’t push. “It’s hard to blame her, under the circumstances.”

  I’m not quite that forgiving, myself. I’m a firm believer that people make their own choices, though our lives certainly help to shape us.

  But that’s not what Matteo needs to hear right now, so I keep my thoughts to myself.

  “What’s going to happen to Emilia now?” My heart pounds just saying her name.

  Yes, she clearly has some mental issues. But I can’t erase the terror that she caused. I know that I will forever have nightmares of that blank look on Matteo’s face as she straddled him.

  “She’ll be charged with a lot of things, but ultimately, I think she’ll end up in a mental hospital.” He smiles wryly. “Alexi is in town to help me straighten out the mess she caused. Once that’s done, she’ll have the best help available.”

  I nod, then struggle to sit up, wincing at the throbbing in my temple.

  My fingers stray to touch the painful spot, and encounter a bandage.

  Oh yeah. Forgot about that. A bullet grazed me in the head.

  “So that’s twice now that you’ve saved me.” Matteo reaches over, strokes a very, very gentle finger over my cut. “A man with a smaller ego than me might be having issues right now.”

  I snort, even as I arch into the touch. The warmth. “There’s nothing wrong with your ego, husband. You have plenty to spare.”

  We fall silent as my term of endearment echoes in the air.

  “I’m still not used to saying that,” I finally murmur. I want to say so much more, but I can hear my pulse accelerating on the monitor at the very thought.

  “Well, you’re going to have to get used to it.” Matteo catches my chin gently in his hands. The affectionate touch makes me want to nuzzle into him, but my attention is caught on his words.

  “Why do you say that?” My voice is breathy, and I couldn’t have squelched the hope if I tried.

  Bending, Matteo brushes a butterfly light kiss over my lips. The heart monitor goes wild.

  “The one month deal is off. I have to save your life twice before we’re even. And since I plan for us to have a nice, quiet life from here on out, that debt should be worked off... never.”

  I swallow thickly, overwhelmed. “What are you saying, Matteo?”

  He pins me with that dark, enigmatic stare. “I’m saying that I don’t believe in divorce.”

  “Try again.” Arching an eyebrow, I twine my fingers in his. “Here. I’ll go first. I love you, Matteo.”

  “You don’t have to get shot to prove it, you know.”

  I huff out an exasperated breath, and he grins.

  “I love you, Mrs. Riley Benenati. And I’d pleased if you would continue to be my wife.”

  His kiss is better than any pain medication. And when the nurse comes in and demands that he let me rest, I close my eyes, and realize something.

  No matter how crazy this journey started...

  In the end, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

  Stay tuned for All Night With the Billionaire, Alexi’s story and

  book two in the A Virgin, A Billionaire and A Marriage series.

  Want a new release alert when it’s out?

  Sign up for Lauren’s mailing list here.

  Other books by Lauren Hawkeye

  New adult romance

  Three
Little Words

  Spring Fling (with Julia Kent, Sara Fawkes and Cathryn Fox)

  Love Me For Me

  Love Me If You Dare

  Contemporary BDSM romance

  Linger

  Breathe

  Blush

  Surrender to Temptation

  Fling (With Sara Fawkes and Cathryn Fox)

  Historical romance

  Seduced by the Gladiator

  My Wicked Gladiators

  See her websites for complete booklists!

  www.laurenhawkeye.com

  www.laurenjameson.com

  About the author

  Lauren Hawkeye/ Lauren Jameson never imagined that she'd wind up telling stories for a living... though when she looks back, it's easy to see that she's the only one who is surprised. Always "the kid who read all the time", Lauren made up stories about her favorite characters once she'd finished a book... and once spent an entire year narrating her own life internally. No, really. But where she was just plain odd before publication, now she can at least claim to have an artistic temperament.

  Lauren lives in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada with her husband, toddler, pit bull and idiot cat, though they do not live in an igloo, nor do they drive a dogsled. In her nonexistent spare time Lauren can be found knitting (her husband claims that her snobby yarn collection is exorbitant), reading anything she can get her hands on, or sweating her way through spin class. She loves to hear from her readers!