Chapter 108
ANA’S POV
Matteo doesn’t move.
He stands in front of the door like a wall, arms crossed, face cold. I try to step past him, but he shifte–just enough to block me again.
“We’re not done,” he says, voice low and firm.
My law tightens. “Move.”
Dante’s suddenly in front of me too. Close. Too close. I can feel his heat, smell his cologne–dark, dangerous, familiar. It wraps around me like
smoke.
“No,” he says. “You don’t get to walk out again. Not without hearing us.”
Hearing them? Like I haven’t heard enough lies already?
“I heard everything I needed the day you broke my trust,” I snap. “And I left because I had to. You don’t get to trap me in some bathroom and pretend like–like you didn’t destroy everything.”
Behind me, Enzo steps closer. I feel him before I see him–his presence like a storm pressing at my back. His voice brushes against my ear.
“We didn’t lie to you, Aria. We kept things from you. That’s not the same.”
I laugh–short and sharp. “Not to me. It felt the same.”
The silence that follows burns hotter than any flame. I look at them–these three men who once held my heart like it was made of glass.
Now they hold it like fire.
Matteo moves toward me, slow and steady, his eyes locked on mine like a predator who’s tired of waiting.
*You think grinding on some guy was going to get back at us?” he asks. His voice is deep, rough, almost like a growl. “You think kissing him made us jealous?”
I don’t answer.
Because yes, I did.
1 wanted them to feel it. Wanted them to hurt.
Matteo steps closer, close enough that my back hits the cool marble counter. Trapped again.
“You think that erased what’s between us?” he says, voice sharp.
“There’s nothing between us,” I lie.
Dante’s head tilts. “Then why are you shaking?”
I am shaking. My hands. My chest. My whole body is betraying me.
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Chapter 108
Dante’s fingers trail down my arm, slow and deliberate, like he’s memorizing me all over again. His touch burns–soft, but sharp–leaving fire in its wake. My breath hitches, and I hate that he notices. “You can lie with your mouth, Aria,” he murmurs, his voice deep and steady, “but your body tells the truth.”
Matteo moves behind me again, closer this time. His chest brushes my back, and I feel his breath against my hairline, warm and steady. His hand slides up the side of my neck, thumb finding the wild beat of my pulse. “Still racing for us,” he whispers, and it’s not a question–it’s a fact. One I can’t deny. One he already knows.
Enzo steps in next, his eyes dark and unreadable, but his hand finds my waist like it belongs there. His touch is gentle, but there’s nothing soft about the way he leans in, his lips near my ear. “You can run, baby,” he says, his voice low and rough, “you can pretend you’ve moved on. But we’ll always find you. We’ll always be right behind you.” His hand tightens, not painfully, but with enough pressure to make me shiver. “And when we do… you’ll beg us to finish what you started.”
My knees weaken, and I have to grip the edge of the sink to stay upright. I hate how much they still affect me. I hate how badly I want them– still, after everything.
But what I hate most… is how right they are.
Enzo slides beside me, one hand bracing against the counter near my hip. He doesn’t touch me, but his heat wraps around me like a cage.
“You’re ours,” he says. Calm. Clear. “You’ve always been ours. Even when you ran, you were still thinking about us.”
“No,” I whisper.
“Louder,” Dante says. “Say it like you mean it.”
I lift my chin, but Matteo’s hand is already there. He runs a thumb down my jaw, slow, like he has all the time in the world to break me apart.
“Say you don’t want us,” he dares, his voice like a command. “Look me in the eye and say it.”
My mouth opens.
Nothing comes out.
Because I can’t.
Because it would be a lie.
Dante steps behind me now. His hand brushes the side of my neck, fingers light but sure. “That’s what I thought,” he murmurs.
I feel surrounded. Trapped. But not afraid.
No, it’s worse than fear.
It’s longing.
It’s every broken promise burning bright inside me.
“You don’t get to do this,” I breathe. “You don’t get to come back like nothing happened.”
Enzo’s breath is warm against my ear. “We’re not pretending. We’re fighting. For you. For us.”
His words wrap around something deep inside me. Something I’ve buried. Something that still aches.
My breath comes faster.
Matteo leans in again. His hand presses lightly on the counter beside mine, his body towering over mine, steady and sure. “We’re not letting
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Chapter 108
you run anymore, Aria. You don’t get to walk away without answering one thing.”
“What?” I whisper, hating how weak I sound.
He stares into my soul.
“Do you still feel it?” he asks. “Right now. Between us.”
My heart slams against my ribs. I hate them for this. For knowing me too well. For seeing past my walls.
I want to scream.
I want to cry.
I want to kiss them all and curse them in the same breath.
7-‘
A sharp knock hits the bathroom door.
I freeze.
So do they.
The real world comes crashing back.
“Aria?” a voice calls from outside. “You good?”
Dante steps back first, but only an inch. Then he leans in, his mouth brushing against my ear, voice soft but dangerous.
“This conversation isn’t over.”
Then, with a final, possessive glance, he opens the door.
But before I step out, Matteo’s hand trails down my back. Slow. Firm. Like a silent claim.
I walk out on shaking legs, breath caught in my throat.
Because I know one thing for sure.
They’re not letting me go.
And God help me…
…I don’t know if I want them to.
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Bound To My Mafia Stepuncles
