Chapter 19 - Between the Vows
The armored SUV blew through every red light in Manhattan, its siren screaming into the midnight fog.
Josie sat in the back, her fingers buried so deeply into Julian’s leather jacket that her knuckles turned stark white. Julian was on his satellite phone, his voice steady, barking ruthless, lethal commands to every soldier in his network.
"Block every bridge," Julian roared. "Lock down the Lincoln Tunnel. If so much as a shadow leaves that property with that child, kill every living thing in the vehicle! Move!"
He threw the phone aside and pulled Josie against his chest.
She was trembling uncontrollably, hyperventilating, tears burning hot against his neck. "Julian... Julian, if they touch her... if they hurt my baby..."
"They won't," Julian said, his voice dropping into a ferocity that shook the vehicle. "I swear to you, Josephine. I will burn this entire city to the ground before I let them touch a hair on her head."
He lifted her face, his hands framing her cheeks, forcing her to look into his dark, blazing eyes.
"Look at me," he commanded softly. "Look at me, Josie."
She looked up, her chest heaving.
"I didn't marry you for the trust," Julian whispered, the truth finally breaking through the iron walls he had built for decades. "I could have forged the papers. I could have bought ten judges. I saw you playing at that dive bar six months ago, Josie. Long before my uncle died. I watched you fight for her every single day. I brought you into my house because you are the only thing in this rotting world I ever wanted to protect."
Josie froze. The words hung between them, heavy and sacred amid the wailing sirens and the speeding engine.
Before she could speak, Julian leaned down and crushed his mouth against hers.
It wasn't gentle. It was a desperate, possessive collision of fear and consuming fire. Josie gasped into the kiss, her fingers threading into his dark hair, pulling him closer, anchoring herself to his strength. In the back of that speeding war machine, all the contracts, the lies, and the pretenses burned to ash.
She loved him. And the realization was more terrifying than any gun pointed at her head.
May you like
The SUV screeched to a halt, tires smoking as it slammed through the shattered iron gates of the Moretti estate.
***
