“Why can’t we? The sand and the sea move together and exist in harmony.”
“You’ve always acted based on feelings,ragazza. I act based on overthinking. Today, I just felt. It’s a dangerous thing.”
“You told me once I’m in more danger without you than I am with you, Bastian.”
He sighed, closed his eyes, and pulled his cell from his pocket and dialed. “We need a clean up at my location. Get in touch with the media and the feds too. I have Morina and will be leaving.”
He steered me away from the scene toward our cars. The man with his hand on the small of my back had just laid out two bodies for me. I should have been scared or wanted to mourn their deaths. Instead, I wanted to climb his body like a tree and tell him I loved him.
“Morina, you understand this is all because I ended the deal with the refinery obviously.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and I saw the darkness under his eyes. “They forced my hand today and the country will be better for it.”
Nudging his shoulder with mine, I nodded up at him. “You did what you thought was right but you maybe followed your gut too.”
“I did what my gut told me without even thinking. It’ll make a bold statement.”
“Can you handle it?” I knew he could but I wondered if he realized it.
He stared at me and then glared out at the water. “Yeah. I’ve pushed the president to move toward clean energy in this state. We’ll do it fast. It’ll work out.”
“You’ve made enemies doing that today, though.”
“I’ll make more and more.”
“You’ll probably have to hold your temper better in the future.”
“Morina, I’m fully capable of–”
“You’re capable of anything.” I said it because I truly believed it. “But you don’t go down the right path all the time. Together, we can probably pick one or two good roads together.”
“You want to stay?”
“I want and need to. My horoscope today even said to do what I want and need. And Cade told me you cook for peace.”
His eyes turned to chocolate and his hands went to my waist. “I’m not a saint. He thinks I am.”
“He thinks you're his big brother who turned a broken empire into a golden legacy again. You taught him to cook Bastian and they count on you to bring peace. I’m proud you knew when to step up and bring war too. Don’t discount everything you do.”
He shook his head at my praise. “I should have told you about the deal, Morina.”
“You should have. But then you served them all Sebastian Armanelli, the man that unleashes rage just for me.”
He chuckled. “You’ll always be risking something when you’re with me, you know that?”
I hummed. “So, are you going to do what’s best for me and let me go?”
Sebastian Armanelli smiled wide before he responded:
“Not a chance in fucking hell.”
40
Epilogue
“What are you doing?” My breath came faster in the living room of the penthouse that we’d somehow made a home. Bastian had bought my grandmother’s house only for me to tell him to sell it again. I loved living in that high rise with him watering the damn plants with his spray bottle more than I ever thought I would.
“I’m tying you up,” Bastian replied, as he wrapped my wrists in silk like his mind was already made up and this was the most logical thing to do.
I pulled my hands away, but they were already tied and he yanked the end hard toward him. I stumbled into his chest, completely off balance.