My knees buckle, and I grab the back of the chair nearest me. I remember when Amadeo asked me what seems like a lifetime ago if I was afraid of my brother. I’d told him I wasn’t. But it wasn’t true, not really. I always knew our father would protect me from Lucien. But it’s not that I wasn’t afraid of Lucien.

“Let go of her!”

The door slams against the wall so hard it jerks me out of my thoughts. I blink, look up at Lucien who is grinning down at me, his grip so tight on my arm I know I’ll have another bruise to add to the collection.

“You don’t deserve my help, you know that?” he asks, any enjoyment vanishing. When Amadeo is close enough, Lucien shoves me to him and backs away, clearly afraid of Amadeo.

“He’s going to kill Bastian,” I tell Amadeo frantically. He catches me and holds on to me as our soldiers rush in along with the lawyers. I turn into Amadeo’s arms and press myself to him. He looks down at me, pushing hair that’s fallen out of my chignon back from my face. “Lucien is going to kill him.”

Amadeo tries to push me aside to advance on Lucien. I hug my arms around him because I see the look in his eyes. I see how dangerous his rage is. If he gets near Lucien, he’ll kill him. He will beat him to death with his bare fists, and I’ll lose him, too. The police will arrest him too.

I clutch at his face with both hands to make him look at me. “We need to go. We need to get to Bastian!” It’s taking all my strength to just slow him down. “Amadeo. Please. Look at me. I need you. I need you!”

That gets his attention, but I know it’s momentary because the control of earlier is gone, and even then, it was barely there. I felt the rigidity of his body beside mine as the will was read. I saw how his hands fisted and what it took for him to maintain control.

“Take me away. Please. Take me away from here. I need you.”

11

AMADEO

What the fuck just happened? What the fuck did Lucien Russo just manage to pull off?

I look down at Vittoria. She’s frantic, tugging at my hair and face to get my attention.

“I need you,” she keeps saying. “Please, Amadeo. I need you.”