Her brow furrowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m not an idiot, Haven,” he said, his voice low. “I have no intention of dying any time soon, that’s for sure. I know how to keep my mouth shut, but I can’t hold it in anymore. You told me you were from California, when not long ago Carmine said you were from Chicago. And they don’t just invite people to live with them. They don’t let anyone get close unless they can control them some way, and it freaks me out what that means for you.”

She felt queasy. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you aren’t some friend of the family. I think you had no choice whether you came here.”

“I had a choice,” she said, remembering Dr. DeMarco’s words that first day. “We always have a choice.”

“Look, it’s not like I can do anything. I’m just a kid, and I don’t know your situation. For all I know, you could’ve been kidnapped and are being held for ransom, or, hell, maybe you’re in hiding. I don’t know, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad knowing you might be trapped.”

She was nervous to talk about it in public. “They’re nice to me.”

“I’m sure they are, but that doesn’t make it right, and it makes me sick that Carmine’s taking advantage of you.”

Her fingernails dug into her palms as she tried to keep from reacting. “Carmine loves me.”

“I have a hard time believing he loves anyone.”

“I love him.”

“Let me guess, he’s the first person to treat you that way? He smiles at you and whispers sweet nothings in your ear? He speaks Italian and makes you swoon? Yeah, he did that to every girl in this building at some point. That’s who he is.”

“Nothing’s going to change my mind.”

“Fine, but like I said, that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. If you need to talk, I’m around.”

“Why do you care so much?”

“Because somebody should.”

She opened her mouth to tell him Carmine cared, but before she could, Carmine’s seething voice rang out behind them. “Leave her alone!”

“Nicholas helped me,” Haven said right away, not wanting him to get the wrong idea.

Carmine wrapped his arm around her waist as he glared at Nicholas. “Helped you with what?”

“Lisa cornered her, so I did what any man would do,” Nicholas said. “Actually, most would’ve watched two chicks going at it, but I didn’t want Lisa to get her ass whipped at prom. I’m hoping for a little action tonight.”

Carmine looked at her. “Lisa tried to fight with you? Again?”

“I see it’s not a one-time occurrence,” Nicholas said.

Haven held up her corsage. “She broke my flower.”

He took it from her and cursed under his breath, pulling her away when Nicholas’s voice called out. “Knock, knock.”

Feeling guilty, she looked at him once more. “Who’s there?”

Carmine stopped moving, not amused.

“Tank,” Nicholas said.

“Tank who?” She got it the moment the words rolled from her lips. Tank who . . . Thank you.

Nicholas smiled. “You’re welcome, Haven.”

Soft music played and people paired up to dance as Carmine put his hands on Haven’s hips, drawing her closer. “You okay, tesoro? She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she gazed at him. “No, Nicholas stopped her.”

“Nicholas,” Carmine sneered under his breath, his eyes darting across the room to where Haven knew he still stood. “He’s always involving himself in shit.”

“I’m grateful for it,” Haven said. “Lisa punched him instead of me.”

Those words sparked a smile on Carmine’s face. “Good.”

Haven rolled her eyes as Carmine licked his lips, kissing her slowly as they swayed to the music. Love swelled inside of her. This was her Carmine, the one who wasn’t afraid to let his guard down and let her inside. In the middle of a crowded room, no one existed but them. He was all she saw, all she was aware of—his face, his smell, his warmth, his love.

The emotion took control of her as tears threatened to spill over. The song wound down, and the two of them stood in the center of the dance floor, staring at each other. “Can we . . . ?”

“Yeah, let’s go home.”

Carmine was all over Haven the moment they stepped foot onto the third floor of the house. His lips captured hers in a fiery kiss as he pulled her tightly against him. It had been a while since he had kissed her this way, as if he needed to siphon the air from her lungs to breathe.

“Carmine, we should . . .” She shivered when his lips moved to her neck. “. . . I think we really should . . .” She let out a whimper as he nipped at her skin with his teeth. “. . . It’s just that . . .”

She didn’t know what she was saying, what she meant, why she was even trying to talk. She couldn’t think straight. Every cell in her body yearned for him, wildly rejoicing at the feel of his hands on her again, yet the words kept spilling out on their own.

“Maybe we should just, you know . . .”

Carmine groaned, a mixture of desire and frustration. “I need you.”

That was all she had to hear. His declaration took every hesitant word that was on the tip of her tongue and replaced them with much different ones. “I need you, too.”

“It’s been too long,” he whispered as they stumbled through the library, toward the bedroom. “I need to feel you again. I need to be with you, on top of you. Fuck, I need to be inside of you.”

A feral groan vibrated her chest at those words, a sound she never realized she was capable of making. They barely had time to get inside the bedroom and shut the door before they were tearing at each other’s clothes. She dropped her dress to the floor, stepping out of it, as Carmine kicked off his shoes. They flung fabric across the room, the glow of the moon filtering through the window the only light they had to see. Carmine slapped at the wall, looking for the light switch, but gave up with a resigned grunt in a matter of seconds.

Haven let out a yelp of surprise when he clutched her thighs and quickly pulled her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he pressed into her, sending a shiver through the core of her body, seizing her muscles. She clung to his neck, kissing him feverishly as he stumbled a few steps, tripping over her discarded shoes.

She pulled back from his lips. “Don’t drop me.”

“Never,” he said breathlessly the same moment his grip slipped. He dropped her onto the mattress and she laughed as she bounced.

“Never, huh?”

“I did that shit on purpose, tesoro,” he said playfully, chuckling as he climbed over her.

Their bodies fit together easily, perfectly, like they had always belonged that way. It was lightning, and thunder, and electricity, as the two souls merged as one. All was forgotten as they gave in to their raw needs, each stroke longer, deeper, harder, their moans and grunts and cries louder and louder.

They stilled their movements when they had nothing more to give, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Haven lay on top of him, her head on his bare chest as she tried to calm her wildly beating heart. She could feel Carmine’s beneath her, his pulse racing twice its normal speed.

He caressed her side and thigh, drawing patterns on her skin with his fingertips. She wondered what he was thinking, what he was drawing, but part of her was afraid to ask.

“I’m sorry,” he said eventually. “I’ve been holding back, and that’s not fair to you. I know I’m a pain in the ass, but you’re the only good thing I have.”

“You shouldn’t apologize,” she said. He asked her to forgive him for something she had been doing, too. He gave her everything, had taken her to his prom, and she had gotten to wear a pretty dress and dance with a devastatingly handsome boy. It was her dream, a dream she had never thought possible. She felt inadequate sometimes, and she knew it was her insecurities eating away at her. But now . . . now she truly felt she didn’t. “Carmine, I have to tell you something.”

His fingertips stilled midpattern on her stomach. “Huh?”

“I think Nicholas knows about me.”

Carmine sat up quickly. “What are you talking about?”

“He knows I’m a . . . slave.”

His eyes darkened. “Did he fucking call you that?”

“No, he just knows—or he suspects—I’m not here willingly.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. He said he wanted to be friends, because he thought I could use one.”

“He wants to be friends? Yeah, right. That motherfucker wants what I have. He wants to take everything from me! Don’t you see that?”

She shrugged. Honestly, she wasn’t sure anymore.

* * *

The past month had been one of the most complicated of Carmine’s life, his love and anger at odds with each other. An epic battle brewed inside him, different sides fighting for control of his heart and mind. Everything pushed him over the edge, and what Haven had told him wasn’t helping him remain calm.

After she was asleep, he threw on some clothes and headed downstairs. The light was on in his father’s office so he tentatively knocked on the door, waiting a moment before opening it. Vincent looked at him from behind his desk. “You’re the last person I expected to see.”

“Why?” he asked, sitting in the chair across from him.

“Because you knocked. That’s not like you.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know myself anymore, so I guess I’m capable of anything at this point.”

He nodded. “Are you dealing okay?”

“I’m over that shit.”

“I don’t believe that for a second,” Vincent said. “It took me years to come to grips with it.”

“Well, I don’t have years. I don’t even wanna think about it, much less talk about it.”

“Okay, then.” Vincent eyed him peculiarly. “Is there another reason you came down here?”

“Yeah, it’s about tonight—”

“How was prom? Did you have a good time?”

Carmine groaned, irritated he cut him off. “It was fucking peachy, Dad. Now can I finish?”

Vincent waved him on.

“We ran into Nicholas, and he said something. He said he knew the truth about Haven.”

Carmine watched as his father’s expression shifted, a blank mask overcoming his face. Each second of silence grated on his nerves. Why was he just sitting there?

“It’s possible he knows more than he should.”

Carmine sat forward. “My enemy knows the truth, and you didn’t think to tell me?”

“He’s not your enemy, Carmine. I know what enemies are. I know the threats they pose. Nicholas knows no more than Dia or Tess. I can’t kill him any more than I could kill those girls. Or is that what you’re suggesting—wiping out everyone who might know? That’s not how you get a clean slate with her, son. You can’t run from the truth.”