Read Online Dangerous Beauty: Part Two: A Mafia Princess by Michelle Hardin - Free Book Online

don’t want you to—”
    “To what? Tell the truth? But it is the truth. It wasn’t your fault. What happened was fucked up, but neither of us could have predicted it. It just happened.”
    Nathan frowned and shook his head “You don’t understand, Carter,” Nathan said firmly.
    “Yes, I do. You think you should have done more to protect me, that you failed me. But you didn’t, Nathan.”
    “Yes … I … did,” Nathan said, looking into her eyes. He swallowed the lump in his throat and fought against his emotions as he met her eyes. He placed his hands on each side her face as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. “You almost died. Carter. Do you understand that? I held you in my arms with my face close to yours just so I could make sure you were still breathing. And there was blood … everywhere. You lost so much blood … and I didn’t know what to do for you! I was helpless, and I was the one who had put you in that situation! Mitchell was never out for you— you were innocent. You had everything taken from you, and you didn’t deserve it. You didn’t deserve any of this,” Nathan said, trying to make her understand.
    She understood, but didn’t agree. Frowning, she shook her head. “Nathan, it’s not the same,” she said firmly.
    “Yes, it is, Carter.”
    “You saved me, Nathan.”
    Nathan moved to stand up, but Carter quickly wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. “No, Nathan. Just listen to me, please,” she pleaded desperately through her tears.
    After a moment of hesitation, he obliged. He didn’t want to listen. He didn’t deserve to have Carter try to make him feel better about this when he knew the truth. Nathan had spent the last thirteen years blaming his father for the death of his mother, for putting his mother’s life in danger, for not protecting her. And he had done the exact same thing to the woman he loved, the woman he was about to marry. No, Nathan deserved this pain, and he wasn’t going to let Carter try and ease it. “There isn’t anything to say, Carter.”
    “Yes, there is!”
    “No, Carter, there isn’t.”
    “But you saved me, Nathan!”
    “No, I didn’t,” he said sharply. He couldn’t hear this anymore— it was too hard.
    “Just listen,” she said firmly, and Nathan gave up and sat back on the bed. But he was still unable to meet her eyes. “Nathan, look at me and listen to me. I’m your fiancée. You have to do what I say.” She said it softly, and Nathan felt like a bitch when a fucking tear escaped his eye, but he met her eyes as she asked. She gave him a sad smile and wiped his single tear. “You saved me, Nathan Salerno, long before the day that Mitchell tried to take our lives. I had lost everyone I loved, and I was alone, pretending to be someone I wasn’t. I was unhappy and lonely. I thought I was going to die without ever experiencing life or real love. I thought I would have to hide forever, which is something I never wanted to do. Not even when I was a little girl. You have given me more than I ever thought I would have, Nathan. I would never ever regret the day you found me in Hope Beach. I will never regret the day you kissed me, the night we spent on that beach, the first time you told me you loved me, the first time we made love, the arguments we’ve had— or the day you asked me to be your wife.” She kissed his lips softly. “I would live through that one day a million times more if it meant I’d still have you when I woke up,” she whispered against his lips. “What happened to us was not your fault. Mitchell was filled with jealousy, greed, and hatred for us and our parents. What makes you think you deserved what he wanted to do to you? Nathan, we were both targeted because we were born. It’s as simple as that. He didn’t like the fact that we existed, and that you earned the power he wanted. This was neither of our faults. He wanted us dead for reasons we couldn’t control, so stop. Stop