He leaned down, tasting her lips. She tasted like war, and that was quite funny to him because Noah had always craved chaos. It was consuming, and even though it had no right to be there, it felt pure.
"You will never regain your innocence, cara. Even the purest heart is touched by darkness and you’re anything but innocent. You have just pretended to be so no one would see your true colors and abandon you. But I saw them, I see your whole range of colors and I love every single one of them. And I am still here," he whispered, making Inéz love him even more if that was even possible. "I want you. I want all of you. I want you inside out, catching your breath and aching for me as I ache for you. It’s never been a secret. I’ve never tried to hide that from you. I’ve never pretended I wanted anything less."
Maybe her nature could bring out the best in the monster himself. And him not fully admitting his feelings wasn’t even a problem for her. She didn’t care for those three words, because at that point saying them aloud would seem fake. At the very least he was saying more than before, and she wanted to take advantage of it.
"Isn’t there supposed to be a burning saint’s picture in the initiation? I thought it was a part of the whole process, but you didn’t use it."
She remembered that she had been really surprised by him changing what she had read about on the internet before.
Noah frowned, taken aback by the sudden change of topic. ”Every Famiglia can have a different process. It depends on theCapo dei capi. My father used the saint part, but I changed it as I took over. It didn’t make sense for me to pretend that any of it is being done in the name of God. I believe that Made Men just like to think that our duties are the will of the holy heavens, when in fact Satan is our patron. The bad, evil and cruel are the devil’s forte, and mixing faith with the mafia is ridiculous for me. My people can believe in God, go to church every Sunday, but I don’t ever want to be a witness ofthem doing anything in God’s name," he explained. "Does that make sense to you?"
She nodded, smiling slightly. It made perfect sense to separate his life from people’s beliefs. Oddly, she realized something strange at that moment. Noah was some kind of a visionary with a purpose. He didn’t care what others thought as long as they obeyed. His methods weren’t humane most of the time, but they worked. He knew what life should be like and understood that most people were inferior to him, and he simply showed them mercy. Killing wasn’t just an act of violence on his part, at least not always. It was a small change to a much bigger picture. And while they would all die eventually, when told about the dark extent of Noah’s reality, she was pulled in, with every intention to discover more.
"Why do you need Lynette?" she asked another question.
TheCapochuckled, shaking his head. "Not yet, cara. You will find out at the right time," he hinted and ended the conversation finally feeling the exhaustion that had been sneaking its way in for a couple of hours already. He breathed in the fruity scent that Inéz wore, and closed his eyes, immediately falling asleep.
CHAPTER 41
Inéz stood very still in the middle of the living room in Noah’s penthouse, wondering if she’d heard right. Her eyes were glued to the TV screen, widening with each word the journalist was saying. But before she could gather her thoughts, the woman moved on to another topic as if the news weren’t anything big while Inéz was still trying to compose herself.
It was impossible.
She grabbed the remote and rewinded the news, pausing at the beginning. Looking around, she noticed the Falcone brothers on the balcony, engaged in what looked like an intent conversation. Normally, she would have waited for them to finish, but not this time. She called them with a shaky voice. They came almost immediately, realizing that it must have been something important for Inéz to look as if she had seen a ghost, or heard the worse information possible. Which wasn’t far from the truth.
Flavio regarded the girl. She played the news once again.
This night a notorious head of the Seattle Crime Family - Severo Selvaggio was found dead in his cell in the ADX Florence Federal Prison. He had been convicted to life in prison for racketeering, participating in nineteen murders, and directing criminal activities including extortion, illegal gambling, loan sharking, and bribery. The death has primarily been said to be suicide by slashing the throat, however, later the toxicology report showed the presence of a neuromuscular-blocking drug which disabled the man from hurting himself. It was ruled as murder after the autopsy report came out. The most interesting circumstances were that Severo Selvaggio died at night with his cell door closed. He didn’t have a cellmate and the guards were patrolling around the clock. As it turns out, even a supermax prison is not as safe as it should be.
It sounded almost irrational to think that there was the possibility of murder in such a prison. There were some prisoners who had managed to escape a place like this but never had anyone got in to kill someone. The only explanation was that it had been an inside job by one of the guards.
"How is that even possible?" Inéz asked barely able to form a sentence.
Noah’s eyes flashed with fury when he heard the long-not-mentioned name of his younger sister’s murderer. The one who should have died by his hand in the most painful, cruel and brutal way. And it would have happened if he hadn’t been put in a
