My mafia love

12~ Wanting

Kelly's POV:

For a second, neither of us moved.

My lips were still tingling, my breath uneven, my hands clenched in the fabric of his shirt like I'd forgotten how to let go. Cade was close—too close—his forehead almost touching mine, his hand still at my jaw, like he hadn't decided whether to pull me back in or push me away.

I felt it.

That hesitation.

That crack in all his control.

"I'm guessing we shouldn't have done that." I breathed.

"I told you it was a bad idea." Cade replied, not taking his eyes away from my lips.

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because you didn't stop me."

My stomach flipped at that, something sharp and complicated twisting in my chest.

"That's not—" I exhaled, shaking my head. "That's not a good reason."

"It was enough."

The honesty in his voice made it worse.

I dropped my hands from his shirt, crossing my arms tightly instead, like I could hold myself together if I just stood still enough.

"I-I don't, I don't know wh-what this is. I can't-we can't. You still.." I cut myself off before I could finish, before I could remind myself why I was here in the first place.

"I'm still what?" he questioned. "A man that took you."

"Yes.." I swallowed.

"I didn't bring you here for this, Kelly. I thought you were something.. or someone completely different." He replied. His jaw tightened slightly, his gaze drifting for just a second before returning to mine.

"So why are you still keeping me here. You must know the only connection I have to Anissa is her being a biological 'mother'. I didn't know any of this, I don't want to be apart of it either. She disowned me.." tears began to fall, "Please Cade, just let me go home."

Something in his eyes darkened instantly.

"You think this is convenient for me?" Is all he replied.

"Then fix it. Let me go." I sniffled and pleaded.

"No."

"You can't do this, you can't blur the lines like you just did when you kissed me." I replied.

He looked away from me, He seemed angry.

Not even angry..

Furious.

And dangerously.

"Get back in your room. I have to go."

And with that, he walked away from me. I sobbed silently in defeat. I feel ambivalent, I'm scared but I don't feel like a prisoner anymore.

This reminded me that despite the kiss and all of the God-damn built up tension, that the version of Cade that didn't hesitate, didn't linger, didn't almost lose himself in a moment he clearly hadn't planned for, was still present. And yet, as he walked away from me, I could feel the weight of him pressing into my chest like something unfinished.

Like he wasn't just walking away.

Like he was pulling himself away from me.

And underneath that—quieter, harder to admit—was something else.

A flicker of unease.

Because for all the tension, for all the confusion, he was still the man who had taken me, and I was still in a house I couldn't leave.