“An espresso.”
He doesn’t let me help clean up. He asks me to stay put.
He rinses the dishes efficiently, and stacks them in the dishwasher.
He makes me a single espresso and a double for him.
Most people say coffee keeps them up. Not me. Coffee is how you end a meal. It’s the Italian way.
We have coffee in the living room, where there’s a couch and a coffee table.Andthat’s pretty much it. No television. No paintings on the walls, but then with these windows, you don’t need anything; the city is living art.
“Who are you?” I blurt out.
He smiles at me. “Lucian Maddox.”
I frown. The name seems familiar.
“What do you do?”
He shrugs. “I work for Maddox Media.”
It clicks. Gideon Maddox, CEO. Adrian Maddox, finance whiz. And…Lucian?
He adds, as if reading my mind. “I run a sports company.”
“And protect damsels in distress in your free time?” I muse.
“Only one,” he replies huskily, his eyes on me like he’s memorizing my face, each slope, each curve…me.
I take a deep breath. He’s saved me twice now. He needs to know my truth.
“Do you know what it’s like to build a life that’s not yours and try to live inside it anyway?”
He doesn’t respond. Anyway, it’s a rhetorical question. “My parents were murdered by my uncle.”
He sits still, his focus entirely on me. I’ve never had such an avid audience. I’ve never told anyone my story, either. Though I have a suspicion he already knows, like he knows what makeup I use and what prescription pills I take.
“My grandfather…well…he was the Mafia.”
He doesn’t show any emotion, and it confirms my suspicions that my identity is not news to him.
I set the small espresso cup on the coffee table. I settle back on the sofa, my feet on top of soft leather.
“I was the only girl in a family of men who thought love was control.”
My feet are cold, and I pull the cashmere pants over them.
Lucian rises and leaves. He comes back with a cashmere blanket. He puts it on my legs and tucks my feet in like I’m a child.
“Go on,” he urges.
“Why do I feel that you already know what I’m about to tell you?”
“Tell me anyway.”
So, I do. I tell him how Luigi arranged my engagement to Remo without asking me.
“I said no. Luigi hit me.”
