I frantically rifle through Massimo’s drawers looking for a gun of any kind, knowing a man like him would not sleep without one nearby.My eyes go wide, turning, scanning the king-size bed before walking to the headboard where he bound me with his ties.My hand runs under the mattress not finding anything while my heartbeat races faster as footsteps march up the stairs, closer and closer.
My hand begins to tremble as I slide it along the backside of the headboard, exhaling a deep breath as my fingers wrap around the barrel of a Glock.I pull it from its holster, ensuring it’s loaded and ready, and take aim at the door just as it almost bursts from its hinges.
Massimo stands in the doorway, his dark, intense, anger-fueled eyes settling on me and I let out the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding until now.I’m no fragile little doll, but this fucking day.I try to keep the tears at bay, but no matter, the dam bursts, large tears spilling down my face.“I’m so sorry everything is such a mess.”
He closes the distance in three long strides, drawing me into his arms, wiping my tears with his fingers, and then tasting the salt of my tears.“You have nothing to be sorry for, kitten.”He kisses me gently on the lips and then places his arm around me.“Give me the gun.We have to leave now.”
I trust him with my life, but my sister is at my dad’s estate and there’s no way I can leave her there without any defense.“Massimo, I overheard your conversation downstairs.Please, I have to get to my sister, or warn her at least.”
His eyes lock with mine, the intensity magnetic in its ability to hold mine.“No, kitten.My men are taking care of the situation already, but we have to move.Your sister and father are being safeguarded, but I need to get you to safety now.Trust me, kitten.”
Trust a Roselli with my life and that of my family.What would have been absurd only weeks before now seems like the most natural thing in the world even as the families burst into a war that we haven’t seen in ages.Massimo holds me tight, guiding me down the stairs and into the back seat of the awaiting sleek black limo.Jimmy hits the gas and we peel through the gates with his soldiers in cars in front of and behind us.
“Where are we going?”
“To the ocean house.We’re going to lay low for a while.We can see anyone coming a mile away from there with drones and all kinds of new-fangled technology.You’ll be safe until this blows over.”
“I’ll be safe?Where will you be?”I ask, turning to look him in the eye.
He places his arm around me and pulls me to him, whispering in my ear.“Shh, kitten.Trust me.”
35
Massimo
The minute we get through the front door of my ocean estate and I have her upstairs, I scoop her into my arms and carry her to my bed, settling her onto my lap.“You’ll be safe here, kitten.Jimmy will be here with the others, and no one can get through to this estate without setting every alarm we have off, okay?It’s safer than anyone would think.”
Those dark eyes meet mine.“Where are you going?”
“Don’t ask questions that you don’t really want to know the answers to, kitten.”
The light I’ve always loved is still there, gentle and beckoning, but there’s something else, too.A resilience in the face of danger that I would not have expected but have to admit is admirable at a time like this.“I need to get rid of some loose ends.”
Even she hears her sharp intake of breath.“Who, because I am a loose end.”
My eyes narrow.“Our enemies.”
Sophia nods, her eyes turning away for a moment as she inhales a deep breath and then suddenly as though full of resolve turns those dark brown eyes on me.“I’m about to do the unthinkable, trusting the enemy with my life.I trust you, Massimo, I heard you downstairs.Thank you.”
I frown, balancing her on my lap, tucking a strand of hair behind my kitten’s hair.“Heard what?”
“You order the protection of my family, and that a hit was put out on the Cassone family, including me.”
My arm wraps instinctively around her, swearing under my breath.“That conversation wasn’t intended for your ears, kitten.”
“I know.I wasn’t intentionally eavesdropping or anything like that.I went to find you and overheard you in the great room.I made it upstairs before I heard your father burst in the door yelling.I couldn’t quite make out what he said.”
My lips tighten.It’s not enough that she was caught in the middle of the Amorte feud, now she has to endure my father’s wrath as well.“He was blowing off steam, not happy with the situation, but he’ll calm and do what needs to be done, just as he always has.”
Sophia’s brown eyes look genuinely sad.“He hates me.”
I tilt her chin, so she has no choice but to look at me when I speak.“He doesn’t know you, Sophia.He hates the idea that I’ve started a war…”
But she finishes my sentence.“… yeah, for a Cassone.”
“You were not the cause of this.It was brewing for a very long time.It was always going to erupt, we were just trying to prevent something that was always coming between the families.I knew it and so did Desiree.”
My lips capture hers, silencing anything further with the intensity of my kiss, my hand snaking beneath her hair and holding her firmly as I ravage her with my need as though she’ll try to get away.But nothing could be farther from her mind.
