We hang up, and I go back out to the hall to check on my guards, wondering what the hell we’re going to do next. I can’t start a war while our don is on his honeymoon. But I’ll be damned if I allow the bombing of our restaurant and terrorizing my woman to go unanswered.
It’s not until I’m with my guards that I realize I thought of Isla as my woman. In more ways than one, I’m so fucked.
Chapter 19
ISLA
As I’m shepherded through the bowels of a casino by armed Mafia guards, Cid tucked away in the carrier I’m holding, I question the life choices that led me here.
Despite my earlier protestations to the contrary when Alessio first floated the idea of my living in an underground safe house for the duration of my cat-sitting duty, the home invasion courtesy of the Andriani family’s Russian friends left me no choice. I caved. I have zero way of knowing if I’ll be safe in this Mafia bunker I’m headed to, but I do know that Priest and Luna’s penthouse and Alessio’s apartment have been compromised.
Our grim entourage reaches an elevator, and Alessio gives the command to his men to stand down. Then he goes to the elevator for what looks like a retinal scan. He holds his thumb to a pad, and the doors glide open. I can’t help but feel a little bit like the characters onSquid Gamewaiting to head into the next round of deadly Olympics.
Maybe it’s because we’re about to descend deep into some secret lair.
Maybe it’s everything that’s unfolded in the last forty-eight hours.
Whatever it is, this feels final, like I’m going to a place of no return.
As if he can hear my panicked thoughts, Alessio turns to me, his expression serious. “You ready?”
No.
I’m so not ready.
I want to scream it, to shout it, to run in the opposite direction with Cid. To hide somewhere no one will find us until this is all over and Luna returns and I can go back to my normal, boring life. The one where my fiancé cheated on me.
The reminder makes me wince.
“Ready as possible,” I tell him.
He jerks his head toward the waiting elevator. “Get in.”
I want to blurt that he should ask nicely. Say please. But he’s stoic and grim, and his face may as well be etched in granite. When he came running into his bedroom earlier, his rage was palpable. It was a glimpse of what he’s capable of, the man hiding underneath his polished, sexy façade.
A reminder that I belong as far away from this world as humanly possible. I know nothing about the Mafia. Nothing about a life of crime and violence. Nothing about enemies who steal into apartments or blow up buildings, putting dozens of innocent lives at risk.
Cid and I step inside and settle in the far corner. Alessio joins us, and the doors close, the instant jolt into movement taking me by surprise. Cid meows from his carrier.
“I agree, little buddy,” I tell him wryly. “It’s been a day.”
“I’m sorry about everything that’s happened,” Alessio says, his voice unusually quiet. “None of it should have. Not a single second of it.”
I want to tell him it’s okay and that it’s not his fault, but the truth is, it’s verynotokay. And I don’t know whose fault it is, but I do know that if he and his brothers weren’t mobsters, the Russian Mafia wouldn’t be after them. Their restaurant wouldn’t have been bombed. I wouldn’t have been scared half to death by a stranger breaking into the bedroom while I lay there naked and sleeping. Luna wouldn’t have been almost killed a year ago.
And on and on and on.
Now that we’re out of the line of fire—at least, I hope we are—some of the shock is wearing off, replaced by resentment.
I look into those ocean-blue eyes. “You’re damn right it shouldn’t have happened. Do you have any idea how fucked up this all is?”
He doesn’t say anything. Just stares.
I’m hitting my stride, so I continue. “I’ve been stalked by multiple Russian Mafia creepers, one of whom saw me half naked and handcuffed me to a bed after scaring the hell out of me. They blew up an entire restaurant. It’s a miracle no one was seriously hurt.”
“It wasn’t a miracle.” His jaw is clenched.
I know I’m pushing him too far, but I’m beyond controlling myself. “What do you mean, it wasn’t a miracle? Of course it was.”
