“Incoming.” Nicole sat up straighter.
I felt it then. The shift in the air. The energy crackling around me—directed at me. I didn’t have to look to know who’d arrived.
Tension roiled through me. A frantic buzz, it pushed and pulled against the hollow place in my chest. I lifted my gaze.
Twin pricks of midnight caught me. That savagely handsome face was a thing of beauty. His presence seemed to dominate the space. I swore every pair of eyes flicked in his direction as he glided through the tables. Cristiano, moving beside him, cast the same dark spell, but the result seemed different. Whereas the younger Messina brother had the potential for danger, the elder embodied the energy. Vincenzo was danger incarnate.
It was not something that should have left me breathless with a wild anticipation.
I cleared my throat and tried not to fidget. We hadn’t properly seen one another since….
Since we were teens.
We hadn’t sat down to a meal without an interruption—or sex. Hadn’t had a full, real conversation without going for the jugular—or hotter sex. I wasn’t sure how to act in this normal setting.
Just be yourself.
Okay. Yeah. I could do that.
To my left, the mobster folded onto the open seat. His back was to the wall. Every exit was in his line of sight, the whole of the restaurant at his mercy. Nothing happened without him watching.
Something about his calculating reign over the space irked me.
“Welcome back. How long do I have to stay at your place?”Great going. That wasn’t the fun, breezy Amanda. I worked too long in mergers, so I was able to cut through the fluff and drill into business. That opening line was neither friendly nor casual.
Maybe we weren’t able to exist without sparks erupting. And there was no privacy, no bed to channel them into something other than verbal barbs.
Beside me, Nicole groaned and scooted her chair closer to Cristiano.
“You’re free to leave when the threat has been neutralized,” Vincenzo conceded. His gaze was hard. The usual softness he reserved only for me wasn’t there.
I don’t miss it. I don’t.
I leaned forward, not backing down from his stare. “So, you do admit there is a threat?”
Something flickered in his eyes. “There’s always a threat. Right now, it’s a big one.”
The deduction was obvious. “By your admission, then, I’m not leaving.”
“This is off to a good start,” Cristiano muttered, and Nicole nodded.
I ignored the jab. “Answer the question, Vincenzo.”
The devil in black leaned forward. This wasn’t the same thoughtful man who’d taken me for midnight pancakes. Before me sat the king of the underworld, and I was playing with fire to bait him like this.
“You are mine, Amanda.” His hand splayed on the table, fingers tapping one-by-one in a controlled rhythm. “You may leave when it is safe, but I will always be watching over you.”
“I can handle myself,” I snapped. They didn’t understand! Nothing could happen to them.
“No, you can’t.” Nicole gave my arm a gentle squeeze. “That’s the whole point of this intervention. You’re making stupid, reckless decisions, and you’re going to get hurt.”
Her words knocked the wind out of my negotiations. How did I not see this for what it was? They’d rallied as a group to save me.
“I was working on a way out of this mess,” I insisted. Frustration pulsed through my mind, seeping into my muscles and making me tense. “This whole ‘make Amanda a prisoner’ is only preventing me from fixing it!”
“But there’s part of you that will do it.” Nicole leaned forward. “Admit it, you’ve resigned yourself to the worst-case scenario, even though you’re trying to find another way. We’ll help you! That’s what family does.”
My eyes pricked, but I refused to let tears form.
