Vincenzo chuckled darkly. “Those don’t really exist.”
I jerked upright, staring hard at him. “Come again?”
That rough, unforgiving touch skated down my body. “No one makes you feel badly about yourself and gets away with it.”
The weight of his words sent a giddy rush of victory through me. The evil stepmother, the woman I tolerated, was going down.
“But how?” I insisted.
Vincenzo lifted a shoulder in a playful shrug. “I know some guys who can create evidence from a computer screen.”
I wanted to ask a thousand more questions, but his next words chilled me.
“Varga falls next, and then….”
“And then my dad,” I finished. Good lord, it was all coming together. Neat and tidy, there should have been a bow on this turn of events.
Varga might be the active thread, the one who would try to claim his payment. But it was Dad who racked up the debt in the first place. It was Dad who crossed every line to try and pay it back.
It was my dad who saw me as no more than a tool, no matter how hard I worked to prove that I was capable. At least my sister saw him for what he was and cut ties cleanly. It took a force of nature to knock me on my ass, and a living, breathing shadow of darkness to rescue me.
“I should have trusted you from the beginning,” I blurted out, the apology making my tone thick.
“You should have.” Vincenzo pulled me back against his body, pressing another kiss on my forehead. This one was longer, more suggestive. “But you were right, we didn’t know these new, adult versions of ourselves.Dio—” he hissed. “I tried to do things slow, but life threw curveballs at me at every turn. The only thing I can say was that every action was meant to keep you safe.”
“You can’t just blame yourself,” I said quickly. “I’m stubborn.”
That earned me a snort. Since his lips were still brushing against my skin, the hot air fanned over my hair.
“I was just trying to take care of everything myself.”
“My big—” he kissed my temple “—bad—” he kissed my cheek “—mobster.”
Then his lips were on mine.
I tasted the red wine he’d been drinking. I felt the life thrumming through his veins. I craved another brush with his darker side. But too quickly, he pulled away, leaving my lips swollen and scorched from the kiss.
“Oh, there’s still work for you.” He said with a husky laugh. “In case you were thinking I was going to have all the fun, don’t.”
I quirked a brow.
“When it comes time to take Varga down, we’ll need your help,” he explained.
The old me would have pressed him for details, needing that tangible hold on control.
It felt simply amazing to let it go.
“Just tell me what to do,” I said with a smile. “I’ll be ready.”
He returned it, but his didn’t meet his eyes. “We missed a chance this week to take him down.”
I gasped, feeling the loss more keenly than if the Powerball had been one number off. What did he mean? We’d been that close?
“Enzo!”
But the monster only shook his head. “The timing wasn’t right.”
“How?” I demanded, knowing already that it had to do with me.
