Sighing, he shook his head. “I think you realize that’s not an option. Not if you and Alexis want to remain safe.” His gaze softened as his eyes stayed locked with mine. “I want it to beyour choice. Don’t make me force you. Don’t turn me into Victor. Last time, you had no choice. This time, I want you to choose me.”
Tears stung my eyes and I wanted to scream at him that Ihadmade a choice. I had chosen him, but he’d left me to rot in a dark warehouse before I realized he was never going to choose me back.
“This time is different,” he said. “I choose you, Bianca. I always have.”
He lifted his wrist to his smart watch and spoke into it. “We’re finished. Have Nick escort her back to the path.”
“Michael—”
“There’s no more to discuss,” he said, his tone terse as he walked behind his desk. “You know how to contact me.”
Nick appeared and tugged me through the door, closing it behind me as Michael disappeared on the other side. Once we were back in the car, Nick entered the number in my phone and called Michael’s phone before handing the cell back to me.
“Sorry about earlier,” he said, looking slightly chagrined. “I hope you don’t hold it against me. Michael thinks very highly of you, and I hope we can be friends.”
I studied him, remaining silent as I studied his expression and the kindness in his chestnut-brown eyes.
His thick lips curved into a wide grin. “You’re stubborn. Must be one of the reasons Michael likes you. He loves a challenge. Keep your phone close. Things are going to move quickly now.”
The car dropped me off on the path, and I broke into a brisk jog home. All I could think about was Alexis, and the danger she was in, and how the hell I was going to save her...
Equal parts dread and anticipation washed over me as I realized that agreeing to Michael’s insane plan might be the only option I had.
Chapter 11
Michael
Ibreathed a sigh of relief once Bianca left, lowering to my leather office chair and rubbing my forehead. She’d been ambushed by my proposal, but I felt that we’d reached an understanding in the end. Bianca wanted to keep Alexis safe, and my protection was the best option for that outcome.
Moreover, she and Alexis were now broke and homeless, and I felt an urge to ensure they were both safe. Assigning Nick to guard Alexis at one of our safehouses wouldn’t be well-received by my cousin. He preferred to be by my side as my premier bodyguard and right hand. But men had turned on me before, and Nick was the only person I trusted to keep Alexis safe.
I’d realized shortly into our conversation that Bianca would need firm reasons why I wanted to marry her. Marrying Victor’s widow was one; my desire to produce an heir with Victor’s widow was the second. And of course, keeping her and Alexis safe was the third.
Those three reasons had seemed to resonate with her, and I felt confident that she would choose to move forward with my plan. But the thing I didn’t tell Bianca? I would be fine if she couldn’t give me a son. I’d always planned to make Nick my heir—not only was he blood, but he’d earned it. His loyalty to me, the family and the business was unparalleled.
Nick was my father’s brother’s son. Uncle Peter was much younger than my father, which was why Nick was thirty versus my forty-seven. Peter had never wanted Nick to be part of thebusiness, but he passed away when Nick was twelve, and I took him under my wing. I taught him everything and gave him the opportunity to go to college and visit our grandmother in Italy as I had when I was young. I wanted Nick to choose the business instead of me forcing him into it.
When he’d returned from Italy, Nick had entered my office and lowered to one knee. He’d gazed up at me with solemn eyes and vowed his loyalty and service. In the several years that had passed since that day, he’d become invaluable to me, and I knew in my bones that he was my heir.
Of course, that meant that I didn’t truly need to have an heir with Bianca, but her belief that I did certainly didn’t hurt my cause. Not only would it solidify her justification for marrying me, but it would give me ample reason to make love to her often. As often as possible, if I had my way...
We’d lost too many years to mistakes and regrets, and I planned to make up for that in the second half of our lives. There was no way that Bianca could know the actual truth: I was madly in love with her, and had been since that first night we met under the full moon. When I’d seen her on the dock all those years ago, it had been a young love, fueled by lust and the desire to protect her.
But as the years had dragged on, I’d come to know the indomitable woman who’d slipped through my fingers. I worked with Carmen to ensure she was as safe as I could manage, and punished Victor when he hurt her.
Victor had the propensity to treat women callously, and Bianca was no different. Each time Carmen reported to me that he’d backhanded Bianca across her stunning face, I’d broken one of his men’s limbs. After a while, Victor had caught on, and I’d reveled in the knowledge that he knew Bianca was one of my priorities to protect.
“You don’t have to keep breaking my men’s wrists,” Victor had murmured to me at one of the family weddings we attended several years after he married Bianca. He approached me at the bar as I waited for my drink, and stood beside me resting his forearms on the bar. “Your message has been received.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, clasping the beer the bartender set in front of me and taking a long swig.
“Bianca is...difficultsometimes,” Victor said dryly. “She isn’t the tepid wife I wish I’d married, but we all have to do our duty. If she disrespects me, she gets punished, as everyone does.”
My teeth clenched so hard, I thought they might break. Facing him, I spoke in a low, furious tone. “I will break every bone in every one of your capos’ bodies if you continue to hurt her. And one day, when the time is right, I will murder you for ever laying a finger on her.”
Victor chuckled, cold and humorless, before lifting his glass in a mock salute. “Break them all you want, you feckless bastard. Your family will never defeat the Rossis, and you’ll die knowing that the woman you so desperately want belongs to me.”
He’d sauntered away as I shot daggers through his back with my eyes. He returned to his table, sitting by Bianca, who looked dazzling in her formal dress. I gazed at her, feeling the uncontrollable tug in my chest as I always did when I saw her...knowing she wasmine,and that one day, no matter the cost, I would kill Victor and finally claim her as I should have all those years ago.
