“There’s no maybe about it. He will kill you.” She stated this as if it were a simple fact.
He eyed her speculatively. “You really have no idea who I am, do you?”
She pulled a face. “I know you're some kind of gangster.”
“But my name means nothing to you?”
“Should it?” she asked doubtfully.
“If my name meant anything to you, you would know that Mattia killing me is not a done deal. To kill me would mean starting a war. Your family is powerful, Miss Marino, but I am powerful too, and unlike your cousins, everything I have, I built myself.”
“Am I supposed to be impressed by that?”
“Most people are.”
Her heart-shaped lips pursed together and wiggled from side to side, then her slender shoulders lifted. “I’m not most people.”
“So I’ve learned.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You know about me?”
“I didn’t choose you from all the members of your vast family at random. I know everything about you.”
“Really? Why’s that?”
“Just because I like to gamble doesn’t mean I don’t try to mitigate risks first.”
“No, I mean why choose me? Is it because you thought I would be the easiest to take?”
“That played a very small part.” He gave a nonchalant shrug. “But the biggest factor was that you are the most valuable member of your family.”
It was rare for Gino to be taken by surprise, but when Francesca’s face lit up and she burst into laughter, he found himself looking at her with complete astonishment. Other than her initial struggle when he’d kidnapped her, she’d not acted at all in the way that he’d expected, but laughter? That really was unexpected.
“Me?” she snorted, glee on her beautiful face. “The most valuable member? I can’t wait to tell my brother that one! I’m not even the most valuable member of my immediate family – even the dogs come higher in the pecking order.”
“Family dynamics always appear different from the outside than the inside…”
“Really? What are your family’s dynamics?”
Her question took him aback. “I thought you wanted me to explain why I chose you?”
“Oh yes. You were about to tell me why I’m so valuable. Carry on.”
“Thank you,” he murmured, eying her more warily as he wondered what the hell he was dealing with.
She smiled. It was a very pretty smile, but still a smile, and just like her laughter, thoroughly disconcerting. “You’re welcome.”
Okay, there was the definite possibility he was dealing with a lunatic. That was something his men hadn’t picked up on. “You’re valuable to your family because you’re young…”
“I’m twenty-two,” she cut in helpfully.
“I’m aware. And that is young. But you’re not just young, you are still intact, for want of a better word, which makes you extremely valuable.”
“Intact…? Oh.” The smile left her face, suspicion replacing it. “How do you know that?”
“I made it my business to know.”
“You’re very nosy, aren’t you?”
