To let him hold me up.
“Never again,” he snarled, his embrace tightening to the point of pain as he switched to English. “I will not lose you, Kitty. You, my lioness, are a force to be reckoned with, but I will not—” He derailed into Sicilian again.
That I still found the language pretty was a stroke of luck for both of us. After tonight, I never wanted to hear Italian again.
Even though I didn’t understand every word he said, with my adrenaline crashing and exhausted beyond belief, his praise sank into me like ibuprofen in my battered body.
“Take me home, Stan.”
And crazy as it might have seemed, impossible and delusional and those fancy words in between, I wasn’t talking about my family’s building in Midtown…
NINE
STAN
“Take me home, Stan.”
Pressing a kiss to the crown of her head in agreement, I silently thanked San Giuseppe as I tucked her tighter into me and vowed, “I will burn those who hurt you, Kitty.” I cupped her chin so she looked straight at me. “Capisci?”
“I-I do.”
I shrugged out of my jacket. Bundling her into the fabric, I refused to think about the way she held up the front of her dress and the blood coating her legs that soaked into her sagging thigh-highs and what it might represent. My mind whirled past the details, only using them as bullets to load my metaphorical gun.
Each visible bruise would be catalogued.
Each would be avenged.
Later.
For now, her safety was my priority.
Seeing that Luc waited in the hallway, even if Dead To Me had disappeared somewhere, I rumbled, “Liunissa, you took out the trash for me, but one of them’s moving. It’s your kill,duci. But I’d be honored if you’d let me handle it for you.”
Those tired but beautiful eyes met mine and she nodded.
Once.
A part of me hated that the night had changed her. I didn’t think the Kitty of this morning would have gone for blood, but this was the Kitty of tonight.
Myliunissa.
Grazing another kiss to her temple, I ordered, “My brother will protect you with his life.”
Luc held out his arm for her to take. “You will be safe with me, Kitty. It’s an honor to meet you. I just wish it were under kinder circumstances…”
Those mournful eyes that broke me razed over him, scanning for sincerity and treachery. When she leaned on him, I sent a prayer of thanks toPatri—she trusted him. Luc tried to guide her out of the room, but she wouldn’t let him. Simply hovered in the doorway to watch.
Her silence deafened me.
That would also need to be remedied later.
The guy who’d twitched earlier was facedown. Not wasting any time, not waiting for him to pull out a weapon if he feigned unconsciousness, I stomped my foot into the center of his back.
Then, I did it again.
And again.
Until his bones cracked.
