While this killer, this torturer, this mad genius, this creator of heinous drugs,didbelieve in the concept, I wasn’t as far down the road to loony town as he was.
Yet.
Fuck.
“Enemies kidnapped me once.” When I stiffened, he rubbed my back. “I’m fine. Aren’t I? Lying here with you?—”
“You’re the opposite of fine, Custanzu. You don’t sleep and you test drugs on yourself and, until recently, you weren’t eating.”
He snickered. “You sound likeMatri.”
“You’re the one who helicoptered his dick in the ER?—”
“You mentioned that before,” he butted in.
“I guess that was you trialing more drugs, hmm?”
“Probably. I don’t remember.”
God help me.
“No? I do. Vividly. My best friend saw it and he was incurably jealous?—”
“He did?! What best friend?”
“George. I have three, but the assholes all moved away from the city. Something to do with it being the most expensive place on earth.” I sniffed. “Go on with the story.”
“Yes,duci.” His amusement at my imperious tone rang through his drawl. “Anyway, I was taken captive on our jet?—”
“The jet we flew in?” I shrieked, jerking out of his arms only to snuggle back in once I’d seen his nod.
“That one. I genuinely thought I wouldn’t survive, but it was worse thinking that Rory and Luc would die too?—”
“Explain.”
“We had a civil war of sorts going down.” He toyed with the hem of my sleep shorts. Not to entice, just to fidget. “The Sicilians used to run with five families. One that headed the faction, that’s our house, but the others were a checks and balance system. Two of them decided they didn’t like how Rory worked, didn’t like that she was a woman, didn’t like her practices, period.”
“So they kidnappedyou?”
Stan chortled. “Make that make sense, huh?”
“Sheesh, yeah. Although, I’m glad they didn’t… I …”
He kissed my head again. “I know what you mean,duci. Anyway, if I’d died, that was one thing. If I’d lived and they’d been killed while I was indisposed?—”
“Indisposed? Imprisoned, Stan.”
“My fear was for my siblings.”Because nutcase or no, that loyalty summed him up to a T.“But as much as I can understand what you’re going through when a woman has… well, you know,otherfears, I canunderstand the fear of dying. Of being taken from somewhere you believed was safe and being held against your will. Of not knowing if someone would rescue you. Hell, when the proof-of-life call came through, I told Rorynotto rescue me. I fully expected to die and?—”
“What kind of bedtime story is this?” I wept, but for the man that I’d almostnotmet.
“I’m sorry,duci. I thought it might help.”
“I don’t want you to be in danger either!” At that moment, I stopped caring that I clung to him. “I want you to be safe. Why can’t we be safe?”
“I’ll make sure that we are. I won’t stop until we are.” He confided, “God, you feel good in my arms. I’ll do anything to protectthis. Us. Please, never stop letting me hold you like this, Kitty.”
“I won’t,” I whispered, eyes drenchedagainbecause I heard the longing in his voice as it sank into my very bones. And even though I felt like the broken one here, I knew that wasn’t fair. His past… God. It had damaged him too. “W-Would you do something for me?”
