I thought he’d changed. But that’s just what I wanted to believe. I look up at Vin who’s gesturing with his gun, ordering his mento start cleanup on the coffee shop.
Just because you understand why someone is broken doesn’t mean you have to be the one to fix them.
It’s too late for me to apply that concept to Rocco, but I won’t make the same mistake twice. I’ll never again believe a man when he tells me he’s changed, when the evidence of his true nature is right in front of me.
“I need to go home, Vin. I’ve got work to do.”
Vin nods. “That’s fine, but we need to make a stop first.”
I blink. “No. Notweneed to go home.Ineed to go home. I have to get back to the restaurant. You can go do whatever you want.”
Vin raises an eyebrow at me, then drops his gaze to his phone and texts while he talks. “I am doing what I want. I have to go see someone, and you are coming with me. When I’m done, we will go back to the restaurant.”
“Again, not a ‘we’ situation.”
He doesn’t answer, still texting and a plume of rage blooms in my chest. Boss me aroundandblow me off? No, sir. I turn on my heel and head out the big hole in the wall that he left.
“Sophie!” Vin is behind me on the sidewalk, yelling my name but I ignore him and keep walking. “Sophia Bellamorte Demonio!”
I stop in my tracks, the breath knocked out me. I can’t with this man. What is he even thinking?
I’m not able to turn completely around to face him before he’s next to me, turning me, scooping me up in his arms.
I shriek, “Vin!” and beat on his chest but of course, he doesn’t even break stride.
I’m straining to twist and see where we’re going as an SUV pulls up to the curb. Someone jumps out of the passenger seat and opens the back door, and Vin unceremoniously dumps me in the back seat.
“Vincenzo!”
He chuckles and pushes my legs back on the seat to make room for himself and gets in, closing the door behind him.
50
VIN
Iroll up in one car, no back up. Ronan has been like a brother to me for more than 20 years and I’m going to find out what the fuck he’s thinking and end this right now. I can’t put Sophie at risk anymore. Not her or our child.
Sophie is laid out in the third row back seat, not speaking to me, which is fine. Her eyes are closed and she’s curled up with her knees to her chest. Fuck, she’s beautiful. Let her rest. This isn’t a conversation she needs to be a part of anyway.
“Look out for her,” I tell the driver and guard before I get out. “Protect her at all costs.”
They nod, and give me a ‘yes boss’ as I get out of the car.
Ronan is at the door to greet me, his face stony. He doesn’t invite me in. Instead he stands with his arms crossed over his chest, hisexpression blank.
“What is it that you’re here for, Vin? Hardly seems like a sound decision given your choices of late.”
I nod. “You’ve been hitting our guys, so we hit back. But we didn’t start this shit, Ronan. My goal here is to end it.”
Ronan frowns. “The fuck you didn’t start it. You and Ashlyn ran your little scam then you started hitting our guys.”
“We ran our little what?” I’m trying to stay calm but I’m on no sleep and I’m done with all of this. “Ashlyn didn’t want to marry me. I didn’t want to marry her. We tried to make it work for the sake of the alliance but at the end of the day, it’s not how either of us want to spend our lives.”
“Fucking great!” Ronan explodes, grabbing me by the collar. “So why the fuck didn’t you say something?”
I grab him back and it takes everything in me not to slam him on the ground. This is a peace deal I’m trying to broker. But… fuck it.
We hit the ground hard. “Why didn’t you talk to your fucking sister about this shit before you pushed it out to me? Why didn’t you fucking talk to me before fucking bombed Aurelio’s funeral and a half dozen other Demonio sites?”
