Fiero
I’m stillin bed relishing the buzz gently caressing my lips after that kiss when Remo bursts into the apartment.
“What thefuckare you playing at?”
I roll my eyes and climb out of bed, naked. “Good morning to you too.”
He makes a point of looking at the wall while I walk past him to reach for a pair of sweats.
“What wasshedoing in here?”
I roll my eyes and decide to play dumb. Mainly because my wound is killing me and also because I haven’t figured out yet how to break my change of heart to my brothers—least of all Remo.
“Who?”
“You know exactly who I’m talking about Fiero. Pfeiffer.”
I pull on a pair of grey sweatpants. “I’m still deciding.”
Remo’s stare snaps to mine. “Deciding?”
I yank the drawstring at my hips and stalk toward the kitchen. “Coffee?”
“Don’t fuck with me.”
His voice echoes around the apartment sharply.
Ignoring his reaction, I pull two mugs from the cabinet.
Behind me, Remo paces once through the living room, agitated energy vibrating off him in waves. He’s always been the hardest one of us to read unless he’s angry. Then it’s obvious. Then it bleeds out of him like heat from a furnace.
“She just walked out of here,” he says, accusingly.
I busy myself with the espresso machine. “And?”
“And she didn’t lookruined.”
I don’t answer immediately because he’s right. Pfeiffer hasn’t been ruined. Certainly not in the way he expected. And not in the wayIexpected.
Remo laughs bitterly. “Jesus Christ.”
I glance over my shoulder. “What?”
“She wasglowing, Fiero.”
A primitive part of me likes the sound of that far too much. Especially in light of the fact she’d just discovered how brutally I’d murdered her uncle, yet she still seemed happy.
I turn back to the counter before he can see the relief on my face.
“You’re supposed to be punishing her.” His voice lowers dangerously. “Not fucking courting her.”
“I’m not courting anyone. And what is this? The nineteen fifties?”
“You know what I mean, Fiero. And are you sure?”
I hear him move closer.
“Because from where I’m standing,” he says, “it looks a lot like the great Il Diavolo Sovrano has forgotten why she’s here in the first place.”
