Crack. A pained groan.
My stomach dropped. What the hell was that?
“Touch her again, and I’ll break all of them.”
Surely I’d imagined it. Surely Cosimo hadn’t just broken someone’s finger as punishment for him touching me.
Then I remembered—I would send you the photos my associate provided, but I’m not sure you want to see them—and ice slid through my veins.
Cosimo cleaned up well in a suit and a tie, but I wasn’t marrying a businessman for the next six months. I was marrying a mob boss.
I’d do well to remember that.
I peered around Cosimo, trying to figure out what was happening. There was a shuffle of movement, and two of Cosimo’s men led Peter away.
Cosimo rolled his shoulders and turned to me. His brows were pulled tight, and his mouth was a hard line as he assessed me. “Did he hurt you?”
“He barely touched me.”
“He shouldn’t have touched you at all.”
Apprehension wrapped around my lungs. “Did you break his finger?”
His gaze darkened. “A man who’s stupid enough to touch you once you’re my wife won’t be just maimed. He’ll be killed.”
Those words should have horrified me. And they did. But as he moved to my side and pressed a firm palm against my lower back, a wave of heat rippled inside my belly.
There was something intoxicating about being under his protection. About knowing that he’d keep me safe.
From everyone but himself.
I swallowed.
Some of the people standing nearby were casting glances our way after having witnessed what’d just happened with Peter.
“We caused a scene,” I said in a low voice.
Cosimo leaned into me, his lips close to my ear. “Petercaused a scene. You have a habit of taking responsibility for things that aren’t your fault.”
And yet Peter was gone, and here we were, and everyone was staring. I felt like an ant under a microscope. “I’m going to get some air.”
“You’re not going anywhere without me.” He took me by the hand and led me out of the reception hall.
Outside, the sky hung low and gray. The scent of damp soil still lingered from the rain that had passed through earlier. The graveside service had begun in the early afternoon, and even now, there was still light in the sky. Cosimo and I walked until we were nearly at the curb, far from the cluster of smokers gathered close to the entrance.
He seemed lost in thought.
What was going through his head? We’d talked more over the last few days than we had during the entirety of our engagement,and yet he still felt unreadable to me in so many ways. He was a man who revealed only what he had to, and not an inch more.
I pulled my coat tighter around me and thought of Mia’s warning. “I barely spoke to your mother today.” There’d only been a brief greeting when I arrived at the cemetery. “I thought she might come find us at some point. Do you know how she’s handling all this?”
“Don’t worry about my mother.”
His tone had gone abruptly cold.
I frowned. “She just lost her husband of thirty years. Of course I’m going to worry about her.”
“Or maybe, for once, you could try not to take responsibility for a problem that has nothing to do with you,” he said sharply.
