Page 194 of A Dangerous Kind of Love

Her voice breaks, and she shakes her head again. Tears are already falling as her arms wrap tight around herself.

“My Michael doesn’t hold guns to people’s heads.”

My jaw tightens, and I suck in a breath that doesn’t do anything to settle what’s building in my chest. She’s looking at me like she’s already made up her mind. As if what she just saw in this room erases everything else.

She’s right. Her Michael doesn’t hold guns to people’s heads. Her Michael is the one who pulls her into him when she climbs into bed. He’s the one who listens to her ramble about nothing and still pays attention and reaches for her hand without thinking about it. I’m the one she laughs with, the one she trusts, and instead, I’m standing here with a gun.

I take another step toward her, slower now, because I don’t know how to fix this, but I know I can’t stand here and do nothing.

“Doll,” I say, my voice lower this time. “You know me.”

“Please let me go,” she says, like I’m holding her hostage. “I want to go home.”

“You are home.” I take another step closer.

She shakes her head. “No. I want to go home home.”

I move closer until there’s barely any space left between us but stop myself before I touch her. My hands stay at my sides, even though every instinct I have is telling me to pull her into me and make this stop.

“Please,” she says, looking up at me.

I’ve never seen her like this. I’ve seen her hurt, seen her grieving, seen her fall apart and still reach for me. This is different.

“Who are you?”

“Can we please sit?” I ask.

“I don’t want to sit. I want you to tell me who the fuck you are,” she says. It doesn’t come out with the same bite she typically has. It’s small and broken.

I stare at her for a second, my jaw tight, my chest pulling in a way I don’t fucking like.

She’s crying. She’s terrified. She’s afraid of me. I drag a hand down my face, exhaling slowly, and forcing everything back into place. I need control.

“Katie—“

She shakes her head hard.

“No. Don’t. Just tell me.”

Fine.

“You really want to know?”

She nods.

“You walked in on a punishment,” I say, my voice even. “Sal’s been lying to me. He put you and me at risk. People under me at risk. It cost a man his life.”

Her face twists, but she doesn’t speak.

“That’s not something I ignore.”

I take a step closer, and she presses harder into the wall.

I stop.

“Amato Operations.” I let out a short breath through my nose. “It’s real. Every contract. Every building. Every shipment you’ve seen on paper.”

Her brows pull together, confusion cutting through the fear for half a second.