Page 3 of Worth Risking It

“Of course, I do. I have to give him back the ring. I can’t marry someone I can’t trust. What if that happened five years from now, and instead of you with me, it was our child? And we walked in to hear Daddy getting a blowjob?”

A muscle in his jaw twitched and he coughed, rubbing at his forehead. “Maybe he’ll quit when you’re married.”

“Or maybe he’ll get another secret penthouse somewhere in the city. Or maybe he’ll start meeting the whores at his office. You know, I’ve only been to his office like three times. Why? Is it because he’s already seeing them there?”

“I dunno,” he grumbled, gazing through the door to the bedroom.

“I don’t want to live this life.”

He shot another sideways look, a darkness in his eyes. “You already are, Chazzy. You’re just going to have to get used to it.”

Stunned at what I was hearing, I rose to an elbow, the water cascading off. “Are you crazy? Why would you tell me to stay with a habitual cheater and be miserable?”

“Because you’ll be alive,” he whispered, giving me his full, sorrowful attention.

My heart sank, fear icing my veins.

He dropped a leg and tucked it under the still lifted one, turning toward the tub. His sight searching my face, he spoke softly but sternly with an ominous warning. “I care very much about you, Chazzy.”

My brows arched and my chin quivered, my pulse racing.

“And I don’t want to see anything happen to you. Yes, Milo has a hard time being monogamous, but is that really so hard to deal with? He loves you, he takes good care of you, and you will always be who he comes home to. He will never physically hurt you, he will never abandon you. You will have a good life with him, you and your kids will never want for anything.”

“But—”

He cupped my cheek, tipping his head. “You leave that man, you break his heart, he’ll take yours from your chest. You mark my word on that. You don’t just walk away from him. He’s fucking mafia. You know too much. You don’t know how much you know because you aren’t trained to understand and pick up things, but you have been to too many meetings and dinners. Even though you don’t understand what you heard, they don’t know that, and they will come for you, so if Milo doesn’t kill you, they will.”

I was trembling in terror, my mind buzzing with his warnings.

“Milo has never had his heart broken and if you haven’t learned by now, that is one narcissistic, spoiled little brat of a man. You think he’s not going to lose his shit and retaliate if you walk away from him?

“Even if he somehow manages to find a piece of selflessness inside him, he’ll still kill you, just to save you from something worse because he knows if someone else got to you, they would torture you and make you hurt like you couldn’t even imagine in your darkest nightmares.”

“Oh my god!” I whimpered, shooting to a sitting position, the water splashing. “Why are you saying this? Are you trying to scare the shit out of me?”

“Yes!” he barked, throwing his arms out. “Because if you’re scared, then you’re awake and right now, you are sleeping and ignoring the facts of the life you are now living. There is no way out, Chazzy. The only way you leave this life is through a eulogy.”

He grabbed both sides of my head and tugged me forward, my breasts raking the cold rim of the tub and making me shudder. “And I cannot handle that, kitten.”

He picked up the ring and held it in front of my face. “So, you need to put this back on, suck it up, and find a way to deal with Milo’s wandering dick. Every single thing you could have ever dreamed of having is yours. Everything! You just have one little flaw that is more than an inconvenience than anything.”

“Inconvenience? Infidelity is an inconvenience?”

“Would you rather have worms eating your brains out six feet under ground?”

I choked on a gasp, the hot water suddenly freezing my bones.

“Besides,” he muttered, curling the corner of his mouth. Still not taking his focus from my face, he brushed his knuckles along my neck back and forth. “Anytime you feel like you can’t handle it, I’m always right here, kitten. I will make you forget your troubles for a while.”

A knot clogged my throat, my lids rounding. “So, whenever I get upset about Milo’s affairs, I take it out on you, is that what you’re implying?”

He closed his lids and gave a nonchalant shrug, draping his elbow on the lifted knee to twirl my engagement ring. “It’s not like I have anyone else, and I’m sure as hell never going to turn down the most beautiful, provocative, most amazing lover I’ve ever had.”

Butterflies swirled my belly, quickening my breaths. Swallowing against the constriction in my throat and chest, I shook my head of those conflicting emotions, rubbing at my temples.

“I can’t…And what if he catches something and brings it to me? And then I give it to you? Is that still an inconvenience?”

“I’ll have a talk with him. Let him know you’re willing to look the other way if he promises to wear condoms—”