Page 57 of Worth Risking It

So shocked by everything that happened in the blink of an eye, I didn’t even react. My body pressed against the wall, my arms out to my sides, I stared in horror at the man lying at my feet.

Blinking rapidly, my attention snapped to Milo whose head was tilted, sneering at the man he just killed. A thin string of smoke wafted from the silencer on the tip of his pistol that was now aimed at the ceiling.

He curled one side of his mouth and shook his head, dropping his hand with the weapon to his side. “Stupid motherfucker.”

“Boss.”

“Hm?”

We both looked at the left and I gasped, seeing Frank for the first time. His arm was outstretched, his fingers wiggling. Milo looked from them to the gun and back.

“Oh, yeah. Here.”

Frank took the gun, using the hem of his suit jacket to hold the tube and unscrew it from the barrel. Tucking them in pockets, he tossed his thumb over his shoulder and grumbled, “Get on back to the house. I’ll be there when I’m done here.”

Milo shrugged out of his jacket, took my elbow, and jerked me off the wall. I finally managed a tiny yelp when my foot hit the man’s head, making it roll back and forth, his hair touching my skin.

Bile shot up my throat, my hand slapping over my mouth. Falling into a state of shock, I barely noticed him putting his jacket over my arms to conceal the front of my dress.

“Let’s go, baby girl.”

I couldn’t move. I was frozen, staring at this man with a hole in his head, a thin puddle of blood pooling beneath.

“Chazzy!” he barked, roughly dragging me down the hallway.

Gasping, I snatched my attention to him, my lungs collapsing because I still couldn’t form a proper breath. Snarling, his nails biting into my elbow, he jerked me to his side and hissed, “Get your fucking feet moving and keep your cool, got it?”

I nodded vigorously, my heart stuck in my throat. Stiffening my spine, I let him lead me through the thick crowd, none of them aware of what just happened down that dark, empty hallway, none of them knowing an eight hundred dollar suit jacket was concealing my dress covered in blood.

His grip was bruising my skin, but I was too afraid to make a sound or protest. What the hell did I just witness? What happened? Where did Milo get the gun? Did he seriously just kill a man for touching me?

Outside, on the curb, the warm, muggy air assaulted me, making my stomach curdle. We went to the curb while he shoved his cellphone in his pocket. I hadn’t even been aware he’d been talking to someone.

Dragging me to the corner, I dared a peek at his profile. He was still enraged like I’d never seen before. He killed someone. I watched him murder a man, that man’s blood all over my dress.

Anxiously patting the pendant, an ice cold fear washed over me. If he killed that man for touching me, what would he do to Wyatt if he found out about us? That his best friend was in love with me?

Everything I had been in denial about all these months slammed into me with a truthfulness that froze me to my core. Milo was not harmless. He was ruthless, he was cruel, he was dangerous. This was the man I was marrying, the man I would have children with.

There was no backing out! I had no choice. If I tried, I’d end up just like that dude in the dark hallway. What the fuck was I going to do?

I was in way over my head with this whole relationship. I had no idea how to survive in a mafia lifestyle. I had no idea how to behave, what to look for, what to do. Yet I was expected to make this my forever? And bring children into this?

A cab pulled up to the curb. Milo opened the door and shoved me into the backseat, crawling beside me. Slamming the door, he barked the address of the house we were staying at and fell quiet, refusing to look at me.

Was he mad at me, for some reason? Like it was my fault some stranger had tried to force himself on me in a public place? Did he think I somehow asked for that?

What the hell was he going to do to me when we got home? Was I next to feel his wrath?

My hands on my knees, I trembled inside but kept as calm a composure as possible. It is what it is, I resigned myself to think. Whatever happened at the end of the night, I would accept, for this was my life, and there were consequences. I had lived out all my fantasies the last few months, falling in love with and being worshipped by two of the most gorgeous men I’d ever met, feeling confident and beautiful, strong, courageous, opening my own business. At least I knew I would die a happy and fulfilled woman.

Chapter 23

Chastity Monroe

As soon as Milo unlocked the front door, I was stripping out of the dress. I needed it off my skin. Seeing the blood had seeped through the thin material and stained my torso, I nearly buckled to my knees and vomited.

The last forty-five minutes came to a head, and I started freaking out, the shock wearing off. Whimpering and thrashing against my clothes, Milo grabbed my wrists and held me still, bowing his chin to look up at me.