Page 28 of Reign

“He has an entire fortress. You’d be safe there.”

“They call him the Inferno, Angelo!”

“He’d keep you alive.”

“I don’t want to be kept alive in a fortress by some fire-starting Irishman!”

Angelo sighs through his nose. “There are other options.”

“Wonderful. Should I start a vision board?”

“Elena.”

“What? Maybe I’ll put little hearts around the men who benefit Cosa Nostra the most.”

His patience snaps just enough for his voice to cut lower. “This isn’t a joke.”

“No, it’s my life. That’s worse.”

Silence stretches between us.

Then he says, quieter, “This is about keeping you safe.”

“I’m safe here.”

“You’re safe because men are assigned to you.”

“Riot,” I say bitterly.

Angelo’s gaze sharpens, and my stomach twists.

“If this is about him, I’ll handle it.”

I blink. “What?”

“Riot. If you’re worried about telling him, don’t be. I’ll do it.”

“What? Riot isn’t my—”

“No?” He studies me too closely.

I look away.

He goes quieter. “I assumed you were together.”

My head snaps back to him. “You assumed what?”

“You’re not?”

Heat floods my face. Rage, embarrassment, humiliation, all of it tangling together until I can barely breathe.

“Not like that.”

Understanding flickers across his face, and I hate him for it.

“Well,” he says, his voice hardening again, “whatever it is ends now.”

Of course it does.