Page 114 of Tempting My Mafia Monster

She stared up at me in shock and confusion, her lips swollen and her cheeks flushed from the kiss.

“Maddox, what’s—”

I stumbled back from her. My chest heaved, my heart erratic. I’d wrapped these same hands around her throat in violence. I’d tried to drown her. How the fuck could she look at me with anything but fear? How could she want me?

I turned and fled from the gym before she could touch me again.

I may have escaped McKenna, but I’d never escape what he made me. I was a ‌monster. And no monster deserved to be loved.

Optional

Maddox was avoiding me. It had been over twenty-four hours since he’d bolted from me in the gym with a look of utter devastation on his face. How he could look like that after the second-best kiss of my life, only after the first he’d given me, I had no idea.

I’d spent every single minute since trying to work out what the hell had happened. And now I was one hundred percent sure he was actively avoiding me. This was the second dinner Maddox hadn’t turned up for. I stared at the empty chair set out for him at the dining table as my family chatted and laughed with ease. I’d been zoned out throughout the whole thing, barely uttering a word.

“Where’s Maddox?” I interrupted them, lifting my gaze from the chair to their faces. Gio frowned, and Liv gave me a what-are-you-doing look. Lili’s eyes darted between us all.

“He chose to eat in the pool house again. Alone,” Gio answered. “He’s clearly not used to socialising.”

Well, that was true. But still. I was convinced that wasn’t the only reason he locked himself away in that pool house and only ever came out to meet with Gio and Alessio for a few hours. I tried knocking on his door last night and again this morning to check he was okay, but he didn’t answer. He was in there because the soldiers outside told me so.

“That’s really sad,” Lili said. “He must be lonely.”

“He obviously prefers it that way,” Raffaele, my seventeen-year-old nephew, joined in. “I wish I were allowed to have dinner in my bedroom.”

“I don’t think he prefers it,” Lili argued. “More like it’s all he’s ever known. God, the thought that he hasn’t sat down to eat a meal with his family since he was a child breaks my heart. All his meals have been in a cage ever since.”

I swallowed, my chest aching because she was right. Family meals had always been a priority in this family. No matter how busy Gio was, he always insisted that we sat down together and ate at least one meal a day as a family.

“I offered him the chance to join us, Lili.” Gio shrugged. “Twice. I’m not going to put a gun to the man’s head and force him.”

Lili sighed and glanced at me. I stared down at my food.

“Well,” she said, her voice lifting in that cheery, positive way it always did. “If he won’t come to us, maybe we should go to him.”

Liv shook her head. “Leave the poor man in peace. He wants to be left alone.”

“What he wants and what he needs are two different things,” Lili said, standing with her plate in one hand and her wineglass in the other. I stared up at her, eyes wide. “Are you coming?”

Without a word, I stood up, following her lead.

“Lili, sit down. You too, Raya. You are not going to eat in the pool house with an unstable killer,” Gio sighed, as if we were behaving like naughty children.

“Oh, but we are,” she said, smiling sweetly as she walked down the table towards the door. Liv looked perplexed, and Gio’s vein bulged on his forehead. “Raff, are you joining us, or are you staying for a romantic dinner with Mamma and Papi?”

Raff sprang out of his chair.

“Everyone, sit down!” Gio ordered, and my feet halted out of instinct. I’d never been defiant. That was always Sani. I was the obedient one, the one no one had to worry about doing the wrong thing. Lili was like that too. But we also had the Buccini stubborn streak, where we would stand our ground for what we thought was right. Now was one of those times.

“Maddox shouldn’t have to eat alone,” I said, turning back to him.

“It’s his choice. I do not trust that man to be left alone with you three. I’ve seen what he’s capable of.”

“Come with us then,” Raff said. “That way, you can protect us if he decides to kill us because the carrots are overcooked.”

Liv pressed her lips together to suppress a laugh and slowly stood up. Gio glared at her. “Oh, come on, grumpy old man. It’s just one dinner. Let’s go with them. After what happened to that poor man’s family, I think we can show him some kindness.”

Gio groaned, took a long sip of his whiskey, then reluctantly stood up. “Fine.”