Page 31 of Hot for Her Italian Mafia
I make my way deeper into the house, taking a stance between Josie and Max. Phillip does the same, but there isn’t an ounce of conviction left in him.
“But what’s done is done, Luca. You know it as well as I do, business is business. The girl’s mine, bought and paid?—”
“Shut the fuck up,” I cut him off. Human lives can’t be bought and sold, that’s just a principle of life, but I didn’t interject to go on some philanthropic diatribe. I’m just tired of watching his fat face move. “You’re going to listen to me, and you’re going to listen good. I’ve kicked the shit out of you once, son, and I’ll do it again. This time, you’ll be lucky to wake up in a hospital bed.”
The guard dog’s Adam’s apple bobs with a gulp.
“Are you throwing a tantrum because I won’t buckle to your Bettering Stillwater bullshit?” Max scoffs. “Well, I trust you know that standing in the way of business?—”
“Enough of this shit.”
I take my first step towards Max’s guard, and his eyes glaze over with terror. A deer in headlights, he only reacts when I get up close. He throws a wild punch, but I catch it with one hand, pulling him closer to me. With a heavy downward thrust of my neck, my forehead connects with the bridge of his nose, and he crumbles into a pile of floppy limbs.
“What the hell are you doing?” Max shouts.
“Not used to getting your hands dirty?” I ask, grabbing him by the lapels.
My first strike connects with the soft flesh of his cheek. The second crumbles the bone and I feel it sink deeper.
“Bleeding like a stuck pig, how fucking fitting,” I say. He tries to retaliate, but time has made him soft. The feeble punches that connect my chest barely make a dent.
A third fist finishes him. He goes limp in his suit, and when I release my grip, he falls to the ground.
Yeah, I’m glad I’ve left the politics to men better suited to it and kept myself a soldier in the streets. Going soft is a surefire way to get yourself killed in this line of work. Bodyguards can’t be trusted to take a bullet for you. We’re not soldiers, we’re criminals, and the highest bidder always comes out on top.
Bodies lay scattered on the floor. With the options of life and death at their door, these two pricks can thank Josie for walking away with bruises and broken bones. But I can’t let her see that side of me. The monster that lurks in the depths, that runs this town. Her innocence is mine to protect, and God knows I’ll fight for it to the end of time.
Josie’s back is still pinned to the wall, and she stares up at me. The fear splashed over her face as I entered is gone now. Replaced by that devilishly sweet smile that melts my heart to the core.
“Do you trust me?” I ask. The answer, I hope, is simple, but I have to hear the words from her mouth. She’s mine, I know it in my core, but I want to have it said for the world to know. For Max Lauren to know if he comes barking up this tree again, I won’t be so kind next time.
“I do,” she says.
Mary steps around the kitchen counter muttering her thanks. Phillip remains coiled on the floor, doing the same.
“Do you love me?” I extend a hand down to her, and she takes it. Her soft fingers against my palm soothe the fiery embers in my core.
“I love you more than you could imagine.”
I lift Josie to her feet and pull her small body against mine. I snake my arms around her neck, pull her into a kiss, and keep her there while the world around us continues to stir.
Peace. Serenity. An overwhelming desire to strip down and fuck Josie where we stand. All strange, foreign emotions that only she could bring out in me. She stills the beast, yet awakes another without ever having to do a thing.
“Then let’s get the hell out of here,” I say, breaking our kiss.
“What?” A smile trickles over her face. “Where?”
She’s not going to fight it, not this time. The self-harming duty of helping her father will have passed with Max Lauren’s introduction into the ecosystem, and I wouldn’t dare leave her in this place anyway. The people in this room—Mary excluded, I suppose—are wolves, out to kill and fending only for themselves.
But I am a lion, king of the jungle, ready to lay my life down against this den of wolves for my little lamb.
The arms holding her tight shift down her body, and I take both her hands in. Without a word, or time to think, or worrying about packing her things, I lead Josie through the door. This world is behind us. Beneath us.
And now, we’re on to forge a new path.
Epilogue
LUCA