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“I was safer when I was alone!”
“You don’t recall the gunshots as we left your apartment?” My chest burned as I remembered the man she’d almost had sex with, a man who’d clearly been a traitor. I should have killed him. Perhaps I still would. It’d be one less potential associate and threat to deal with.
She crossed her arms. “I’m not eating at a table where a whole family wished me dead.”
I shook my head. “They don’t wish that at all. You’ll find the women will be welcoming and the men charming. We’re nothing like the Irish mafia.”
“Nothing like them?” She dropped her arms to her sides then put her hands on her hips. “Please. They all wanted me six foot under.”
I held her stare. “Did you know Sean killed a dozen of Ethan’s soldiers?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why would I? I was never told anything unless Sean wanted to use it against me. Whatever I learned was thanks to careful eavesdropping.”
I believed her. Sean hadn’t been known for confiding in others. He trusted no one, and for good reason.
I cleared my throat. “Ethan was furious, those soldiers were like brothers to us.” I dragged a hand over my face, doing my best not to picture each and every one of their faces, men I’d never see again. “He was still grief-stricken when he devised a plan to teach Sean a hard lesson. That you were Sean’s one obsession, and that you’d run away from him, seemed like fate, one Ethan wanted to take advantage of.”
“So I was the innocent pawn to be eliminated to avenge deaths I had nothing to do with?”
My lungs constricted, making it hard to breathe. Even worse, I didn’t get a chance to justify Ethan’s decision or my role in it when someone rapped sharply on the door downstairs.
“That will be my security man,” I said tightly. “Why don’t you rest on the sofa, maybe watch a movie?”
Her lip curled. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m…tired. I think I’ll take a shower and go back to bed.” She lifted her chin. “Don’t wake me.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chantilly
I knew Valentino had come to bed at some stage during the night or early hours of the morning, there was an indent in his pillow despite the fact his side of the mattress was stone-cold. I guessed he’d been helping install the new monitors.
That I ached to be with him made me grumpy, but then I’d never been a morning person. Nor had I ever before suffered from sexual frustration or rejection, how could I when I’d never wanted to be with anyone? But I couldn’t deny my needs any longer. I wanted Valentino, that he’d been willing to stop my heart from beating no longer mattered.
It wasn’t until I climbed out of bed and pulled my hair into a ponytail, then pulled on a long white dress with tiny printed lavender flowers, that I went in search of him. I didn’t bother with a bra or panties; they’d only get in the way.
I was halfway down the hallway when I made out a rhythmic thump-thump and knew exactly where he was and what he was doing. My inner thighs clenched as I descended the interior stairs in my bare feet. My soles were practically back to normal, thanks to Valentino pulling out all the glass and dabbing on antibacterial gel.
I stepped onto the polished concrete and walked toward the man who’d been occupying my mind more than what should be legal. My steps slowed. There was definitely something illegal about him being shirtless, with his ink caressing his sweaty, bulging shoulders and arms as he slammed the punching bag again and again, relentless in his quest to pound the bag into oblivion.
I paused when he caught the bag and twisted his head to see me. I arched a brow. “Whose face are you imagining you’re smashing?”
“Take a guess.”
“So it’s someone I know?”
He nodded. “It is.”
“Which means it’s someone we both know.” I scrunched my eyes at him, as much to block out his delectable masculinity as it was to try and think clearly. “William?”
“Got it in one.” He stepped away from the bag and grabbed a towel from a nearby wall hook, wiping off his sweat.
“What has William done?”
He snorted. “You mean other than almost fucking you before handing you back to Sean?”
I looked at him in a new light, my belly fluttering and my limbs tingling. “You’re jealous.”
Valentino growled as he stepped toward me, then reached out and drew me against his bared, sweaty chest. He cupped my chin and forced my eyes to meet his fierce stare. “No one touches what is mine.”
