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“Then don’t get mad at me for appreciating the fine display.”
He cracked a smile. “I’d never get mad. Feel free to appreciate with more than your eyes.”
I laughed and leaned my head back as I slid my glasses back up. “You wish.”
“I really do,” he said just loud enough for me to hear.
“Maybe if you’re lucky later.”
He growled and turned his face away from me. “Tease.”
As if we hadn’t spent the whole night fucking.
Just as I was finally relaxed and on the verge of snoozing, my phone rang.
“Is it them?” He leaned toward me as I showed him the screen. He frowned and plopped back down.
“Ama!” I answered.
“Hey, Millie, I miss you so much!”
“I miss you too.” I didn’t even have to lie. Attending events with Alessio was much more fun with her around. I hadn’t meant to become friends with her, but it was too hard not to.
“How are you doing?” Her voice lowered. “My mom told me what happened. I’m so sorry. I can’t even imagine how scary that was.”
“I’m okay. I’m relieved we were all fine.” Well, besides the two guards that died.
“Me too. I also spoke to Alessio. Let me tell you, when he said you left him, I was shocked. And worried. And a bit mad. Then he told me he kidnapped you! Girl! When I got done with him, he was six feet under. Figuratively. I destroyed him. I was ready to fly back just to beat the lesson into his thick, stupid head. I cannot even begin to understand why he thought he could not tell you where you were going immediately, then to take you to another country! Not okay! Ever. I get he had the best intentions, but when I told him to look at it from a different perspective, like, what if I was in your shoes? What if the guy I was dating flew me to Panama, then shit went down, and instead of bringing me back here, he flew me to Ecuador or something? That really got to him.”
I waited to see if she was done or just taking a breath. Marco chuckled, not bothering to pretend not to eavesdrop. “When did you talk to him?”
“Yesterday.”
We hadn’t talked much since I left him in front of the restaurant, claiming to be busy. Between Martin and the warehouse, I assumed he was, but if he had time for Ama, maybe he was just hiding.
“I’m glad you got through to him.”
“You guys are okay now, right?” There was just a hint of panic in her voice.
I blew out an exaggerated sigh. “He knows he’s on thin ice. On his second strike, I guess. I had to remind him that what happened isn’t normal. I know we haven’t been together for very long, and I haven’t asked a ton of questions. I don’t feel like it’s my place to dig in yet. But he said the men who attacked were from his enemy here—Brazzi. I thought they were just professional rivals, like they both wanted to buy the same building or something and had bad blood from competing. That’s normal. My dad has men he hates in his industry too, but he wouldn’t send armed men to their homes!”
“Yeah,” she huffed.
“When I step back and think about everything that’s happened, it feels like too much. My family isn’t squeaky clean. No one is in the oil industry, but it’s never affected me. My dad keeps us completely separate from the business. This is a lot to handle.”
“I know. I wish I could––”
“You don’t have to tell me anything,” I assured her. “This is something Alessio needs to explain himself, but obviously, he’s keeping things from me. He’d never purposely put me in danger, but it’s still happened more than once. I really, really care about him, but at the same time, I don’t trust him. At least, not completely.”
“Make him work for it. Put him through the wringer. He needs to prove himself to you, but please don’t give up on him.”
Marco arched a brow at me, but I ignored his look. In the real world, I wouldn’t give any man a second chance after this shit, but I didn’t have a choice here, no matter how little self-respect I’d appear to have.
“I won’t. Not yet.”
“Good.” She sighed. “He would do anything for you. I’ve never seen him so in love.”
I cringed at that word. “He’s not––”
