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Nat’s words run through my head. “You’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing, Alexis. Fucking embrace it.”
I think about Mark and Emma laughing as I shrank back from whatever biting retort they threw at me. Or how Dennis and Suzanne treated me as little more than a skittish rabbit, useful for my skills but otherwise dismissible.
No, a small voice inside me whispers. You don’t have to be a victim anymore. You can be something great. Start acting like it.
Nat said my ability to survive rests on whether I would be an asset or a liability, and I choose to be an asset.
Suddenly, it feels like fifty pounds have been released from me. Although I’m scared of The Brotherhood finding me, I know I have to do whatever I can to ensure my safety. I can’t just rely on Damian, Nat, and Edo.
Something like approval flashes in Damian’s eyes. Was he seeing my internal struggle playing out all over my face? Does he realize what I’ve decided?
“What?” Nat snaps, jerking me out of my introspection. Her cheeks are pink as she jumps out of her chair. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Damy.”
He raises an eyebrow. “I never kid, Natalia.”
“Damian, be serious. While I agree Alexis should not be turned over to The Brotherhood, you’re putting us in grave danger by allowing her to stay here. For fuck’s sake, we already have Invicta on our asses and they nearly killed you today!”
“They barely grazed me!” Damian says loudly, but an irate Nat plows on.
“The last thing we fucking need is The Brotherhood to sniff out that Alexis is here, especially when our relationship with them is tenuous at best! Do we really want Invicta and The Brotherhood to ally for the sole purpose of destroying us?”
At first, I feel a pang of hurt and rejection at Nat’s words. She’s just another person who finds me a burden and unwanted. But, at the same time, I also recognize that Nat is speaking out of fear and protectiveness over her family.
If I had a family, I probably would do the same thing, so I don’t take offense to her harshness.
“Then what should we do with her?” Damian asks.
“Send her far away,” Nat retorts before rounding on me. “Where do you want to go, Alexis? We have more money than God and we can get you fake papers to go anywhere you want. Italy? Greece? Spain? You name it, we can send you there.”
Her offer is tempting, and I have no doubt that with the right amount of money, I could disappear and never be seen again. But then I would spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Damian says flatly. “And my decision is final, Nat. Wouldn’t you have wanted someone to do the same for Alessandra?”
The temperature in the room immediately drops by a few degrees, and even though I have no clue who Alessandra is, I can tell Damian’s words hit their intended mark. Nat’s face turns white before growing rosy with anger, the veins in her neck protruding. She takes one menacing step toward Damian, and for a second, I’m afraid she’s going to strike him.
“Fuck you, Damian,” Nat snarls before she whirls around, pushing past me and Edo. She slams the door so hard, the pictures on the walls shake and Biscotti growls.
Edo sighs, glancing at Damian with an exasperated look. “Low blow, bro,” he mutters before following Nat.
Leaving Damian and me alone.
“Alexis,” Damian says, his voice a low rumble that sends tingles down my spine. “Come here.”
He pats the empty space beside him on the bed, and I feel my mouth grow dry. I barely know him, and he’s asking me to join him in bed. I don’t care if we are both fully clothed and he’s injured. It just seems so intimate.
But how can I refuse him when he’s looking at me with those intense, dark eyes?
Swallowing hard, I cross the room, acutely aware of every step on the plush carpet. As I near the bed, my gaze traces the hard lines of his body beneath the thin sheets. I silently berate myself for letting my thoughts wander in that direction. The man is injured, for God’s sake!
“How are you feeling?” I ask, proud I’m able to keep my voice steady as I perch on the edge of the bed.
“I’m fine,” he says. “Shallow wounds bleed like a motherfucker, but they aren’t dangerous so long as they don’t get infected. This isn’t the first time I’ve been shot at, and it won’t be the last.” He looks thoughtful for a moment. “Although this is the first time I’ve ever had someone bungle a shot so badly. Maybe I should hire Nat out to be a sharpshooting teacher.”
“Nat can fire a gun?” I blurt out, immediately regretting it the moment the words leave my lips. She’s a damn underboss for a Mafia family. Of course she is a skilled marksman.
But Damian doesn’t find it an offensive question. “My best shooter,” he says. “She’s always been better at it than me, although I’ll deny it to my dying day.”
I wince at his poor excuse of a joke. Shallow wound or not, he was in grave danger today.
