Page 92 of Vow Of Fire

“Where? A hotel?” He scoffed. “Anywhere you go, they will find you.”

“And they won’t find me at yours?” I challenged.

Valentina was staring from Dante to me and back again, an unreadable expression on her face. I guessed she’d never seen her son argue with a woman before—other than her.

“Find you? Maybe. Get to you? No.” He didn’t elaborate.

I gasped in exasperation. While his manly bravado was annoyingly reassuring, I’d just spent four days with him in this isolated cabin. I didn’t want to go to his apartment, wherever the hell that was. I wanted to go home.

Then I thought about my broken door, and the dangerous men after me, and sighed.

“If I stay at yours, isn’t that putting me directly in the firing line? I have to work. I need to go into the gallery and pretend like everything is normal. I can’t do that if I’m at your place.”

Valentina raised an eyebrow at Dante. “She has a point.”

He let out a frustrated growl.

“If we want this plan to work, I am the only shot she has at staying alive.”

I bit my lip to stop a sob of frustration from escaping. This sucked. I was in mortal danger if I went home, but I was in a whole other kind of danger if I moved in with him.

“It’s not as unrealistic as you think,” Dante continued, this time addressing his mother. “We met at an exhibition. We started dating. Things progressed. I moved her into my apartment.”

I threw up my hands. “Don’t I have a say in this?”

Both mother and son turned on me and said in unison, “No.”

I huffed back in my seat, knowing when I was beaten.

“They’re still going to try,” Valentina warned. “You know that, don’t you? By taking her in, you’re putting yourself at risk.”

Was it possible that Valentina the ice queen had some maternal instincts after all?

“I’ve got my own protection.” Dante nodded toward the window.

“I noticed,” she replied coolly. “They seem extremely competent.”

His jaw worked while he stared defiantly at his mother. I could only imagine what the family dinners must have been like in the Marcelli household when the siblings were growing up.

“Okay, fine,” I said abruptly, causing them both to stare at me. I nodded at Dante. “I’ll stay at yours.”

He let out a quiet breath. “Good.”

Valentina looked back at her son, her normally smooth forehead furrowing. I caught a quick flash of something I didn’t understand, but then it was gone and she turned back to me. “Once you’ve settled in, we’ll have a little family sit-down and plan next steps.”

Like it was a meeting of the board and we weren’t about to unleash a violent gang war.

I nodded. I wasn’t sure what a family sit-down was, but I guess I was part of it now.

Valentina got to her feet. I guessed the meeting was over.

Dante stood and, without looking at me, said, “Pack your things. We’re leaving today.”

“Evelyn,” Valentina said, with a tiny nod of her head.

I gave a cautious nod back and watched as she took Dante’s arm and steered him outside, a knot I couldn’t dislodge gripping my stomach.

When Dante came back in, he seemed more agitated than before. His face was dark and tense, and his eyes were the color of clouds before a thunderstorm.