Page 54 of Legacy of Deception

A few strands of untamed hair fell in front of her eye. “Marco, I did it for you.”

The easy way it came out, like liquid gold, wrapped around me snugly. Almost too snug, though, with the way my chest felt heavy. “You—” My jaw clenched. I was looking into the eyes of a woman who seemed to be filled with more pride for that which she had done than remorse. “You did it for me? Really?” If the sheer volume of ways it could have gone wrong wasn’t banging around in my head, I might have applauded her. That was what she was hoping for, wasn’t it? That I would applaud her for doing something so reckless because it was for me? Whatever that meant.

“I swear it,” she ground out, her teeth clenching as she seemed to be swallowing an emotion she didn’t want to share the room with.

“Madonna mia.”9 Shaking my head, my eyes fell to the baby she was carrying. “I was really hoping you were past all of this. That you were getting ready to be a mother and a wife, and you understood you couldn’t do this stuff anymore.” The intensity in which she stared at me was unwavering, and I could feel her eyes on me, practically scorching me with a dare to slash through my worry and see clearly. But I couldn’t. “You can’t just go breaking into people’s offices. Especially Santo’s.”

My father wouldn’t have taken kindly to it. In fact, at a minimum, if he knew what she’d done, he might’ve become twisted up inside and reconsidered his deal with Raf. Brooklyn would have been to blame, and no one would have been pleased. At a maximum, he wouldn’t have just evened the playing field, it would have been much more than that, taking things or destroying things no one could have ever suspected. He always made sure he knew the people he was doing business with, so if there ever came a time they betrayed him, he had the upper hand. My father was an erudite, and he used that intellect to protect and further himself. It was what made him so conniving and ruthless. It was also how he expertly ingrained fear into people.

“But Marco—” She stepped closer, and I forced myself to peer off to the side.

Jesus. I wondered what it would take to get through to her and make her understand how much she—

How she couldn’t just—

That I needed her to—

“What if someone other than Enzo had caught you?” I blurted out, our eyes connecting as I gripped my jaw. I was in Florida. I couldn’t have helped her. I couldn’t have protected her. I mean, she was going to be my fake wife. What would people have thought if something had happened to her while we were engaged? Capri would have definitely been pissed. Her parents would have never forgiven me. And I— I, well, I didn’t know what. “What if he didn’t feel like being the good guy, and he didn’t tell you to get out of there? What if he told our father? He’s not Vito. He’s not me, okay? He has much more loyalty toward him.”

Lorenzo was my brother, just as Vito was, but they were very different. We all were, and Lorenzo didn’t have the same desire to step up to the wheel and prick his finger. For the most part, he played it safe. Probably because he had no reason to do anything but that. Our father had never given him a reason to size up and go toe to toe with him, not in the same way he had pushed me to do.

Putting her hands up, she spoke with them, softly, almost treading lightly. “Look, I have made plenty of mistakes—”

“Yeah, you have.” Was that what she was calling it now? Calling everything she had done and all the damage she had caused with her actions, not only now but all throughout her life, a mistake diminished its meaning.

A mistake was showing up to a party dressed as your favorite turtle from that ninja film when it wasn’t a costume party.

A mistake was walking in on your friends when they were about to screw.

Those were mistakes. They were unintentional. They were not deliberate or intended for any level of offense.

As far as Brooklyn was concerned, she knew exactly what she was doing before she went into things. But she wasn’t on trial, and I didn’t give a rat’s ass about all of her misdeeds. Not that they painted her in the best light, but they were irrelevant to the here and now.

She remained silent, tucking her hair behind her ear. It was pointless, though, because it fell forward almost immediately after.

“You should have never been so careless.” As if on their own accord, my feet propelled me forward. She smelled like cherry and vanilla, and it wafted over to me with every minor movement she made.

Her lips parted on a sigh, and my fingers tingled with the unmatched desire to reach up and skim them, to get the color of her lips on me. I wanted it all over me. I wanted to be marked by the crap she painted her lips with, reminded I was hers. In the same way she was mine.

“That’s the thing, Marco. I wasn’t. For the first time, I wasn’t doing it for myself or to feel like I could control something that was completely out of my control.” Color tainted her cheeks. “I was doing it because I wanted to do this for you.”

I know played on the tip of my tongue, but I resisted the urge to say the words. “You could’ve been hurt.” My voice was raspy, but less angry. My pulse jumped as a heaviness encased us.

“You have been trying so hard to take over the company and oust Santo.” She swallowed, her throat bobbing. “I wanted to help so you didn’t have to ask for favors from your family or leave on any more trips. I thought I could find something on him. Anything that you could use against him. To get what you want.”

I ate up the rest of the distance between us, and as I did, a hiss sounded in my mind to signal the air leaving the balloon. “What I want is not to receive a call from my brother that you put yourself in danger. That you didn’t think about yourself or this baby.” I skimmed the back of my knuckles along her neck, deflated.

Her breaths came out shaky, and I pressed my thumb to her throat to feel her swallow tightly, pushing past the need she was feeling. I wasn’t confident it matched mine, but it was certainly there. The way I wanted to feel her arousal drip down my hand as she called out my name was indescribable. “Just hear me out, okay?” she asked finally, forcing the words out.

Dipping my head, I ghosted her lips with mine. “This is it, Kiki.” The nickname that came so naturally to me for her landed heavily between us. “It ends here. I can’t…I won’t…feel like you’re not completely safe. Always.”

Her warm breath hit me with each word. “I have apologized for not telling you beforehand and getting caught, but I will not apologize for doing something I think was in your best interest. I will not apologize for trying to help you get what you deserve.”

Being candid, most days, it didn’t feel like I deserved much, and I still wasn’t entirely sure we could put the company in the category of what I deserved. But I liked to think— “I deserve to have a woman I can watch walk down the aisle. That’s not going to happen if you keep putting yourself in harm’s way.”

Running my hand down the length of her body, I paused at the hem of her dress before slinking myself down and getting down on my knees.

Her fingers brushed the hair at the back of my neck while her other hand locked around my shoulder. “If I feel like an opportunity presents itself to help my future husband, then I am going to take it.”