Page 4 of The Bond

I noticed the flash of disappointment in his dark-brown eyes. Clearly, he’d been hoping that I’d stuck by him because I cared. I refused to give him the satisfaction of me caring about his sorry ass. At least, I refused to do that to his face. Little did he know, that was exactly why I’d taken care of him the way that I did. I had stayed with Enzo through his ordeal in the hospital because I did care. I cared very deeply. Worse, I loved him, for all the good that it had done me.

“Still need an attack dog?” he asked smoothly, the disappointment vanishing so quickly I wasn’t entirely sure that I’d actually seen it. Maybe I’d only seen disappointment because that was what I wished to see.

“I need witnesses, proof, and another brain to help me figure out who’s been coming after us.” I wanted to grab him and shake him, but that would be letting him see way too much of my frustration. Besides, even with the weight loss, Enzo was too massive for me to shake. I was a wisp of smoke compared to him. Only courage, cunning, and weapons on my part had ever evened the playing field between us.

Enzo narrowed his eyes. “One of them is your father, so you’ve already solved that one.”

The urge to defend my father would only serve to heighten tensions and make me too emotional to get my point across. I needed to face Enzo with sense and reason. Not as an emotional woman falling to pieces in front of him.

But the emotional turmoil that raged inside me threatened to take over and rule over my reactions to him. Because there was so much between us. Despite the brief length of time that we’d known each other, we have gone through so much together.

Now that bond was being tested. There was a very good chance that neither of us would come out of this unscathed. My heart had already been broken.

I had been tricked into believing that Enzo had agreed to marry me to end the war between our families. But he’d had his own agenda. His own motives. Mainly his agreement to marry me so that he could manipulate me into giving him my family’s mafia empire. He’d bargained that my love and trust for him would have gotten me to do his bidding without question.

“Another one of your lies,” I finally said, anger simmering inside me.

“I’m not lying. You know I’m not,” he said forcefully.

“I know of no such thing,” I returned, fighting to keep my tone calm and even. “You made a bad bet, Enzo. Your attempt to manipulate me into a one-sided marriage failed. Just like this latest manipulation of yours will fail.”

“It’s not a tactic,” he insisted.

I wanted so badly to believe him. Not only did he sound convincing, my treacherous heart also wanted to believe him. I had truly thought that as my feelings for him had grown, that had meant he’d felt the same way. He had been so protective, so genuine. The passion between us had been explosive. And when we’d finally had sex for the first time at the safehouse, it was like we were finally baring our souls to each other. There had been no holding back. At least, I hadn’t been holding back. I’d thought it was the same for him.

Turned out he’d only had sex with me to get me to fall in love with him. He’d been playing the part of a chivalrous fiancé and slept with me to make it seem real. If I hadn’t learned the truth after a phone call from his father, I’d still be falling head over heels for him. Now that I knew every word out of his mouth was a lie, I could guard my heart.

Yet guarding my fragile heart didn’t stop me from loving him. That was the real reason why I’d pretended to be his wife in order to take care of him. I’d done it, not because I needed an attack dog, or needed help to track down whoever it was that seemed to want us all dead. My reasons for sticking by him had been so much simpler than all that. I was still here because I loved Enzo. Walking away from him when he was in such a vulnerable state was impossible. My heart hadn’t allowed me to even entertain the idea of leaving him after he’d ended up in hospital.

“You’ll forgive me for not just taking your word for it,” I finally shot back. “You took a gamble on me doing your bidding without question. You should have realized, Enzo, that I don’t do any man’s bidding.”

Enzo met my gaze. “You do your father’s.”

I inhaled sharply, completely at a loss for words. Angry at myself for falling into such an obvious trap, I turned away from him. My mind was clouded by all my emotions. That would just make me an easy adversary for Enzo to deal with. I had to get ahold of myself or I’d just spiral out of control. He’d see me in my weakened state, and he wouldn’t hesitate to use that against me.

I wanted to tell him that my father wasn’t just a man to me. He was a towering, immovable fact of life. He wasn’t a man—he was my father. My world. The beginning and the end of everything—the same as my mother. Loyalty to my parents was my entire identity. Without that, who was I?

But I didn’t say this to Enzo. He already had enough information to use against me. Enzo knew everything about me and could bury me and my family at any time. Our enemies armed with all that intel about us would be formidable. Fighting him would be the fight of my life. I couldn’t risk giving him more ammunition. I’d keep my emotional state to myself.

“I take it you want to go through with leaving the hospital,” I said, pivoting back to the topic of our earlier conversation.

“That’s the plan,” he said, his voice hoarse.

There were still so many things up in the air. Like this hitman targeting us. Like our fast-approaching wedding. While I was relieved that he was now well enough to attend the wedding in theory, I didn’t think either of us was ready for the wedding ceremony at all. We might finally be physically ready, but emotionally? I had no idea if my heart was prepared.

I turned to face him then. “That doesn’t sound like much of a plan at all. You’ll leave the hospital, and then what?”

“I solve this. Figure out what this conspiracy against us is all about—”

“You mean take down my father,” I accused, interrupting him.

“I don’t have the strength to argue with you, Valentina,” he muttered.

That was a major thing to admit on his part. Enzo didn’t like showing his hand—not even if it meant a chance at manipulating me. That reminded me that he wasn’t fully healed. If he wasn’t healed, then I had the upper hand.

“But you have the strength to fight all this?” I demanded.

“I will,” he growled, his words hard as flint striking steel.