Page 23 of Taking His Heart

“Then say yes.” I shrug. “What is it you’re so afraid of? Because I now know whatever has you holding back, it has nothing to do with love.”

“You think I don’t love you, CJ?” She laughs. “It’s because I love you that I can’t be with you. It’s because I love you that I can’t lead you into a life with me.” Her words are quiet. There’s a slight shake to her voice.

“Okay,” I say.

“Okay?” She looks at me, confused.

“I’ve tried, Dani. I’m not going to continue beating a dead horse. You don’t want to be won over. You’re not playing the hard to get game, because you don’t want to be gotten. I’m done. I’ll leave you alone from now on. That’s what you want, isn’t it?” I’m not even sure if I’m capable of leaving her alone when she’s in the same house. But I need to put some boundaries up. I can’t keep putting myself out there like this. It’s fucking torture.

Maybe I should go home. I don’t even live here. I have no reason to keep hanging around my parents’ house. Except for the fact she’s here. Why are they still in town?

“I… I understand,” Daniella says.

“Great. See you around, Dani.” I step past her and open the door, leaving her standing in my bedroom.

I need to get as far away from her as I can. I need to get back to work. Find something to occupy my mind that isn’t Daniella.

I walk into my father’s office. “I’m heading into town,” I tell him.

He looks up from his desk and shakes his head. “You were just shot a few days ago, CJ. Take some time to heal, recover,” he says.

“I’m fine. I need to work. I need to get out of this house,” I tell him. “Have you found anything out about the shooting?”

I’ve asked multiple times a day. I’ve watched the footage from the cameras on the Strip, followed the car through the street cams until it went under a tunnel and never came out.

We sent some guys into that tunnel. They found the car abandoned. I had it towed to a warehouse and searched but it came up completely empty. Not a single fingerprint was left on the car, which tells me whoever aimed at Daniella wasn’t an amateur. It also tells me they probably won’t stop at one failed attempt.

“No. Have you gotten anything out of her as to why someone would want to be targeting her?”

“My best guess would be it has something to do with whatever business Gio De Bellis is doing here in Vegas,” I say.

“You’d be right.” The voice comes from behind me. The man himself. “I’m here to collect on an old debt. And it seems they’re not too keen to pay up.”

“Why would they target her and not you?”

Gio glances in my direction. “You think I wouldn’t rather them come after me?” he asks.

“I think it was fucking stupid to bring her here in the first place. She shouldn’t be a target.”

“You’re right. I’m sending her home. She’s leaving in two days.”

At this news, my hope of her figuring her head out and finally allowing herself what she wants vanishes. There’s a part of me that wants her to stay, and another part of me that wants her out of my fucking city and far away from me.

I do my best to school my features. The last thing I need is for Daniella’s father to realize just how into his daughter I am. I personally don’t have a problem with anyone knowing, but she wanted us to be a secret, and I’m respecting her wishes on that. Even after what I just heard her admit to her family…

“I’ve arranged her marriage,” he says, and all the air leaves my lungs.

“You what?” My words come out louder than I anticipated.

“It will keep her safe. She’ll be the wife of a Don,” Gio says.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me? You can’t be serious? Does she know?” I ask.

“CJ,” my father hisses my name in warning. “This really isn’t any of our business.”

“Like fuck it isn’t. She’s not some prized horse you can auction off. She’s a person,” I growl.

Gio’s lips tip up as if he finds me amusing. “Your father is right, CJ. This isn’t any of your business.” He pauses and then adds, “Unless you want it to be.”