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“What do you mean you’re here for Chiara?” Noticing Thomas’s eyes laser-focused on my breasts, I quickly returned my arms over my chest.
And when Enzo turned to the side and peered at me, his brows slanted in anger, clearly not wanting Thomas to see me, either.
“My mom had a heart attack, and she wants to see her granddaughter,” Thomas finally remarked.
“Your robe,” Enzo gruffly stated, ignoring Thomas’s words.
I wasn’t one to obey orders, but I didn’t want any blood spilled on my floors, and I had the distinct feeling Enzo might actually lose his mind if Thomas continued to admire my body. And why in the world was he checking me out now? Desire had been absent from his gaze long before our marriage had ended.
“Is your mother okay?” I finally asked, shaking away my thoughts, and then I motioned for him to follow me. I needed a robe, so it would seem.
Enzo shot his muscular arm out, stopping Thomas. “Give her a moment to cover up,” he nearly snarled, lifting his chin as if saying, Don’t think about arguing.
Thomas scowled, apparently in no mood to cower to the intimidating man today like he’d done in the past. Not that I cared, but he’d grown a pair since we’d split. “My mom will be okay,” he finally answered, eyes back on me. “She’s being discharged from the ER, but I’m taking off work to visit, and I’m bringing Chiara with me.”
My arms fell weakly to my sides at the idea of this man taking my daughter away on a trip without me. Enzo shot me daggers, then hissed something in Italian, and before I knew it, he hurried past me and returned within seconds with my robe in hand. Bossy, bossy.
“My parents live an hour away. It’s not like I’m taking her out of the country. But part of the divorce arrangement is that I get to go on two trips with her a year to see my family. And, well, it’s happening now.” Thomas’s angry stare bounced between Enzo and me as if daring me to challenge him on this or else.
“I need time. I can’t just ...” I slipped on the robe and tied the belt, and Enzo seemed to breathe again.
“It’s her grandmother. I know you never liked my mom, but this isn’t about you, is it?” Thomas snapped.
“Your mom hates me. Hated us together,” I reminded him. “God, the number of times she complained I wasn’t good enough. Too curvy. Too—”
“Looks like the divorce helped you drop a few pounds,” Thomas noted, his eyes moving over my body yet again, probably to piss off Enzo. Such a bad idea. “Though it seems you kept the curves where they matter.”
Enzo had Thomas against the wall within a second, a forearm to his windpipe. “Go ahead,” Enzo challenged in an eerily low voice, “say that again.”
Thomas gripped Enzo’s forearm, struggling to breathe. He searched for help from me, but he’d been the idiot to goad a man like Enzo.
Reluctantly, I decided to save him. “Enzo.” I grabbed his shoulder and yanked. “Stop.”
Enzo’s shoulders fell, and he finally released him.
Thomas circled a hand around his throat as if mortified at what had happened. “I’m taking Chiara with me. Don’t make me get the lawyers involved,” Thomas declared, and that threat was the real knife to the heart. That was the last thing in the world I wanted.
“How many days?” I’d never been away from her for more than forty-eight hours. He had her only two weekends a month. And it was always hell, those forty-eight or so hours.
“As long as nothing critical with work pops up, I’ll be there until Sunday.” He adjusted the cuffs of his suit jacket and squared his shoulders, as if trying to regain some of his manhood that Enzo had stolen.
But wait. Sunday? Today was Tuesday. Ohhh hell no. “Thomas, I understand it’s part of our arrangement, but that’s a long trip. And I don’t feel comfortable with this.”
“Well, you have an hour to get comfortable with it, because that’s when I’m leaving, and Chiara’s coming with me.” Thomas turned and shot me a look from over his shoulder. “Bring her to my place by eight, or I’m calling the lawyers, and you’ll be the one with trip restraints.” He snarled as he headed for the door, and I tried to process everything that’d just happened. Was he really threatening me?
“Tell me what you want me to do.” Enzo gently held both my arms, urging me to look at him after the door closed. “Tell me, and I’ll do it.”
I wasn’t sure what he was asking, but it felt like he was suggesting he could “handle” my ex for me in a way that wouldn’t involve lawyers. Chills crept up my spine at the thought. But he wouldn’t really ... would he?
My lower lip quivered as his gaze met mine. “Your past really is dark, isn’t it?” I whispered as recognition dawned on me. “And I don’t mean from your time in the army.”
He let go of me and tapped a fist against his lips twice, as if grappling with what to say.
“Dark as in dark-dark?” I couldn’t even ask the real question burning hot through my mind. I’d be naive to think he’d never taken a life while in uniform, but had he taken one outside the army?
“The irredeemable kind of dark, Maria,” he returned in a low voice, and his pained expression as he stared at me was an answer in itself.
“You killed Bianca’s murderer.” It was no longer a question occupying that back corner of my mind. It was now a fact. One scribed in blood.
