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The conviction within him ignited a spark in me; against all odds, hope lingered in his certainty—the kind that insists on outcomes worth fighting for despite all adversity.

“I’m going to go take a long, hot shower,” I declared, rising on shaking feet and clutching my wine as though it were the only thing keeping me upright. “If I’m still awake later, I’m going to eat a bowl of that.”

Vincenzo smirked. “I’ll save you some, don’t worry.”

Chapter 29 – Isabella

The water ran hot. This might not be the most aesthetically pleasing mini-mansion, and it definitely wasn’t my dream home. But the water heater was the kind that rapidly heated, causing an endless supply of goodness to pour through the faucet.

I took off my clothing, and something fluttered to the ground. I blinked at it. Nerves tingled through my extremities, bringing life to the places numbed by fear and overwhelmed with exhaustion.

My midnight stray was back.

Careful to keep the slip of paper away from the water splatter, I placed it at the back of my vanity. Sipping the rosé, I pondered the problem his reappearance proposed. It was a beautiful distraction from the overwhelming feelings swirling about inside me. I laid aside the crown, shaking off the authority and responsibility cloaking my existence. For a moment, I was just a girl…with a very strange boy.

He's probably aware that I’m in the mob.

I chewed my lip. And what was he? Capable of sneaking into the house, the very heavily guarded house, and thendisappearing without a trace. No name, no record. A ghost. My stalker had a brutal side. He was full of danger. It probably wasn’t a good thing that he had access to me so easily, so effortlessly.

“He does my dishes,” I countered.

A bad guy wouldn’t bother with cleaning up my nocturnal snacks. Ten little numbers, and then I would be near him again.

Invite him over!

The area between my legs hummed in agreement.

Throwing back the rest of the wine for courage, I tapped a message on my phone. The truth was, if I was going to have an issue with him sneaking over, I should already have had one. Since I still didn’t, it seemed a waste of time to worry about who and what he was.

“I should have let him go after that first night.” When he came to apologize with the cheesecake. “But I didn’t.”

Looking at my phone, I groaned. The request sounded lame. But how else did I phrase the simple question of: Would you come over tonight? There were only a few ways to manipulate those words. I pressed send, slapped my phone screen down on the vanity, and hopped into the shower.

Water gurgled down the drain.“Now you’ve done it,”it seemed to taunt.

I sighed. “I have a stalker, who I’m trying to have a connection with while keeping him separate from my life as a mob boss.”

If that wasn’t a cluster bomb, I didn’t know what was.

“I have a stalker,” I repeated, choosing to dwell on the simpler aspect of the situation. “One with whom I’m trying to create a deeper connection.”

The confession floated to the ceiling on a plume of heat. A similar burst of warmth coiled deep in my core. Santa Caterina, that freaking turned me on to admit. Damn me, but I didn’t want to stop seeing him.

He was my secret. A piece of the puzzle that was my very own. The famiglia I shared with my men, their families, and our community. Jaxon was a treasure I could keep for myself.

So what if he didn’t have legal paperwork? One look in his eyes, and there was a glimpse at a heavy story. Those eyes were intense. It made sense to me that he didn’t exist on paper. Hell, I technically didn’t either! But my background check would at least produce a story instead of turning up empty. It was easy to forge aliases.

It boiled down to the fact that I trusted Jaxon. And what was more…I wanted him.

“That’s it, it’s settled,” I mused.

Though what that entailed, I wasn’t quite sure I could define.

I opened the glass door to check my phone for a response.

I nearly dropped the thing.

A large hand shot out to catch it before it hit the tile and shattered.