That seems to wake him up because a second later he’s perched on the edge of the bed with his elbows on his knees.
“I’m sorry, youwatchedhim fuck her?”
Pressing my eyes closed only to snap them open again when the image returns, I suck in a breath. “She knew I was there. She fucking knew I was there and let him fuck her anyway.”
“Once a whore, always a whore,” he muses, and it’s on the tip of my tongue to defend her the way I always have. Even when I thought she ran away with our baby, I still defended her. Every time he or Dad would insult her, I was the first person to come to her defense.
But I was stupid, and they were right the whole time.
Everything they thought about her was right, and now I can’t help but think maybe she was lying to me at the hospital. Maybe she is the snake they warned me she was.
Did love really cloud my judgment so spectacularly that I couldn’t see she was using me?
I thought it hurt when she left, when I found out she was pregnant and didn’t bother telling me, but watching the woman you love fuck someone else hurts more than almost anything else.
“What’s your plan to get her away from the bodyguard and back to Miami?” I ask.
Damon smirks. “This is going to be so much fucking easier with you on board.”
CHAPTER FORTY
RYKER
THEN
THREE MONTHS AGO
Camilla De Marco is not what I expected at all, especially considering the stories I’ve heard about her.
But at five-foot-nothing and in an oversized shirt that I’m pretty sure belongs to one of her boyfriends, she looks more like a school girl than a mafia queen.
“Have there been any direct threats to your housekeeper?” I ask, my tone more bored than I intend it to be.
I don’t want to be here, and although I take the orders my boss gives me seriously, I can’t help but feel like I’ve done something wrong to get assigned to glorified babysitting duty.
“House manager,” she corrects me, moving papers around the desk she’s sitting at. I’m almost positive this wasn’t her father’s office, but seeing as he was killed in that room, that probably makes sense. “And no. But she is perhaps the only person on this earth my enemies can use against me, and therefore I want her safe.”
“And your army of security you have surrounding this place won’t suffice?”
Camilla sighs and looks up at me though gray eyes. She’s unamused by my questions, but they have merit, regardless of what she and the boss think. “Listen, Ryker. I know this isn’t your usual jam, but when I reached out to your boss to ask about security for Chloe, he assured me you were the best. That you can kill someone before they have the chance to lift a hand in defense. He was also adamant that you were the only person he would trust with her safety if she were in danger, which means you are who I want guarding her, even if you think this job is beneath you.”
I open my mouth to argue, but quickly snap it shut again.
I assumed this girl must mean something to my boss, but for him to tell Camilla there’s no one else he trusts with her safety is a huge compliment, and I’d be stupid to take it as anything other than exactly that.
“I know very little of Chloe’s past and I haven’t been able to find much in Dad’s files, but from what I can gather is that she ran from another crime family. She rarely leaves the house, even after being here for years, and when she does she takes the time to disguise herself.”
I nod along, thinking back to the file I was sent but not recalling any information to contradict what Camilla is saying.
“I’m hoping to have this current threat neutralized within the coming months, but politics in mafia families is complicated, and I want to ensure her long-term safety throughout this transition.”
“I’ll make sure she’s safe,” I tell her, earning me a slight smile.
“One other thing, if she finds out I hired her a bodyguard, she’s going to lose her shit. So I need you to be discreet about being her personal guard. We’ll tell her you’re a new memberof the team, and you’ll need to tail her to make sure she’s okay outside these walls.”
This job just gets better and better.
“Sure,” I reply, trying and failing to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
