Page 51 of Revenge on the Mafia

I paced the short stretch of the room. Once. Twice. So many times that I lost count. Maybe there was something wrong with him. He needed to get someone to look into his head. I stopped and stared at him. He stared right back at me. His chest rising and falling. Bullshit. I paced again. He was the kind of crazy that even the best doctors couldn’t cure. “Estás loco. Why on earth would you suggest such a thing?”

He didn’t reward me with an answer. I stopped and snapped at him. “Ridiculous. You’re an idiot, or you’re crazy.”

He remained silent.

“No.” I corrected myself. “You’re both. And an asshole, and a murderer, and, and… and,” I cried out in frustration, “Tell me why!”

“Does it matter?”

“¡Sí, joder!”

His fist curled and uncurled at his side.

“This is absurd. You know I’ll kill you,” I threatened.

His mouth twisted. “I'm going to die one day, anyway. Dying buried inside you sounds like a good way to go.”

Joder. The room was turning red. “There’s no fucking way I’m sleeping with you.” I paced again. Every muscle in my body was throwing a fit. I thought I might be sick. I clutched my stomach. “No way,” I muttered. Get the hell out of here. So he had my bag, so what? I could get a new passport or something. Crawling to my death would be a better option than marrying him. I wanted to off him, not marry him. I stormed toward the door. “I don’t need a month. I can kill you now.”

He cocked his head. “How?”

¡Puto gilipollas! Was the fucker laughing at me? “I’d find a way.”

His lips twisted. “We both know I can block you at every turn, mia piccola assassina. One month and I’ll help you finish the job.”

“Yeah, right.” I scoffed. “You’re going to help me kill you?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Why?”

“Because I deserve it.” He opened the door. “You get five minutes.”

I grabbed the door. “I don’t need five. The answer is no.”

He shot me a look, and I took a hurried step back. Violence brewed in his eyes. Suddenly, I remembered how dangerous this man was.

“Suit yourself. But if you’re not in my car in five minutes, I’ll show you my next card.” He swallowed the space between us with one threatening step. “You have no fucking idea what I’m capable of, mia piccola assassina. Believe me, you don’t want me close to your family.”

My chest hollowed. “You know nothing about my family,” I choked out.

He put his mouth close to my ear. His words sent a chill through my body. “I know fucking everything about your family.”

With that, he walked out the door.

My legs turned to rubber. I collapsed onto the floor.

I know fucking everything about your family.

He didn’t. Of course he didn’t. But was I going to take the risk? He’d taken Papá from me. Like hell if I’d allow him anywhere near Mamá or Mara.

CHAPTER TWENTY

NICO

Two hundred and seventy-two seconds later, she burst out of the crappy motel. The door swung dangerously on its hinges, swinging to embrace her, push her back in, but her rage was too great to keep her contained. When she crossed the street, she kept her murderous glare pinned on me. Didn’t even look before she crossed. My hand twitched to put her across my lap and slap her smart ass for taking risks with her fucking life.

I had a sequence in my head. Calculating. Building up. I couldn’t even get to sixteen of them before I gave up. Numbers were the one thing that I could control. Even that, she took from me. Along with my fucking sanity.