Page 88 of The Doctor

I held on to him for dear life, because I was sure something was wrong. He’d left Paulo’s penthouse without a word to me. According to Santini, he’d disappeared after chasing Paulo inside the hospital. I feared the leader of the D’Angelo Syndicate was gone, that the only reason Zee was next to me instead of at Paulo’s side was because there was no more Paulo to tend to.

But when Zeno wrapped his arm around my waist and yanked me against him, when he tilted his head and slanted his lips across mine, all my fears were placed firmly on the back burner, and the only thing I could focus on was him.

The taste of him.

The feel of his hard body against my own.

The complete possession that raged through him as he held me like he couldn’t go on.

Love pulsed between us, and with the way he claimed my mouth, I knew this kiss was only a prelude. This kiss was an apology. A plea.

The edge of the cliff we’d just fallen off.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” My father seized my arm, wrenching me backward when all I wanted to do was get back into Zeno’s arms. “You son of a bitch!”

Zee’s eyes flared as his gaze raked across the tight grip my father had on my arm. “Let her go!”

“Like hell, I will!” The man who’d stopped caring about me before I was even born pushed me behind his back, blocking my way. “How dare you touch her?”

“How dare I?” Zee tried to step toward me, but my father pushed forward, until the two were nose to nose. “How dare you show up here and act like you suddenly care?”

“She’s my daughter—”

“You haven’t even tried to contact her since that asshole tried to rape her. Neither of you! You think you can drop her on my doorstep and she’s no longer your problem? Well guess what, Berto? She’s no longer your problem.”

“You son of a—”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Stephano yelled. My father’s shoulder slammed into my face as his body jerked backward. Holding my throbbing cheek, I peeked around him, only to find Stephano standing between the two men.

“Stephano, what are you doing?” my mother cried.

My brother snatched my arm, wrenching me forward, not giving a damn that the motion slammed me into my father’s shoulder again. “He’s telling the truth, you know.” My brother tossed me behind himself like I weighed nothing. “All her life, Zee’s been the one taking care of her. You made her his problem. You dumped her on his doorstep every fucking chance you got. And now you’re surprised that they’re fucking?”

I’d never seen my father’s face go so red. “He’s twenty years older than her!”

“Yeah?” Stephano shrugged. “It’s creepy as fuck, but so what? At least he was there to take care of her when you wouldn’t. At least he’s keeping her from getting tossed into the sewers after she’s too doped up to know what’s going on. Did you even bother checking in on her once in the past month? When’s the last time you even asked her how she was?”

All the blood in my mother’s face drained right out. Bottom lip trembling, she turned her perfect blue eyes my way. “Clara?”

I gripped Zeno’s hand, only for him to pull free of my grasp and wrap me in his arms. What more could I say, even if Stephano hadn’t rendered me speechless? While everything he said was true, I was in shock that my perfect brother had pitted himself against our parents in order to stand up for me.

Jet cleared his throat again, stepping closer to Stephano as if he could push the man out of his way. “If you could please just put this discussion aside for a moment, I really need to talk to Clara so I can find out what the hell happened today.”

“She saved us.” Nadia’s quiet voice rose from behind me, and everyone’s attention swung her way.

“Nadia?” My father stepped forward, stopping only when Jet put a hand on his chest to hold him back.

“Who are you?” Jet asked.

My father didn’t give her a chance to answer. “That’s Nadia Fattore. She’s Paulo’s old flame.”

“Current flame,” Zee added, motioning for her to come closer.

Jet’s brow pulled into a deep V, but he didn’t say anything, allowing Nadia to speak.

“Clara saved us.” The woman put her hand on my shoulder, and my heart clenched at the sad smile on her face. “We were ambushed when we came out of Paulo’s penthouse. She knocked me to the ground and took care of Paulo until the ambulance arrived, and she…”

She swept my hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear.