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"You couldn’t stop her? You could have—"
"Bound her and kept her confined to the house?" he asks.
Cazzo!I drag my fingers through my hair. He has a point there. No one gets to bind her, except me. No one gets to touch her, except me. No one gets to look at her, except me. It’s why, when I'd been unable to make it to the flower shop to pick her up, I'd sent Adrian. He’s the only one of my brothers I trust with her. Well, he’s also one of the only ones available, because Michael, Christian and Axel are married and too busy with their own family dramas. As for Luca and Massimo... Nope. No way am I going to let them get near her. Not that I don’t trust them with her…
Okay, I don’t trust them not to notice just how gorgeous she is, and fuck if I don’t want either of them spending any amount of time with her when I’m not around. Which leaves Adrian. And no, it would be a mistake to think Adrian is less menacing than the others. Bastard is the most unassuming of us seven, but he’s also the one most likely to surprise you when you least expect it. In a way, it makes him more dangerous, because people tend to underestimate him, so they never see him coming. Not until he’s pulled the rug out from under their feet. All of it done in his easy-going style. Which makes him quite lethal. Exactly the kind of man I’d entrust with protecting what’s most dear to me.
"So, you’re with her?"
"I am," replies.
"In the club?"
"Si."
"Does she know you’re there?"
"Do you think I’m a novice?" A hard note enters his voice.
"Still, I can’t understand why you didn’t stop her."
"I drove her home from work, left her there, then retreated to keep watch over the house. Sure enough, half an hour later, a car arrives to pick her up."
"Porca miseria,I told her not to go anywhere without telling me." I roll my shoulders. "I told her it was dangerous to be out on her own, that she shouldn’t be using any transportation, except for the one approved by me."
"And you expected her to obey you?" He chuckles.
"She didn’t say she wouldn’t." I shuffle my feet.
"You took her silence for assent?"
"Wouldn’t you?" I scowl.
He chuckles. "I wouldn’t let myself be in a situation where I’d allow a woman to shatter my peace of mind."
"That’s why you prefer to watch Cass from afar?"
There’s silence on the other end. I sense his anger zinging through the phone and whoa, isn't that interesting? The calm and collected Adrian, getting emotional enough to lose that air of affability he tightens around himself like a coat of armor.
"Keep stalking her without making a move, and one day, someone will come along and sweep her off her feet, from right under your nose Then, we’ll talk about peace of mind or any such naive notions you have," I drawl.
"If I were you, I’d be very careful what I say next. Don’t forget, I’m the only one here watching out for what’s yours," he growls.
I dig my fingers in my hair and tug. "Dio Santo,I didn’t mean to test you. I’m just stressed, is all."
"I take it meeting with theCamorrais not exactly pleasant?"
"It’s what Nonna wanted." I squeeze my eyes shut. Still can’t believe she’s gone. I’d grown up convinced she was immortal, that she’d outlive all of us. Funny how you take people for granted. Then they’re gone, and you realize just how much you relied on them. Losing my mother had been a blow, but I'd had Nonna to look up to. Losing my father had been a relief; it had felt like I could finally breathe. And we’d had Nonna, who’d told us it wasn’t wrong we didn’t feel any remorse about his death. But now that Nonna’s gone, who’s going to console us? Why does it feel like I’ve lost a big part of myself? A part of my past. A slice of what anchored me to this life. I never realized how emotionally dependent I was on Nonna, until she passed.
"I miss her, too. The old bat was a force of nature, and a pain in the ass, but she meant well. She looked out for us, used the old ways to guide us, while adapting quickly to the changing times. Guess we never gave her enough credit for how much guidance she gave us," he murmurs.
I squeeze the bridge of my nose. "She wanted us to make amends with theCamorra."
"Is that what she told Michael?" he asks.
Before Nonna passed away, she met with Michael and told him she wanted to see all her grandsons married within a month of her passing. She also insisted he bury our long-standing feud with theCamorra.
"With theBratvaand the Kane Company no longer at loggerheads with us, it leaves only theCamorrawho pose a threat to us. She made him promise he’d patch up our differences, especially in view of the fact half of us are married, not to mention the babies on the way."
