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“How the fuck do I tell her this?” I ask the room at large. Santi stops speaking on the phone, and Maso and Donato shrug. I didn’t expect an answer, but I was hoping for some advice. Because as wild as her temper is, this is going to break her heart.
Shoving back from the desk, I prowl around the room like a caged tiger. Ready to snap and snarl at anyone who gets in my way. “Dude, you’re going to have to calm down first.” I hear Maso, but I don’t care.
I’m fucking livid that these people thought they could play with Nicola’s life like it’s a goddamned board game. She’s hopped from one trauma to the next her entire life. And now, here I am, a demanding, aggressive, possessive asshole who still can’t handle the idea of letting her go, even if that’s what she wants.
Storming towards the doors, I feel my brothers’ eyes on me as I leave the room and go in search of the woman I left alone in my bed. My cheek throbs as I remember the blow she delivered to me last night. Deservedly so. I should have followed her upstairs after that, but the information kept coming, and I needed to gather it all before I could offer her comfort and answers.
However she reacts to this news, I’ll be ready. I’ll accept her wrath because I know there will be plenty of it.
Bursting through my bedroom door, the bed is empty, and there’s no sign of her. Worry worms its way through me as I go back downstairs, towards the kitchen.
A fresh carafe of coffee sits on the counter, and there’s a note next to it. In Nicola’s feminine scrawl, she explains where she’s heading and the time she left. With over an hour’s headstart on me, I’m pissed she didn’t come find me.
“Nicola’s gone!” I shout as I head to the garage. Getting in my SUV, I back out as fast as the rising door allows me. Noticing a delivery van with the logo of the local pet store in the driveway, dropping off four huge bags of dog food, I breathe a little easier.
Rolling down my window, I stop the man and ask, “Did you see the girl who bought those?” He nods. “How long ago?”
“Bought them an hour or so ago. She left the store with another guy about her age.” My anger ignites to infuriating levels as I speed down the driveway and race towards the markets, searching for Nicola on every corner. After ten minutes, I finally spot her in a park.
Cornered against a tree, I can see the fear in her eyes as two police officers harass her. Capo is standing between them with her hand on his head. Likely the only thing keeping the dog calm.
“Hey!” I shout as I barely get the vehicle in park and jump out, ready for a confrontation. “What the fuck are you doing with her?”
I only get a quick glimpse of her eyes before she lowers them, and what I see, I don’t like. She’s fucking petrified.
“This isn’t your concern, sir,” one of the officers says, placing his hand on his holster.
Biting back the laugh in my throat, I stalk forward. Capo relaxes slightly, and Nicola tenses further. Clasping the back of her neck, I draw her out of the corner they’ve trapped her in and wrap an arm across her shoulders. She’s vibrating.
“That’s where you’re wrong. As my soon-to-be wife, she’s completely my concern.” I squeeze her shoulder when I feel her stiffen because I know she’s gearing up to give me an argument. “So I ask again, what the fuck do you think you’re doing cornering my girl against a tree?”
“Her dog is vicious. It should be muzzled,” the other officer defends.
“The fuck he is! You were trying to provoke him into attacking you by cornering me. They’re lying, Domino. He didn’t even growl at them.” I can hear the tears in words.
“Shh, baby. I’ve got this.” The officers share a look that tells me they chose Nicola on purpose. They sought her out. “Come near her again, and I’ll gut you both like pigs. You can tell your boss the same.” Turning the girl in my arms around, I guide her to the SUV. After helping her and Capo in, we head back home.
“I never thanked you for Capo,” Nicola expresses quietly before glancing up at me and holding my stare. “Thank you, Domino.”
Nodding, I start the car. “You’re welcome. Seems he’s a good fit.”
The remainder of the ride is tense and silent until I park in the garage and the overhead door closes. Enraptured in darkness, I hesitate a beat before getting out. Striding over to her side of the vehicle, I first let the dog out, then open her door. With an offered hand, I help Nicola to her feet.
Slamming the door shut behind her, I see the way she flinches in the dim light spilling in from the side windows of the building. Corralling Nicola against the metal frame, much the same way the officers did to her against the tree, I enclose her within my arms.
“What the fuck did you think you were doing, going out there alone and without fucking telling me?” I bark at her, but inside, my body is drawn to hers. Dying to infiltrate her sweet body. All I want to do is fuck her until we’re both blind.
Blowing out a breath, she challenges me. “I didn’t realize I was trapped here.” Nicola crosses her arms and lifts her chin in defiance. All gratitude gone.
“Trapped?” A merciless laugh bubbles up in my throat. “You aren’t fucking trapped, Nicola, but how about some fucking courtesy? Maybe letting the man you’re sleeping with know that you didn’t fucking disappear and went to get shit for your dog.”
I know I’m being unreasonable and barking at her, but that second when I realized she was gone, I honestly didn’t know if she would be back.
“Maybe if you stopped treating me like a petulant child and yelling at me all the time, I’d let you know when I do things.” Her hands push at my chest as she attempts to escape, but I only encroach further, making her one with the vehicle’s frame.
“Don’t fuck with me, Nicola. I won’t hesitate to do what every other man in your life has.” My warning is met with laughter.
“What? Fuck me and make me call you daddy? Because I promise you, Domino, I don’t need a daddy.” The wobble in her chin says differently, and I’m suddenly reminded of the shit she’s gone through in her life.
