AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I couldn’t tell you that, Nicola. You’ll have to ask him. But I suspect it’s because you’re the first he was able to rescue.” Laying my head against Domino’s chest, his strong heartbeat calms some of my nerves.
“Is this how you’re going to get the Santini’s to back off me? Tell them you have all this information, but you’ll keep it to yourselves to save me.” I don’t like the idea of these men getting away with killing families and kidnapping children.
Getting to his feet, Domino holds a hand out for me. Once standing, he grabs a chunk of my hair and tilts my head back.
“You are my priority, Nicola. Keeping you safe is all I care about.” The vehemence in his words soothes me. “But my brothers will be dismantling their entire organization and exposing them for the criminals they are one operation at a time.”
Chapter 6
Domino
For three days, I have watched Nicola wandering around the house and property. She’s distant and sad. Her inability to recall her parents' murders has been haunting her day and night.
Since the arrival of all my brothers, she’s been even more closed off, and now that I’ve finally convinced the four of them to visit the Morellos in Catania for the weekend, I intend to settle her ass down.
I’ve dismissed the house staff and locked the property tight. We are alone for the weekend until she returns to school on Monday, and I plan to keep her busy during this time. Starting with dinner on the back patio, overlooking the scenery beyond our property line.
Walking up behind Nicola as she watches the water, I lean against the brick wall. “Tell me about the scars.” I noticed them her first night here but never got to ask. Now, I need to know—especially the one on her thigh that’s so fresh.
Her grey eyes reflect a light blue as she stares over at me. “What do you want to know?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” I raise a brow.
She shakes her head. “No, Domino. Not with you, it isn’t. You’re a mystery that I don’t think I’ll ever unravel. You make these demands of me but then, just when I think you might care about me, you back off. I have whiplash.”
I was giving her space. Isn’t that what women want? “The scars,” I prompt.
“Which ones?” Her question makes me wonder if there are more than what I’ve seen. Which feels impossible given how exposed she was when I took her to bed.
“All of them.”
She blows out a breath before raising the skirt of her dress, revealing her hip. “These are from when I was about ten. A stupid boy dared me to climb a tree higher than he did, so I did. And then he and his friends threw rocks at me until I fell and landed on the stones.” She turns, exposing her neck. “This one is from after your father bought me. When I ran away from him, I was living on the streets for a few months. I had to fight off an attacker.”
She’s so fucking cavalier about it that I want to shake her. She should never have run away. “And your thigh?”
Walking away from me now, I suspect the story to this one is painful. I follow behind. “While I was in the detention center, there was a guard who liked to get handsy. When the girls said no, he’d mark us so the other guards knew we were fighters and didn’t follow the rules.”
“What was his name?” I’ll kill him with my bare hands.
Nicola spins so abruptly, I have to grasp her elbows to stop her from tumbling to the ground as we collide. “Why, Domino? So you can be the protector now? So you can save my virtue? A little late for that, don’t you think,daddy.”
Losing all gentlemanly pretense, I grip the back of her neck and her chin, forcing her to back-peddle until her back hits the wall of the house.
“Don’t get fucking condescending with me,cara mia. I will do anything for you,anything, and that includes punishing this smart mouth of yours.” Brushing my thumb across her bottom lip, Nicola’s hands clasp my biceps, digging her nails in. “Now tell me what the fuck he did to you and what his name is.”
Nipping at her jaw, I can feel her breathing pick up as she rubs against me. “What will you do to the bastard?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.” She’ll never see the dark side of me, the one that was stifled by a badge that betrayed me time and again. Now I’m home, truly home, and I can see where I am meant to be.
With Nicola.
But first, I need to ensure every demon from her past has been vanquished because I refuse to have her stolen from me.
“But I do worry, Domino. I will always worry because everything good in my life has repeatedly been ripped out of my hands the moment I’d felt like I belonged.” The tears collecting in her eyes are nearly my undoing.
“I’ll never fucking leave you, Nicola. Not even in death can I be dragged away from you.” I vow, capturing her lips in a possessive kiss.
* * *
