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Not that I really cared. This was the last day. The final end of the cruel and humiliating chapter of my life that had been mine for the last six years. I just had to get through today and I was free. But more importantly, my mom would be cared for until she died. The heartbreaking thought that it wouldn’t be long distracted me enough that I clearly didn’t respond fast enough for Sofia. In a moment, I was wearing the contents of her breakfast tray, and she was screaming in my face. I didn’t move for a full five seconds as Sofia’s tirade continued, trying to tell myself that I could do this. Seven hours. That’s all it was. Seven more hours until I could start my life. I ignored Sofia and bent to the floor, scooping up the eggs in my fingers, rescuing the toast from under the bed, and dabbing at the freshly squeezed orange juice that decorated the carpet. I ignored the burn on my hand that her hot coffee had caused. I straightened up, at which point Sofia seemed to be running out of steam, only to have the door open and Elisabetta sail in, obviously drawn by the tantrum her daughter was having. I didn’t bother to stop or wait for another storm to ignite because Elisabetta’s were worse than Sofia’s and used the distraction to slip out. I knew I’d pay for it, but right at that moment I just needed—
My yell of surprise was smothered with the large hand that covered my mouth as I was yanked back into the large empty room next to Sofia’s. Heart pounding, even as another hand rescued the tray I was just about to use as my only available weapon, I kicked back and tried to elbow the hard wall that pressed against my back.
The low, rumbling chuckle in my ear made me freeze. “Alessandro, my apologies. I need to speak urgently with you, and I couldn’t let you scream.”
I sagged as my heart rate slowed. I recognized the voice. Of course, I did. Sofia’s fiancé and the new boss of the Banetti crime family as of today wasn’t someone easily forgotten.
Even if I wished I could.
I felt him pause and I nodded to show I understood. I took a deep breath as his hand moved and nearly groaned as the scent of whatever cologne Dario Banetti wore hit my lungs and spread to other parts of my anatomy. Something as dark and dangerous as the man himself. I shook my head a little to recover but then stilled as I realized he hadn’t let me go. I was still very firmly pressed back to his chest, and I stiffened as his head bent to whisper, but then he drew a deep breath as well. This was insane. “I know who you areSignoreBanetti,” I whispered. “Please let me go.”
In an instant, the arms were gone, and I turned to face him, my heart not slowing.
“I think we have known each other long enough for you to call me Dario.”
I nearly laughed at the lie. I doubted Dario Banetti ever noticed the mice scuttling beneath his feet. I stared into brown eyes so dark they were almost black. A bit like his heart. Whatever spark that had called to me when I was a child and he was a teenager, had been snuffed out by money and the blood of his enemies. They were all the same. Vultures who pretended to be kings, but they still preyed on the innocent, feasting on them like roadkill. And despite him being very much my type, Mafia Dons didn’t go for skinny guys. I nearly rolled my eyes. Let’s face it, they didn’t go for guys, full stop.
That was one line they never crossed.
“What can I do for you,SignoreBanetti?” I even made sure to address him in the more formal version of the wordsignor, but the slight curve of his lips to show what he thought of my refusal to call him by his first name was unfortunately as sexy as the rest of him. I ignored the stab in my heart and certain other places that generally needed both my own hand and dirty thoughts to trigger. My breath hitched as he lifted his hand and brought it to my head, plucking something from my hair and then frowning as he looked at the piece of scrambled egg in his hand.
And of course, because my fairy godmother had turned in her wand and decided unemployment was a safer option, there wasn’t a hole in the floor that would swallow me. Right at that moment, I would have settled for a portal to another dimension. I was already in hell, how scary could it be? “The breakfast tray met with an accident,” I offered.
He frowned. “I heard.” Panic clutched at my chest with claws sharper than Elisabetta’s nails. I couldn’t let this man change his mind. The wedding had to happen.
“It was an accident. Brides are always nervous on their wedding day. The pressure of everything. She wants to look perfect for you,” I continued, not sure my word-vomit was helping as his frown didn’t lessen, and suddenly wondering why he was here as I trailed off. “It’s bad luck.”
One eyebrow raised in silent inquiry.
“To see her, I mean. Before the wedding.”
“Ah,” he smiled, and I sighed. Rich, handsome, sexy, and he smelled really good? Of course, he was also a bastard that cheated, tortured, and murdered people for a living so that kind of cancelled out that killer smile.
Liar, my treacherous heart whispered.
I don’t care, my perfidious cock agreed.
“I didn’t come to see Sofia, and I believe I told you to call me Dario.”
I huffed this time, my nerves and my patience rapidly declining. “Look, we both know I can’t call you Dario—”
“You just did,” he countered. “I liked it.” Then all his words registered.
“If you didn’t come to see Sofia, why are you creeping about next to her bedroom?” The words were out before I thought they might not be such a good idea. This time the smile was wider, and I couldn’t help staring at the little crinkles at the corner of his eyes, or his white teeth as his tongue ran over them, or the way his eyes seemed to strip me with little effort.
“I came to talk to you.”
For a mad moment I even glanced over my shoulder in case there was someone else in the room, but then when I looked back I was still the focus of his considerable attention. “Why?” But then I guessed. “Did you bring a gift?” He clearly wanted to surprise Sofia and I was suddenly touched he would do it himself instead of just arranging a delivery.
“A gift?” he repeated, looking a little taken aback.
“Yes, do you want me to smuggle it in?”
Because he looked like he wanted to laugh, sudden fury made me sick of this conversation. “Look, I’m sorrySignoreBanetti—”
“Dario,ragazzo carino.”
Still ignoring you.And I wasn’t a pretty boy despite what he wanted to call me. “Sofia’s stylists and dressmaker will be here very soon, and they will be setting up in this room. She hasn’t had her breakfast. I need to get her another tray. I—”
