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“Oh? What do you need?” I crossed my arms, enjoying his grumbling. He seemed more like a man today and not a terrifying figurehead of one of New York’s most dangerous mafias.
He popped open one eye and stared at me. “You, in this bed with me for the rest of the day.” His eyes lowered down my body, lingering on the short hem of my oversized, borrowed t-shirt.
“That would be terrible for your stitches and totally against doctor’s orders,” I said primly.
“Fuck the doctor’s orders,” he said, pushing himself up.
I held out a hand toward him, panicking at the sight of his bandage pulling. “No, wait! Let me bring breakfast and take care of you a little… think of it as making amends for getting you stabbed.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You need to do something about this martyr complex of yours. I told you it wasn’t your fault. Now you’ve told me about your mother, I know what happened two months ago isn’t your fault. You’re still taking the blame for other people, tesora.”
His tone was firm, almost a command, and it was one I vowed in my head to try to take. “If you want to nurse me, I’ll let you… for a while,” he continued. I met his eyes again, and the heat in them stole my breath. “After that – you’re mine, Chiara. I can’t wait too long.”
His expression told me exactly what he wasn’t planning on waiting long for, and I’d be lying if the thought didn’t set me on fire.
I nodded, backing away through the door.
A thrill of excitement shot through me as I rummaged in the fridge for food. Should I feel excited when I was standing on the edge of a war between my family and another? Should I be excited at the prospect that my half-brother, Giacomo, was probably going to be killed by the man who had given me my first real orgasm and planned to fuck me hard as soon as he healed? No, I shouldn’t, but I was. I couldn’t deny it.
I’d lived my life alone, locked in a cage, and suddenly, light was flooding in. I was excited for the future—a first for me. I wasn’t only thinking about surviving another day intact or making sure my mother was alright for one more night. I was thinking about living,reallyliving, and being happy. Wrong or not, I couldn’t regret that feeling.
* * *
Antonio made a terrible patient.He was irritable and bored within hours, and I couldn’t come too close to the bed because he’d drag me under the sheets with him. He’d already ripped his stitches twice in three days.
Finally, a male nurse stayed on site to take care of him while I wandered around the apartment. If I’d entertained any worries of being bored, I was soon relieved of them. Suna brought her son by every day, and I got to meet the only Luciano I’d never met before—Rafaelle, and his wife, Elena. She was a ballet dancer and a fascinating person. Suna, Elena, and I sat for hours, talking over coffee or playing with the baby. We didn’t speak about Giacomo and what would happen when Antonio recovered.
On the fourth day after the attack, Vincenzo arrived at the apartment to collect his wife. I met the head of the Luciano family in the flesh for the first time.
“I’m glad to hear my brother has stopped setting back his recovery,” Vincenzo said, taking a swig of mineral water and eyeing me curiously.
Suna had brought me a t-shirt and shorts since I still had no clothes. It didn’t seem like the best time to ask Antonio to go shopping, so I made do.
“The doctor said he’s nearly there. He heals quickly, apparently,” I said nervously like the eldest Luciano was judging my worth.
He nodded, capping the bottle. “He’s strong. Far stronger than he knows. You realize now he is better, well, better enough, that vengeance must be paid.”
He turned to his wife as she wandered into the room and held the baby carrier out to him. Without a word, one of the most dangerous men in New York started to strap a Baby Bjorn to his broad chest.
“I know.”
Vincenzo nodded, turning back to me, his power entirely undiminished by the tiny infant Suna placed against his chest. “And you won’t blame Antonio for whatever needs doing? He has no choice.”
“I know. My brother broke the rules. He needs to be punished. I’m surprised the vicious Lucianos let it go this long. It’s been four days already. People must be talking.”
I stood a little straighter as both Vincenzo and Suna looked closer at me, no doubt wondering where my scathing confidence had come from. They had no idea it was a practiced part of my former act. I could bluff at being brave with the best of them.
Vincenzo tilted his head toward his wife while their eyes fixed on me.“Okay, I see it now. I confess I didn’t get it as quickly as you did, but I see it now.”
“See what?”
“Antonio and you. It makes sense. You’re a match for him, and I’m glad.” Vincenzo turned, pressing a kiss to his wife’s cheek and then to his baby’s head, resting below his chin. “The reason it’s been four days is because it’s Antonio’s task. He wants to do it himself, and he will, once he’s up to it.”
“His side is barely held together, and you’re going to let him go off and hurt himself again?”
“I don’t let my brother do anything. He’s a handful, something you’ll come to realize. Besides, in my family, we don’t impede matters of the heart.”
“Matters of the heart,” I repeated cynically.
