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I still wanted to punch him, but I couldn’t punish him for thinking I wasn’t good enough for his daughter when I knew for a fact he was right. “Ain’t whinin’. I know she’s way outta my league. Why are you trying to make me look like the worst possible person for her?”
Giovanni snorted. “Because you were the experienced one in that encounter. You took advantage of a woman under your complete control, damn the consequences.” I couldn’t argue. I’d been beating myself up over that very same thing since the last time I’d seen her leaving with her family. “She might not have been able to reconcile her feelings with the reality of the situation, but you could. You saw a woman you wanted, and you took her.”
“I know I’m a bastard, Alexi. I was a bastard to put her in that situation for any reason. I’ll even admit that I thought I could keep her safe but that my job was more important than one woman. But it didn’t take long for me to realize how fuckin’ wrong I was. As to what happened between me and Rose --”
“Bella!” Alexi snapped, lunging for me and grabbing my throat. He shoved me against the wall and got right in my face, teeth flashing. “Her name is Bella! Or Bellarose. You will address her as such!”
I let Alexi do what he needed. It wasn’t anything I wouldn’t have done in his place.
“Come on, Alex. Let it go for now.”
“This bastard…”
“We know what he did. We also know Bella’s old enough to make her own decisions. As she told us, if she hadn’t wanted to do something with him, she’d have gone down fighting.”
Alexi bared his teeth at me again and shoved. Straightening his jacket once more, he turned his back on me and strode into the formal dining room.
The women were at the table. Alexi’s wife, Rose’s mother, Merrily, sat at the table with Rose. The two chatted lightly, if a bit more reserved than I’d have thought, and they didn’t seem to notice the group of men approaching them. Alexi cleared his throat, and the two women faced us. Merrily smiled warmly, Rose gasped sharply. Her gaze zeroed in on mine, and she looked me up and down. When she looked at me once more, there were tears in her eyes she seemed to be trying desperately to hold back. She swallowed and hung her head, taking breath after deep breath. When she faced me again, her face was carefully blank.
“Welcome, Atlas,” Merrily greeted. “Please sit down next to Bella.”
Rose glanced up nervously before putting her head down once more. Was she ashamed to see me? Did I misread the whole situation? Maybe Alexi had been right. She’d realize how incompatible we were and tell me to fuck off.
“Hi.” Rose breathed the word softly. Where she’d been so easy to read when I’d had her, now I had no idea what she was feeling.
“Hi, Rose,” I murmured, leaning in to brush her cheek with a soft kiss. “You good?”
Alexi snorted behind me. “‘You good.’ Very smooth there, Atlas. Can’t you string more than two words together?”
Rose trembled beside me, but she said nothing. She’d gone pale. It made my stomach turn to think she was so afraid of me. I knelt down beside her slowly so I didn’t startle her. I moved my fingers to her jaw and brushed the skin lightly. “Look at me, honey. Please?” As she turned her head to obey me, two tears tumbled down her cheeks. “Are you scared of me? Are you afraid I’d hurt you?”
She shook her head, reaching out to my suit jacket. She patted my chest a couple times, like she was testing a hot surface. When she finally settled her hand still against me, her breathing came in pants, and she took great gulps of air. Then she dissolved into tears.
“Atlas!” She gasped my name as she threw herself into my arms, clinging to me as if her life depended on it. “I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!”
“Honey, what in the world? I’m the one who owes you an apology. You did nothing wrong.”
“It wasn’t your fault. And I don’t regret it! I just… I don’t want…”
“Honey, if you aren’t comfortable with me being around you, I get it. I’m sure you’d rather forget we ever met, and I don’t blame you.”
“You… you wish we’d never met?”
I winced. Not at all. Obviously, she did. Should I be honest with her or say something to push her away? I knew what Alexi wanted me to do, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her I wished I hadn’t met her. Because it’d be a Goddamn lie.
“You really do wish we’d never met.” Her voice was flat and somehow disconnected.
“Not at all, baby. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I just hate it had to happen the way it did. You deserve better all the way around.” I trailed my finger along her jaw. “You’ll always mean the world to me. You can always come to me with anything. I’ll always be there for you.”
