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I didn’t understand the pleading in his eyes, but it was so intense that my chest ached.I longed to go over to him and touch his face.Assure him that nothing he said would send me running.That reaction surprised me as it sank in.It was the truth.I would accept anything that he told me because my feelings were deep and had gone there so quickly.
“Trust me,” I coaxed.“How I feel for you is … it’s more than I’ve ever experienced.More than I thought I could feel.Tell me and trust that, short of you being a human trafficker, I can handle it.”
His mouth quirked.“Rest assured, that is one thing I will never be … but I’ve killed men who are.I’ve had many killed.My daughter-in-law was almost sold into the sex trade.My son and men saved her.We’ve sought out others since then that were attached to the men who had tried to take her, and they’ve all paid with their lives.That also creates enemies.Dangerous ones.”
He’d mentioned killing before, so I’d already started to accept that he’d killed.Knowing he’d killed men who had bought and sold human lives didn’t scare me.It made me proud.
“So, you have your own group of vigilantes, and you’re their leader,” I said.
He grinned into his glass as he took a drink.The crinkle at the corners of his eyes when he smiled always made me want to kiss that spot.
“No, pretty baby.I’m not a vigilante.”He turned his gaze to me.“Although I do have many police forces along the Southeast in my back pocket.”
“And why is that?”I pressed.“That’s the power thing I don’t quite understand.”
Garrett leaned forward and set his now-empty glass on the coffee table before turning back to me.“I was born into a family.Not one of just blood, but one of trust.One that goes back over a hundred years.It was built by men as close as brothers.Men who wanted more for their lives, their children’s lives, for the generations to come.That family grew over the years and became more structured, took more risks, and morphed into the powerhouse it is today.”
He paused, and I said nothing.I waited.I knew there was more.Much more.
“My birthright placed me in the role as leader.Just as my great-great-grandfather had been the founder and first leader.The oldest Hughes son will always take the title of boss when the day comes for his father to step down.Our sons grow up within the family, knowing what is to come.They aren’t spared the truth of what or who we are.
“The two men standing outside our suite door were also born into the family.Their fathers handle deeper roles within and are spread out in different cities and states, controlling and managing things I can’t keep my focus on.It’s an empire.One that we would all die to protect.”
I let out a long, shaky breath.“That sounds an awful lot like the Mafia,” I said with a laugh that didn’t mask my unease.
Garrett held my gaze.“Because it is.”
I felt like the air had just been knocked out of me.I stared at him in disbelief.The more he talked, the more I knew that every question I had led up to answers that I didn’t think could possibly be true.But small things, big things, they all began racing through my head, starting with the way Micah had reacted to Garrett.It had been so strange, but … now, it all made sense.
“Say something,” Garrett urged.
I blinked several times and opened and closed my mouth.He’d just told me he was a … Mafia boss.Just thinking that sounded ludicrous.What did I say?
He moved, closing the distance between us.His hand cupped my face.“I’m still me, Fawn.The man you know.That hasn’t changed.”
I understood that.All of it.I should have seen it before … there had been times I considered something like this and laughed it off.This wasn’t my imagination though.It was real.
“I’m just processing,” I explained.
He brushed back some of my hair from my forehead.“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
I let out a shaky laugh.“A million things at once.”
The corner of his mouth tugged up into a crooked grin.“Share some of those with me.Please.I need to know where your head is right now.”
I took a deep breath.“The main thing that I am struggling with is the fact that you are always in danger.That’s hard for me to accept.I don’t like it.”
His expression turned serious.“You and Gypsi are safe.I swear to you, I’ll keep you both protected.”
I smiled.“Thank you, but that is not what I meant.I know you are making sure we are safe.I am talking about you.YOU are always in danger.Your life.I can’t—” I winced at the idea of something happening to him.It literally felt like a knife slicing my chest.“I hate thinking that something could happen to you.”
Garrett’s thumb, which had been lightly brushing my cheek, stilled.His eyes narrowed.“Your main concern is my safety?”he asked incredulously.“I just told you I am the leader of an organized crime family, and that’s what is upsetting you?”
I swallowed hard against the sudden lump that had formed in my throat.“Yes.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, then pulled me to his chest, holding me there as he wrapped his arms around me.
The sound of his heart pounding in his chest was against my ear.It was beating fast.
