by Mae Doyle
“Why not?”
“Aren’t you full of questions tonight? Don’t you think that you should just eat and then go to bed?”
Eating and going to bed sounded amazing, but for the first time, I felt like I was going to be able to get some answers from Nicolo, and I didn’t want to lose the chance. He wasn’t the most forthcoming guy I’d ever met, and I felt like if I wanted to get information from him, I better try while I could.
“I want to know.”
Nicolo looked a little exasperated as he set down his fajita. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands. “You want to know why I didn’t kill the cook but I was perfectly willing to shoot everyone else in the head? Why I was not only willing, but happy, to murder them and let their bodies get sticky with blood? Why I didn’t give a shit that they have families to go home to and moms who will miss them? That’s what you want to know?”
When it put it like that, I wasn’t entirely sure that I did want to know. My hands shook a little and I put my food down, gripping them in my lap and twisting my napkin together.
“Yes.” I had to force the word out, and I was only able to do it because of the way he was looking at me. Nicolo stared at me like he wanted to see straight through me. It scared the hell out of me.
“I did it because they had the capacity to hurt you. Hell, Isabella, they wanted to hurt you. Their whole night would have been more fun if they’d been allowed to hurt you. To rape you. To kill you. But that little cook? Do you know what she wanted?”
Tears stung the corners of my eyes. I hated that what he was telling me was the truth. I hated hearing from his mouth what those assholes wanted to do to me and knowing that he wasn’t lying. He knew for a fact that they were going to kill me if they could and that they would hurt me before they did that.
How did he know?
Probably because he’d been there. The thought was chilling, but I almost didn’t care. I wasn’t on the receiving end of him being evil. He wanted to protect me. It blew my mind.
“What did she want?” I finally managed to ask. Even though I was afraid of the answer, hell – of the entire conversation – I wanted to hear what he had to tell me. I needed to know what she wanted so badly that he was willing to let her live.
“She wanted to go home and fucking go to bed,” Nicolo said simply, like it explained everything that had just happened. “She didn’t want to be making them food. She didn’t want to have to bring you what may have been your last meal. All she wanted was to go home and get the fuck out of there, and the least that I could do was help her.”
I exhaled. The air physically hurt as it left my body, like I’d been holding it for too long in my lungs and it had somehow turned toxic. Truth be told, I hadn’t even realized that I’d been holding my breath, but as I blew it out, I felt a sense of relief.
I felt deflated.
“That’s why you didn’t kill her?” It seemed too simple. She wasn’t a bad person, so Nicolo didn’t kill her. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“That’s why. That okay with you? I can make a quick call to Freddy and everything can change.” He tilted his head a little as he looked at me, and even though I had the distinct feeling that he was just fucking with me, I still felt like I was choking.
“You wouldn’t.”
Slowly, he shook his head. “For you, Isabella, I’d do anything. I don’t know what I need to do to make sure that you finally understand that. There isn’t a single fucking thing in this world that I wouldn’t do for you, and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can let yourself be happy.”
I stared at him. Was he being serious? Everything about him seemed to be serious He was staring at me like he could see into my heart, and the thought gave me chills.
“I want to have a funeral for my dad.”
“You want to have a funeral for your dad.” He sounded a little surprised, but he managed to keep most of the shock out of his voice.
I nodded. “I haven’t been allowed to bury him. He was killed and I was here and…” I gestured uselessly with my hand to try to get my point across. Was it dangerous? Yeah, probably.
Did I still want it? Fuck yeah, I did.
It seemed that I’d suddenly taken a taste for the dangerous. I wanted Nicolo, and he was easily the most dangerous person I’d ever been with.
“Fine. I’ll make it happen.”
Hope soared in me but I quickly tamped it back down. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to have a funeral for my dad, but until it actually happened, I wasn’t sure if I could believe him.
Nicolo was more than willing to murder people for me. He’d shown that time and time again, but I needed to know if he was willing to help me get the closure that I needed.
I had to make sure that I wasn’t falling for a killing machine.
Chapter 20
Nicolo
It took some work and pulling some strings, but Isabella wanted a funeral, so I was going to give her a funeral.
I knew that she didn’t honestly think that I’d make it happen for her, and after another week went by and neither one of us mentioned it to each other, I was sure that she had given up on me. But what she didn’t understand was that I had to make sure that she was going to be safe.
She’d be a sitting duck at her dad’s funeral, and there wasn’t any way that I was going to just let her go and be a victim. I had her to myself and I had her finally starting to trust me, and there wasn’t any way that I was going to lose all of that just because she wanted to make a point.
“I had a black dress brought by for you,” I told her over breakfast. She’d gotten up and made eggs benedict, which were amazing, and I was wiping my hollandaise up with a last bite of English muffin. “After breakfast you need to go ahead and get changed.”
I watched her listen to what I was telling her, watched her completely freeze as she realized what I was saying.
“The funeral?” She asked, a bit of hope in her voice. And fear. Lots of fear.
I nodded. “It took a little bit longer than I had hoped to get it put together, but I didn’t want you to think that I’d forgotten.”
She put her fork down with a loud clang on her plate. “I really get to go to his funeral? You don’t think that something bad will happen?”
It was just like a woman to start to change her mind right when you’d gone out of your way to give her exactly what she wanted, but I ignored the frustration that threatened to bubble up in me.
“You’ll be safe, I can promise you that. The funeral is this morning, but you don’t have to worry about anyone attacking you. Hurting you. I promise.”
“How can you be so sure?” She was as still in her chair as if she’d been turned to stone. Only her lips moved when she talked, she even had her eyes locked on my face like she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.
“We took care of them.” Her face paled more and I stood up. She needed to understand this. “I would do anything for you, Isabella. I took care of them, and I’m going to take care of you. Now, you need to go put on that black dress that I had sent over for you and I’m going to take you to your father’s funeral. After that, you have a choice.”
She still didn’t move. If I didn’t know her better, I’d think that I’d broken her, but I knew Isabella. She was taking in every word that I said and was thinking fast about what she should do.
“You can go home. You can live in that big house by yourself and watch out for your father’s ghost. He’ll be there, you know.” She nodded, and I continued. “Or you can be mine. You can live with me and I’ll keep you safe. Without handcuffs.”
She still didn’t move. Only her lips were parted and I could tell that she was breathing, but it was like she couldn’t figure out how to say anything.
Sighing, I pushed my chair back and left the kitchen. I had a suit hanging up in the bedroom, and if I was going to take her to her father’s funeral, I needed to make sure that I looked halfway decent,
at least.
◆◆◆
We were silent on the way to the funeral. I drove and Isabella sat in my truck with her hands folded in her lap like she didn’t quite know what to do with them. My tires ate up the miles between the cabin and the cemetery, and when we finally pulled up, she sighed and turned to me.
I couldn’t take my eyes from her. It had been hard as hell for me to focus on the road when we were driving. The dress fit her like it was made for her and showed off all of her delicious curves. Was it appropriate for a funeral? Maybe not, but I didn’t care.
Isabella may not have realized it yet or been willing to admit it, but she was mine, and there wasn’t a fucking thing that she could do about it. I gave her the choice of being on her own or being with me after the funeral, but it wasn’t really a choice.
She was mine, whether she could admit it out loud or not. I knew her. I knew her heart and her mind, what made her tick, and what made her come. There wasn’t a single thing about my little hellcat that I didn’t like, and I wasn’t going to watch as she walked away from me.
Although, I honestly didn’t think that she was so stupid as to try something like that.
“Thank you, Nicolo,” she said. It was the first thing that she’d said to me since breakfast when I’d told her about the funeral. She’d gotten dressed in silence, only coming to me when she needed help with the zipper up her back.
Even then, she’d just turned and let me zip her up without even saying a word. The car ride had been long, but I had a feeling that she had a lot she wanted to think about.
“I didn’t know how badly I needed to have a funeral for him,” she continued. “Thank you for giving it to me.”
“You’re welcome. Is that all you want to thank me for?”
She hesitated and I wondered for a moment if I’d pushed her too far, but fuck that. I hadn’t gotten to where I was by not pushing people. I wasn’t afraid of pushing her away. The only thing that I didn’t want to have happen was for her to think that she had any real option of leaving me.
“Thank you for saving me.” Her voice was quiet, but I could easily hear what she was saying. It was for my ears only, but I had a feeling that she was realizing how badly she needed me as we talked. “You saved me. In more than one way.”
Good. Let her realize that she needed me. Let Isabella know that walking away from me would be the stupidest fucking decision of her life and that it could only end in heartbreak.
Before she could say anything else, a rap on the window got our attention. I didn’t recognize the man standing out there, but it was obvious that she did. A small cry escaped her lips and she immediately got out of the truck and hugged him.
I flew around the truck and put my arm around her waist, sizing up the man standing in front of me.
“I’m Nicolo,” I told him, reaching for his hand.
Isabella turned to me with tears in her eyes. “Nicolo, this is my mother’s cousin, Marco Torenti.” She turned back to the man. “How did you know about the funeral? What brought you here?”
He lightly caressed her cheek. “I know about everything going on, Isabella. You look so much like your mother, you know that? It’s so good to see you in one piece with someone by your side who can protect you.”
Isabella looked like she was going to fall apart and start crying, but she took a huge shuddering breath and then leaned against me.
Marco shook my hand. “Thank you for getting her back. She’s family, no matter how distant she may be. It doesn’t matter that we’re not close, we still don’t want her to get hurt.”
“She won’t get hurt.” I told him. “I’m here now, and there’s no way that I’m going to let anything bad happen to her again.”
Isabella sighed and leaned her head against my shoulder. “Did anyone else come?” She asked her uncle, who raised an eyebrow.
“Fia did, and the boys, but their wives kept the kids home. Arlo and Roque are here.” He turned and gestured behind him and an older woman and two men walked up.
Isabella was practically shaking with excitement. She leaned up to my ear and whispered, “I can’t tell you the last time I saw all of them. Thank you.”
Chapter 21
Isabella
I’d been silent on the ride to the funeral because I didn’t know what to say to NEW GUY. I wasn’t sure how to thank him or what to do, but it was different on the ride home. I’d just seen more family than I’d seen in years, and even though we weren’t close, it was still so good to have their arms around me.
Nicolo had watched everyone who talked to me, who touched me, who even looked at me, like they were the enemy or like they were going to hurt me. At one point I saw Arlo pull him to the side and they talked about something.
After that, Nicolo seemed to relax some, but he still didn’t take his eyes off of me. After the funeral, during the receiving line, he wouldn’t let go of my waist. I wanted him there. I needed his support more than I realized, and having him take care of me and prop me up was the only thing that helped me get through the day.
“Will you please unzip me?” I asked him, turning so that he could reach my back. Slowly, he brushed my hair out of the way, his fingers lingering a little at the base of my neck. I felt my breath catch in my throat as the heat from his skin poured into me.
Even though it had been my father’s funeral earlier, I could barely keep my hands off of him. It was almost impossible for me to be in the same space as Nicolo without wanting him to touch me.
He unzipped my dress slowly, taking his time, then slipped his hand inside and slowly peeled it off of my body. I took a shuddering breath as it slid to the floor and pooled around my feet, then turned to face him.
I still had on a bra and underwear, but he was looking at me like I was naked. I felt his gaze sweep over my body, coming finally to rest on my face.
My skin burned, even though he hadn’t even touched me yet. There was something about the way that he was looking at me that was different than before. Nicolo didn’t want to just be with me. He wanted to own me. He wanted to have all of me to himself, and I was more than willing to give it to him.
When he reached out and touched me, my breath caught in my throat. The air in the room felt thick and it was hard for me to breathe, but I managed to suck in a bit of air as he reached out, lightly brushing my nipples.
They both immediately sprang to attention and I gasped. Even though I wanted to reach out for him, I kept my hands in fists and tight at my side. I needed him to need me, but I wanted him to make the first move.
Every fiber of my body was screaming out for him to touch me and screaming for me to lean closer to him. It would have been so easy to simply reach out and pull him to me, but I kept my hands down at my side. I wanted to feel how badly he wanted me.
“Isabella,” he whispered, tucking stray hair behind my ear, “you are too perfect, do you know that?” His fingers lingered on my cheek then stroked my chin before he rubbed his thumb across my lips. I wanted to suck it, wanted to take any part of him into me, but before I could, he grabbed my throat.
“I’m the only person you should ever wear a collar for.” His voice was dark and deep and I had a feeling that I was going to see a side of him that I hadn’t before. I swallowed, but he was holding me so tightly that it was difficult.
“You were his bitch.”
I shook my head. “He wanted that. But I wasn’t. I wasn’t.”
Slowly he slid his had down my chest, lightly squeezing my breasts before looping his arm around me and unhooking my bra. It felt to my feet and landed on top of my dress, but neither of us moved.
I was practically panting with desire. My core was so hot and tightly wound that I feared any touch from him would be enough to set me off. It wouldn’t take much at all for him to send me spiraling over the edge. Without realizing what I was doing, I squeezed my legs together, moaning a little.
His face darkened and he grabbed my hips, pulling me to him. His cock was ha
rd and huge and I felt it pressing into me through his pants. “You need release?” He asked, his bright eyes locked on mine.
How someone could be so dangerous and elicit such a response in me I didn’t know, but I knew that I couldn’t handle it if I didn’t get him. If he didn’t give me what I needed and provide me with the release I craved.
I nodded, reaching for him. Nicolo stood still while I unbuttoned his shirt and slid my hands across his strong chest. There was a scar on his ribs that I kept meaning to ask him about, but the only times I saw it, I was too distracted to remember.
I was too distracted then.
Nicolo pulled me to him, running a line of kisses along my collarbone to my neck. I turned under his touch, enjoying the way the heat from his skin poured into mine. He slipped his thumbs into the elastic of my underwear and forced it down.
Without letting go of him, I stepped out of it and my dress, kicking it off to the side. I could see the perfect outline of his cock in his pants, he was so hard, and I ran my fingers along it, making him moan.
“Isabella, you’re killing me,” he told me, grabbing me by the hips and picking me up. I swung my legs around him, my hot sex warm against his skin. Without knowing what I was doing, I ground myself against him, trying to find some relief for the desire and heat burning in my core.
“You want it, baby?” He asked, leaving a line of hot open-mouthed kisses along my jaw. “Tell me what you want.”
I didn’t know how I could put into words the desire that was coursing through my body. Nicolo had to know how badly I wanted him. His hands squeezed my ass, pulling me closer to him so that I was pressed so tightly against him I didn’t think I’d ever be able to pull back away.
He knew what I wanted. He just wanted to hear me say it. He wanted me to beg.
“I want you,” I told him, biting my lower lip and hoping that it would be enough. I wasn’t sure if he would let me go with just that, and I wasn’t surprised when he shook his head.