Page 15 of Serendipity
“No. I-I—”
“I think you’re beautiful. I think that the way your brain works is marvelous. Yesterday, you knew you were kidnapped. You had no idea where you were or who we were, yet you weren’t hysterical. You kept calm, collected, because you’re strong.”
“I think it’s because I was hungry and pissed off.” I grinned. “Otherwise, I would’ve stabbed one of your guys by now.”
“Regardless, you didn’t cry, you didn’t beg, except for food of course.” He chuckled. “You didn’t cower in front of me when it was obvious that I could snap your neck in a matter of seconds and no one would know what happened to you.”
“Honestly, you blinded me. All this hotness just restarted my brain, and I was a goner.”
“Alessia, I can recognize a lioness when I see one. What I saw in you was something I always looked for in a partner. You probably have bigger balls than half of my men, and that’s saying something, considering that most of them know how to kill a person without blinking.”
“That’s terrifying.”
“It is, but it also fascinates you. You’re dying to ask how, aren’t you?”
Bastard. “Maybe.”
“And this is why you were made for me.”
“Or maybe it’s just that I watched too many crime shows and movies, and listened to too many True Crime Podcasts that don’t really terrify me.”
“Could be, but that’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point, Nico?”
“The point is—”
He never managed to finish his sentence. The warm glow coming through the windows disappeared, shutters came down on the windows, and the red, blazing light started going through the room, while the alarm blasted around us.
“Cazzo.” He jumped from his seat and pulled me out of mine, as a group of his men came trickling inside the room, all of them looking ready for battle.
Nico barked something in Italian, while my heart pounded to the rhythm of the alarm. I was trying to catch bits and pieces of his conversation, but it was useless to me since I didn’t know the language.
“Nico!” I yelled for him as he pushed me toward one of the men, but he wasn’t listening to me anymore. This was the side of him that belonged to the Mafia and not to me, not to anyone else.
This was the side of him he had to have in order to lead.
He approached me and pulled me closer to him, cradling my face in his hands, a look of pure torture and anger on his face.
“I’ll come and get you as soon as I deal with this,Tesoro. Go with Daniele and stay with him. No heroics, no wandering please. Just stay put and wait for me to get you.”
“But—”
“Don’t trust anyone else but Daniele,si?” He placed a kiss on my forehead, branding me, his hands holding me as tight as possible, but it wasn’t pain I felt. It was anguish because I didn’t know what was happening. “Now go.” Gently, he pushed me away from him, into the arms of another man.
“Nico!” I yelled after him as he disappeared from the room, going through one of the other doors. “Fuck.”
“Come on,” Daniele urged, wrapping his hand around my upper arm. “We really need to go.”
“But Nico—”
“Is going to be fine. But we won’t be unless we move away from here.”
My legs started moving of their own volition as Daniele led us through the house, down the hallways I still hadn’t had a chance to see. I couldn’t even admire the art and architecture of the building as we went from one room to the other. He had his gun out, holding it tight in the hand that wasn’t holding me.
“What’s happening?” I asked, breathless and more than pissed off. I wasn’t even awake entirely, and now we were hurrying through the house, running to God knew where.
“There was a breach in security. Somebody entered the premises. Somebody that isn’t supposed to be here.”
