Page 4 of Secrets of the Brother
And that this was giving them even more fodder for the gossip mill.
No one touched my girl.
As least, shehadbeenmine before I fucked everything up.
My fingers tightened around her waist.
Christ, she felt good pressed against my side.
It felt… right. Except it was wrong. All wrong.
I inhaled the familiar scent of her perfume. I never knew what it was called, but I always associated the scent of spicy jasmine with her. A part of me was glad she hadn’t changed it over the last few months. It was a subtle attachment to the past, a nostalgic connection to what had been between us.
Her startled dark eyes stared back at me from under the brim of the hat she had been using as a weapon all morning to shield her face from my gaze.
In their depths, fear and uncertainty swirled.
That one innocent display of raw emotion nearly sent me to my knees like no false show of my own grief for a conniving wife ever could. Those same eyes had once turned to me as her protector, her knight.
Now I was the enemy.
The man who broke her heart in the most brutal and heartless way imaginable.
The man who murdered her sister.
I couldn’t even claim to be a tarnished knight in a dark fairy tale.
I was the villain in her nightmare.
Bianca’s stiffening body tried to pull away.
I tightened my grasp.
With a look of warning from me, she stilled.
By now, both Cavalieri security and the extra men Sebastian Diamanti had provided in case there was trouble at the funeral had covertly circled us.
Refocusing my attention on Bruno Moretti, I said, “Gentlemen, Signore and Signora Moretti are feeling overwhelmed from the day’s events. Please escort them home.”
Claudia Moretti choked on a puff of smoke as she opened her mouth to object.
Bruno placed a restraining hand on her arm and glanced over my shoulder before responding, “I think you may be right,son.”
I didn’t miss the reference to our familial connection because of my ill-fated marriage to his daughter, nor his look over my shoulder. I also didn’t have to follow his gaze to know my father and brother were standing behind me, quietly supporting my decision.
Claudia tossed her cigarette into a discarded cup of espresso. “Come, Bianca.”
Bianca began to shift her body in obedience to her mother's order.
Using my grasp on her waist, I took advantage of her momentum to push her behind me while I stepped forward. “She stays. It’s been months since I’ve seen my…sister. I find her presence…comforting…in mygrief.”
A soft, outraged gasp erupted behind me.
There was going to be hell to pay for what I was doing, but I just couldn’t summon up enough fucks to care anymore.
She wasn’t leaving with her parents.
Not before I had a chance to speak with her alone.
