Page 32 of When She Unravels
Doesn’t she? Does she even know what was likely to happen if I allowed Nelo to take her into that bathroom? It’s like she got a few drinks in her and suddenly lost all sense of self-preservation.
“You want to know why I got involved?” I growl. “I thought you were maybe being pressured into doing something you didn’t want to. I saw how he grabbed you, how he moved you around. You didn’t look very interested to me.”
She grows still, and suddenly, I can’t bring myself to meet her eyes.
Cazzo.I should punch myself in the mouth. Did I really just admit to her I was trying my hand at being a knight in shining armor? I don’t know what the ever-loving-fuck I’m doing when I’m around this woman.
“You don’t know me,” she finally says, her voice so low I barely pick up on it.
“No, I don’t,” I snap. “Maybe Nelo knows you better. Maybe he was right when he called you a—” I slam my mouth shut.
“Called me a what? A slut?”
I grind my jaw in response. No one is allowed to call her that. No one.
She sighs. “There are far worse things to be than a slut, De Rossi. You didn’t need to take such offense on my behalf.”
My driver appears from behind the restaurant.
“I’m sorry, señor, I was grabbing a bite to eat in the kitchen.”
I jerk my head in Ale’s direction. “Take her home. I need to go back there.” This conversation is done. I need to go clean up my mess, down a strong drink, and figure out what I’m going to do about this woman.
Either I make her mine or completely erase her from my mind.
When I walk back into the restaurant, I see that Nelo’s gone, and the customers have dispersed. The staff are cleaning up for the night, and no one dares to look at me.
Ras comes to my side. “We comped everyone’s meals. One guy got it on camera, but I made him delete it in front of me. This isn’t going to get out.”
Maybe it won’t make it to the news, but Nelo will complain to Sal. Sal might start asking questions about Ale. Questions I can’t answer.
“I want him and his brother off my island.”
“After tonight, that’s unlikely to happen. Let’s get out of here. The staff will close the place down.”
We get into Ras’s car, and he starts driving in the direction of my house. When I don’t say anything, he sniffs and gives me a sideways glance. “Care to offer an explanation?”
“There’s nothing to explain.”
He cracks his neck. “My job is to mitigate risk. I can’t do my job if you don’t tell me what the hell is going on between you and that girl.”
“I already told you I hired her.”
“Last time we talked, you said that was highly unlikely to happen.”
“I didn’t expect her to get through the week, but she did.” I begrudgingly have to admit I was wrong about her. She had a tough week—I told Inez she had to go hard on her—but Ale took everything in stride. Even the most disgusting tasks weren’t beneath her. “There was no reason for me not to give her the job.”
“Is a bodyguard part of her benefits package?”
I run my hand over my face. “No.”
“Then what the fuck was that?”
“Nelo was asking for it.” He was, but that doesn’t mean I had to deal with it in public. If I had kept my cool, I could have used his behavior as an excuse to kick him off Ibiza. Now, I’ll have to call Sal with a convincing lie about what happened. If he thinks I have a woman, he’ll use it against me. I’ll have to tell him Nelo was harassing a customer, and I couldn’t allow that to happen on my property.
“This isn’t like you,” Ras says. “You’ve always kept your temper on a tight leash.”
Because that’s what I’ve had to do to survive and to keep those I care for safe. As far back as I can remember, I’ve been in the crosshairs of the Casalese don. I don’t know how many wrong moves I have until he decides to pull the trigger.
