Protecting Her: A Romance Bundle

“If I change,” Alessio growled. “You can’t testify against me. You have to swear it, Beth.”

He kissed me again, this time biting and sucking on my lower lip until I threw my arms around his neck and howled with pleasure.

“Say it,” Alessio growled. “Tell me you won’t testify if I can prove that I’ve changed.”

“Okay,” I said weakly. The word came out before I could even think about it.

Alessio grinned. “I thought you’d say that,” he said. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close, dizzying me with his cologne.

Fuck.

What I had just agreed to?

16

Alessio

Silvio thought I was losing my mind when I told him what I’d worked out with Beth.

“Are you fucking nuts?” Silvio threw his hands up in the air and groaned. “You’re fucking losing your goddamned mind, Alessio! You think your father would have pulled a stunt like this?”

I leaned back in my desk chair and plucked a cigar from the small humidor I kept handy.

“I’m not my father,” I said. I raised my eyebrows. “I thought you woulda figured that out by now, Sil.”

Silvio narrowed his eyes and glared. “It doesn’t fucking matter what I know,” he snarled. “You think this is funny, Alessio? You think this is some kind of prank? Some kind of game?”

“Not at all.” I clipped the end of my cigar and lit it. “It’s not a joke, Silvio. I was being serious.”

Silvio shook his head. “This is gonna ruin the business,” he said angrily. “What the fuck do I have to do to get your dumb ass to understand that?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Strangely, I felt calm. In the past, confrontations with Silvio had always made me so uncomfortable. But right now, I felt confident and sure of myself. I was doing the right thing – maybe for the first time in my life.

“It does matter!” Silvio’s face was red with anger as he leaned over my desk and shoved his face close to mine. “You’re gonna ruin fucking everything, you idiot!”

I blew a cloud of blue smoke in Silvio’s face. “Last time I checked,” I said idly. “You don’t get to speak to your boss like that.”

Silvio colored and finally walked away. “I’m just saying,” he said through gritted teeth. “This ain’t the way to go, Alessio. You gotta show that little bitch that we’ll kill her if she tries anything. How the fuck do you think you’re gonna win her over? You killed her fucking fiancé!”

“I killed her fucking fiancé because you failed!” I yelled loudly, making a fist and slamming it down on the desk. “I had to do it, Silvio! You didn’t leave me with any choice!”

Silvio bristled, but his silence told me that I’d finally won. He threw his arms in the air and shook his head.

“Fine,” he snapped. “I give the fuck up, Alessio. I ain’t gonna stand around while Rome burns down to the ground, you get my meaning?”

I snickered. “Yeah,” I said. “I get your meaning. But you’re gonna feel awful stupid when this works and you look like a paranoid cocksucker.”

“Whatever, Alessio,” Silvio said. He yawned. “I’m leaving. I’ll call you later.”

I nodded. Just as Silvio was about to leave the room, something sparked in my brain.

“Hey,” I said. “Mind giving me a ride downtown?”

“Why?” Silvio narrowed his eyes. “What the fuck are you getting into now, asshole?”

I smirked. “It’s a secret,” I said. “Come on, just give me a ride.”

Silvio stared at me for a long time. “Fine,” he said after a pregnant pause. “Come on. Let’s go.”