Bought: Destitute Yet Defiant

‘No.’ She lifted her head and pressed her lips against the scar. ‘You never scare me.’ The thought of losing him scared her, but she wasn’t going to admit that. She had no idea what was happening between them—what any of it meant. What would happen when she’d sung at the wedding? He’d said he’d give her a job, but would that be somewhere far away from him?

Feeling the cold fog of loneliness seep towards her again, Jessie tightened her grip on his neck and he frowned sharply.

‘Tell me what you’re thinking.’

‘Nothing.’ She could hardly tell him that she didn’t want this to end, could she? ‘I’m still worrying about singing at the wedding.’

‘I don’t ever want you to be scared.’ His tone savage, Silvio lowered his head and took her mouth. ‘You’re mine now. You shouldn’t be frightened of anything.’

Jessie wound her arms around his neck. ‘No one has ever made me feel the way you make me feel.’

He smiled, supremely self-confident as he kissed her. ‘How do I make you feel?’

‘Special,’ she said huskily, and then grinned. ‘And sexy.’

‘You are sexy,’ he groaned, sliding his hand down her thigh. ‘Too sexy for your own good and my self-control. I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you. It’s very unsettling to be this out of control—you have no idea.’

‘I’m glad.’ Feeling ridiculously powerful, Jessie nibbled at his lips. ‘I feel the same way.’ She snuggled closer, thinking that when they were like this, everything seemed right. ‘Tell me about your scar.’

He stroked her hair gently. ‘It was a turning point for me. There was a teacher at school—’

‘I didn’t know you ever turned up at school.’

‘I occasionally honoured them with my presence,’ he said dryly. ‘This guy taught metalwork, and in his spare time he did property development. He offered me the chance to earn money so at the weekends I used to go and work on his building sites. I loved the feeling of building something instead of knocking it down or spraying paint over it. The night I received this…’ he angled his head so that the scar was clearly visible ‘…I was working for him. A rival gang came and tried to wreck t

he building. I knew they’d make it look as though it was me and I was determined that wasn’t going to happen.’

‘So you fought.’

‘Fortunately he’d installed CCTV so there was video evidence that I was acting in self-defence. No one touched me again. The teacher gave me a loan. I started doing my own thing and I discovered that success is more addictive than any of the substances sold on the streets.’

‘Are you still in touch with the teacher?’

‘Yes. He runs a community project that I sponsor.’

He sponsored a community project. He helped disadvantaged kids like he had been. He might have left it behind but he was taking plenty of people with him into his new life.

Jessie stared into the darkness, thinking about what Stacey had said about him helping people. ‘I remember the night Johnny brought you back to our care home.’

‘He’d strayed into the wrong part of town.’

‘And you rescued him.’ Thinking of that time hurt so much she could hardly breathe. ‘You were always rescuing him.’

‘He didn’t want to be rescued. It was Johnny who made me realise we all had a choice.’ Silvio tightened his hold on her. ‘Johnny hadn’t been brought up in that culture. I couldn’t imagine anyone choosing the life I was living.’

‘He was angry with the world. I was very young when we lost the life we had, but I remember him being angry. And then he was suddenly hanging around with the wrong crowd and he thought it was cool. Tough.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I suppose it gave him the chance to express all the anger he felt. He never believed he could change anything. You saw a different path, but he only saw the one he was standing on.’

‘Can I ask you something?’

‘Of course.’

His hand cupped her face. ‘What’s in the shoebox, tesoro? It was the only thing you brought from the flat.’

‘It was the only thing I cared about.’ Without hesitating, Jessie slid out of the bed and retrieved the shoebox. Silvio had shared secrets with her, hadn’t he? ‘It’s all I have left of him.’ Sadness flowed through her and she sat on the edge of the bed and removed the lid. A lump in her throat, she lifted out a photograph. ‘This is my favourite. It’s of the three of us.’

‘I remember that day.’ Silvio propped himself up on one elbow and reached for the photo. ‘We came to your school to watch you play netball.’

‘And almost caused a riot.’ Jessie smiled through her tears.