They were my past. And I hated my past.
I wanted to erase it all.
“I haven’t spoken to my father in three years. I left home and moved to Sea Isle, and I haven’t looked back.”
“Where was home?”
“Outside of Boston. We had a summer house in rural Maine.”
He tilted his head as if adding that little detail to an ever-expanding profile of me.
“Why did you leave?”
“Personal reasons.”
“This is important, Cassie. Why did you leave?”
I leaned closer and met his gaze. “I don’t care if you beat my ass with a paddle. My reasons are my own.”
That got another little smile. My heart almost leapt in my chest. “Alright then. You haven’t spoken to your father in three years. Has anyone from the MacKenna Family ever tried to contact you? Has your father?”
“The first week after I left, he called every day. He threatened to come bring me back. I haven’t heard a thing since and I don’t give a damn about any of them.” I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out, trying to keep my frustration under control, but it was difficult.
I worked hard to distance myself from those people. I knew the MacKenna family was deeply connected with drugs and politics and prostitution—I knew they were bad people. But I’d never really been in that world, and when it encroached in my own life, I got the hell out of there as soon as I could.
I knew what it meant for me if I stayed.
Mafia princess. Bought and sold. Arm candy for some high-ranking Don.
I didn’t want that. Couldn’t want it, not after what happened.
So I got the hell out.
“I believe you,” he said and lifted his weird green juice to his lips.
“I don’t care if you do or not. I’m telling the truth.”
“Do you know what your father’s been up to in the last three years since you left?”
“No, and I don’t want to know.”
“You’re not even a little curious.”
“Not even a little bit. And I’m not joking. I don’t want to hear anything else about him.”
He nodded slowly as if I just passed some kind of test. “Then I won’t go into details, but you should know that your father’s people have been pushing down past Boston for years now. They’ve been causing a lot of problems.”
“Sorry to hear it. My dad’s an asshole.”
“You have no idea.”
“Actually, I do. I ran away and hid out in Sea Isle for three years, remember?” I pushed my chair back and stood again. This time, I didn’t care how much he threatened me, I wasn’t having this conversation anymore.
Talking about my dad sent me back to that time, and I really, really didn’t want to go there. Bad enough that I had to endure a two-hour car ride. Bad enough I was stuck in his rich bachelor pad slash nuclear fallout bunker.
I wasn’t going to get sucked back into my old life. Not for anything.
Because every time I thought back to my dad and Boston, I remembered what happened to me, and I couldn’t handle it. I survived by avoiding and ignoring, by pushing it away and pretending like I was totally fine and noting bad happened.
I wasn’t going to let Roman ruin my years and years of avoidance.
But instead of commanding me around like a child, he stood up and drifted toward me. I backed away until I bumped up against the arm of a nearby couch.
He stopped inches in front of me, radiating command and control and an intense desire that made my chest seize.
“I hope you’re not lying to me,” he said, his voice a subtle whisper, low and throaty and gorgeous enough to send a little chill along my fingers. Even if he was calling my character into question. “Because if you are, I promise that your punishment will fit the crime.”
“What are you going to do? Ball gag me?”
“That’s a nice idea. I’ll have Roza order a few.”
“I was joking.”
“I’m not.” He leaned closer and ran one finger down my cheek, along my jaw, over my lower lip, then down my throat. I tried not to gasp for breath as the tingling he left in its wake threatened to send me descending into a fit of pure ecstasy.
All from one finger.
“I’m going to protect you Cassie. Even though I think you’re going to be a problem, I still don’t believe that you should be punished for who you are and what you happened to witness. But understand that if you’re not telling me the truth, that if you are still involved with your father and anyone else in the MacKenna family, I will find out and I will take action.”
“Take action. Like you took action last night?”
“No. I won’t kill you. But I will make you suffer in a very particular way.” He came closer. I wanted to scream, to shove him away. What the hell was wrong with this man?