Her head canted to the side, her eyes gleaming as she waved behind her. “But I’m not the only one who came to pick you up. Our dear cousins are here. They’ll drive us home, and we can all have a family meeting.”
A black sedan waited at the curb. I could barely make out two dark silhouettes in the front seats.
My heart slammed against my ribcage as reality crashed down on me. I’d been so intent on convincing Max that he didn’t scare me that I’d forgotten how frightening his relatives were. These people were mobsters. They’d committed the horrific, bloody crimes that’d given me nightmares during the week I’d spent poring over the Ferrara case files.
He was too young to have participated in those crimes. They weren’t.
And they were waiting outside my house. They knew where I lived.
“Fine,” Max ground out through gritted teeth. “I’ll come with you. Just leave her alone.”
“No!” I grabbed his forearm, desperate to keep him away from the monsters that waited for him in the dark. They might be his family, but they weren’t kind to him. He wasn’t safe with them. “Stay with me, Max.”
His muscles flexed beneath my fingers, as though my weak hold was an iron shackle binding him in place.
“Aw, she’s so cute,” Francesca said in that awful singsong voice. “I bet our cousins would think so, too. Should I introduce them?”
“No!” Max barked, angling his body in front of mine so that I was completely blocked from their view. “I’m coming with you. Allie, stay inside. Lock the door behind me.”
I couldn’t let him leave with those monsters. My fingernails sank into his skin. “Please, don’t go.”
He wrenched his arm free, and my nails scored bright red lines into his flesh. He rounded on me, eyes blazing. “I’m leaving, Bambi.” He spat the nickname in a warning tone.
He wanted me to know that I was putting myself in danger by confronting Francesca. The longer I kept him here, the worse things would get.
Francesca’s tinkling laugh needled the base of my skull. “You have pet names for each other? Adorable.”
He ignored her, focusing completely on me. His big hand cupped my cheek, his thick fingers sliding into my hair.
“I’ll come back,” he promised. “No matter what happens, I’ll come back to you.”
My heart tore open. What could possibly happen to him? What would his family do to him? They’d already inflicted mental torment by lying about my father’s involvement with the Bratva, the organization that’d brutalized and murdered his mother right before his eyes. His sister clearly wielded words as a weapon, but what about his cousins? What were they capable of?
Bloody images from the case files filled my mind, and my eyes burned. His sensual lips brushed over my cheek, catching the tear that spilled over.
“I’ll see you soon,” he murmured in my ear, a fierce oath.
I swallowed hard and nodded. I dreaded the prospect of him leaving with his awful family, but he was choosing to go with them. Based on his sister’s veiled threats, I believed he was protecting me. Max was strong, but I doubted he could take on the two men in the car and come out unscathed. If he went with them willingly, they wouldn’t have a reason to hurt him.
I hoped I wasn’t being naïve.
He’d told me so many times that I was naïve, and I’d bristled as though it was an insult. But faced with Francesca’s delighted taunts, I realized I was completely out of my depth. Max knew it, and he wanted me to stay out of it. I would only be a liability to him if I insisted on involving myself further.
“I’ll be waiting,” I promised on a fierce whisper.
I wouldn’t let Max go, no matter what. I cared about him too much to allow his family to take him from me. I had to trust that he could manage the situation without my interference.
He trusted me with his darkest secret. And I trusted him with my whole heart.
It fluttered in my chest at the realization. I’d never felt anything like this for any man. It was too soon, too wild, to call it love. But it was powerful and addictive enough that I never wanted it to end.
He pressed one last kiss to my forehead before pulling away with stilted, jerky movements, as though leaving me caused him physical pain.
“Lock the door,” he commanded. “Now.”
He kept his eyes on mine, refusing to leave until I was safely barricaded inside. I didn’t want to lose sight of him for even a second, but I didn’t have a choice. Max wouldn’t be able to handle his family unless he believed I was safe.
I swallowed against the lump in my throat and shut the door between us, hiding him from my view. The heavy glide of the lock clicking into place slid between my ribs like a knife to the heart.