“I think so.” Anderson got up while I continued to stare at Gio’s chest.
“That’s a symbol,” I stated, my heart slowly creeping up my throat. “It’s a wolf.” I looked at Anderson. “The Valentis.”
Chapter 14
KARINA
The trip home should have taken me no more than twenty minutes. I left Lorik’s apartment almost an hour ago, and I was still driving because I kept taking detour after detour. I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t know where I wanted to go. All I knew was where I’d been, and that I possibly made the second worst mistake of my life. But, by God, it was a mistake that felt so damn good, which was probably why I made the same mistake twice in one night.
“Dammit!” I slammed my hand against the steering wheel. I was frustrated as hell. One would think after the sex I had with Detective Big-Cock, I wouldn’t be feeling so wound up. But I did, because I had to go back to a house full of Italian mobsters and pretend I didn’t just have the best sex of my life with a damn cop. As if Antonio weren’t pissed off enough with me last night, I had to go fuck a cop too, which was completely against the rules.
Again, whose rules?Theirrules. My father, my brother, my whole damn family.
I rubbed the back of my neck. Every muscle in my body ached, especially between my legs. Lorik made doubly sure I would remember what we did with every move I made. That I would remember every thrust, every touch, every grunt. My body was so aware of what it had been through, I was afraid everyone would read the truth on my face once I got home. Especially Dante. He had the gift to see right through me. I’d never been able to hide anything from him.
Deciding I needed to stop being a coward and face my family, I drove home, thinking I was a grown-ass woman who was old enough to make her own decisions. If I wanted to have mind-blowing sex with a cop, I could. If I wanted to move away from home and become a bigshot lawyer, I could do that too. They might be my family who I cared for deeply, but they needed to realize I was my own person, and they couldn’t dictate my life anymore.
After parking the car in the garage, I took a deep breath and finally gathered the nerve to get out and face the music.
“Where the hell have you been?”
And the music started with Antonio’s judgmental glare in my face.
“I was out.” I tried to shove past him, but he reached out and grabbed my elbow.
“Where have you been, Karina?”
“I told you, I was out.”
Antonio scowled at me and tightened his hold. “We need to talk about last night.”
I jerked my arm free from his grip. “No, we don’t. I don’t owe you any kind of explanation.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a goddamn adult. So stop treating me like a child.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
He placed his hands on his hips and looked down at the floor before he huffed out a breath. “I’m just trying to protect my little sister. Is that such a bad thing?”
Instantly, my little sister heart strings got tugged by how defeated he sounded. Antonio and I had never had a really close relationship, mainly because he always seemed to want to play boss whenever it came to me. When I wanted to jump on the trampoline, he would make up a lame excuse why we couldn’t play anymore. When I wanted to dive into the swimming pool like he and all his friends did, he would crack a joke about the bathing suit I was wearing, and I would run back into the house crying like an idiot. And when I wanted to go to parties or sleepovers, he would fill Dad’s head with lies and bullshit stories so I wouldn’t be allowed to go. It was like he always tried his best to ruin my fucking life, and this hindered our chances at having a great brother-sister relationship. But the way he was standing in front of me with tired eyes and his shoulders slumped forward actually made me feel sorry for him.
“Antonio,” I stepped closer, “you don’t have to protect me all the time.”
“Yes, I do.” He looked up, and I could see the dark circles underneath his eyes. “I’m your older brother. I’m supposed to protect you, and I thought that’s what I was doing…until last night.” His voice trailed off, no longer carrying the confidence and weight it always did. It was softer. Sadder. “Tell me what he did, Karina, so I can make it right.”
I looked down at the ground. “No one can make it right, Antonio. No one.”
“At least give me a chance.”
I knew it. I knew he wouldn’t let the whole Enzio thing go, but I didn’t know if I was ready for him to know everything. It was okay that Dante knew, because he didn’t judge. But I wasn’t sure what to expect from Antonio if he had to know the truth. And with this war going on between us and the Mancusos for years, I really didn’t want to add more fuel to the fire—which was exactly what I’d be doing if I told him.
“I can’t tell you, Antonio.” I stepped back. “Not now.”
He moved forward, his eyes growing darker. “Tell me. Did he touch you? Did he hurt you?”