I leaned back on the table. “How many clubs do you own?”
“Four.”
“Strip clubs?”
An amused grin crossed his face. “Night clubs.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He moved toward me. “It never came up.”
“It never came up because you never told me.”
Dark eyes searched my face. “I’m sorry. I was too busy trying to keep you from being killed.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, not amused by the fact that he tossed my own words back at me. I slanted my head to the side. “Oh right, that was after you actually tried to kill me.”
“Correction.” He held up his finger. “I nevertriedto kill you.”
“Well, youplannedto kill me.”
He feigned a look of thought. “True.” His gaze found mine as he reached up to tuck my hair behind my ear. “But never make the mistake of thinking that I’d have totryto kill you, little mouse. If I wanted you dead, you would be.”
And there he was. The charismatic, deceivingly dangerous mobster. The man who captivated me in more ways than one. The man who gave me no choice but to fall in love with him.
There was still something about him that scared me, but that was the part of him I loved the most. Unpredictable, yet thrilling. Unsafe, yet magnetic.
With squared shoulders and my gaze pinned on him, I stepped up, leaving only a few inches between us. “I want to see it.”
“See what?”
“One of your clubs. Take me with you to this meeting of yours.”
He moved back, his face showing me what the odds were of him taking me with him. Zero.
“No.” His tone set the finality in his answer.
“Why not?”
“You know why.”
“I need to get out, Castello. I’ve been within these walls for weeks, and it’s starting to drive me crazy.”
“Then I’ll arrange for a therapist to come and see you, help you with the crazy, because you are not setting foot off this estate.”
He turned his back on me and walked to the door, opening it. Desperation made tears prickle my eyes.
“Please,” I called out after him, and he paused. “Please, Castello. Just once. I won’t ask you again.”
“I can’t allow it, Tatum. I will not risk you or our child.”
“I’ll agree to any condition you have. Please.”
A few seconds went by with him just standing there, his back toward me. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew the odds were against me.
He slammed the door shut before turning around to face me. “You and our child are the most important parts of my life. If anything had to happen to you or our baby, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“Nothing will happen. I just want to get out…just for a little while.”