“Why not?” I can’t stop the hard bite in my voice.
She hears it and her pulse starts racing at her throat, but she plows on. “There’s…” She pauses and shakes her head. “I’m originally from New York. Something bad happened there and I was forced to run away.”
My jaw clenches.
The thought that Gio’s sloppiness forced this sweet girl to fear for her life makes me livid. But he’s family.
And she’s…
I take a breath.
She’s mine.
Come hell or high water, I’m not letting her go. “What happened?”
She shakes her head, a regretful look in her eyes. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I saw and overheard some things I wish I hadn’t. I can’t tell you more than that, not because I don’t want to. Believe me I do, but telling you could put you in danger. And that’s the last thing I want.”
I squeeze my eyes shut.
This girl.
This fucking incredible, beautiful, generous girl.
She’s protecting me while I’m hiding her away and lying to my brother, selfishly keeping her with me when I should be taking control.
Laying down the law so this foolishness ends. So I can take her back to New York with me and parade her as my queen.
Because she is.
I’m fucking in love with her.
And this bullshit ends right now.
I take her by the elbow and walk her into the living room.
I grit my teeth for a full minute but there’s no way out of this. Not when it’s this important. “Listen, you don’t have to be afraid. Not anymore.”
She shakes her head. “No, you don’t understand. What I heard was bad. And the…things the bad guys were doing…” She stops and swallows and I want to rip my heart out for the fear I see in her eyes.
I reach for her and squeeze her shoulders. “I give you my word that I’m going to fix this, Aria—”
We both freeze.
She gasps.
And I squeeze my eyes shut again.
Christ. Some fucking kingpin I am, making the rookie mistake of dropping her real name.
Fuuuuuck!