Chapter Twenty-Four
“Can I get you anything?” Alex asked.
I shook my head. I was curled up on the couch next to a roaring fire, trying my best to get warm. Marco left me at the house, probably hoping that I would rest after everything that happened, but I’d been unable to sleep. When I came downstairs, Alex was standing guard.
“I’m fine.” I pulled the blanket tighter around my body. I’d been cold since returning to the restaurant. Marco had changed me out of my dress and into his own sweats, but I still felt a bone aching chill under my skin.
Alex didn’t look like he believed me. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
“Talk about what? Someone tried to kill me.” No matter how many times I said it, I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Marco was the only person with the motive to want me dead, but he’d been with me at the restaurant, and I’d seen the way he’d freaked out. The shooting had upset him just as much as it had me. Moreso. Once he made sure that I was settled, he rushed out of the house.
Alex sat down next to me. His handsome face was so like Marco’s, but there were enough differences to show that they were cousins and not brothers. Marco’s jawline was sharp enough to cut glass. Alex’s was slightly softer. Also, his coloring was fair where Marco’s was dark.
He reached out and grabbed my hand. “I can get you out of here if you want to go.” His voice was low and urgent.
I turned my head sharply, surprised by his words. “What?”
Alex looked nervous. I didn’t blame him. If he said what I think he did, he was betraying his family. “If you want to get out of her, I’ll help you get away from here.”
Studying his face, I was surprised to see how serious he looked. If I told Alex that I wanted to leave, he would get me out. That thought didn’t bring me comfort. I shook my head. “There’s no escaping this,” I muttered.
I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped an arm around my body. Whenever I closed my eyes, I could see the chair that I was sitting in blown to bits. Marco saved my life, even though it would have been easier for him if I were dead.
The way he acted, I knew that that wasn’t his plan. It might have been at one point, but it wasn’t now.
Alex reached out and squeezed my knee. The action was overly familiar, and I pulled back slightly. “Sorry,” he muttered. His cheeks flamed.
“Why are you so interested in helping me?” I asked. “You don’t even know me.” Alex was an odd duck in some ways. He was in the mafia just like Marco and Dom, so I knew that his hands were covered in blood, but he seemed keen on keeping me away from the worst of this. It made no sense.
“You remind me of someone that I used to know,” he said. He shook his head as he spoke. It was almost as though he were thinking back to a time long ago. “She didn’t want any part of this life, and if I’d listened to her…” He trailed off, and I knew that whatever happened to this woman, it wasn’t good.
There was grief on Alex’s face, but he covered it up quickly. I looked around Marco’s house. It screamed wealth. Even the blanket covering me was cashmere. It had only been a day, but I was learning that this life came with strings. “Are any of you happy?” I asked.
Alex chuckled sardonically and shook his head. “We pretend that we are,” he said. “But I’m not sure that any of us can be happy in this life.”
His words tightened my chest. I hadn’t considered what it would mean to marry Marco. Not really. I’d assumed that we would get married, and my biggest problem was going to be making sure that I didn’t let Marco into my heart. Now, I knew how wrong I was.
“I can’t leave,” I whispered.
Alex turned his attention back towards me. “I know that you are scared of Marco, but I can assure you.”
I shook my head. “If it were just me I had to worry about, I wouldn’t even be in this situation…” I didn’t know if that was the truth. My hands went to my neck as I remembered how Marco nearly strangled the life out of me. “It’s not just me that I need to worry about. Marco is paying for my brother’s cancer treatment.”
Alex ran a hand through his hair. I was glad that he was smart enough not to ask me to leave Mikey behind because that was something that I would never do. Ever.
The sound of the security system dinging made me jump slightly. “Marco’s home,” I said. I got up from the couch.
Alex looked at me. He opened his mouth, probably to ask me not to say anything to Marco, but I shook my head. I wasn’t going to. Alex was Marco’s cousin, and though I suspected that gave him some sort of protection, I knew that it didn’t give him as much as he thought.
“Ivy?” Marco walked into the living room. “Is everything okay?”
I took a deep breath. I was tired of looking weak in front of him. I’d survived a lot in my life. The universe had been trying to kill me as long as I’d been alive, but I’d survived. This new assassin was just the latest thing being thrown at me.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
Marco’s eyes were full of concern as he walked towards me.
“I’m fine.” Marco didn’t look like he believed me.