“You really think Tam Cornell is just going to let you hand your patch over to us?”
He had a point.
This was one of the people who’d plotted to murder my father. I had the perfect opportunity to take my revenge—Bruno had broken into my home, after all—but I discovered I didn’t want that. All I wanted was for Ivy to be happy, and this situation right here wasn’t going to make her happy.
I remembered all the times she’d been paranoid about her family finding out about us, how I’d brushed off her concerns, telling her we’d deal with it at the time. This was now that time, and the things I said and did in the next few moments were critical.
“Bruno, how do you think the alliance between myself and Tam Cornell started? It was from my sister marrying Tam. It was never what I wanted. I didn’t think the Cornells and Wynters should be anything other than enemies. This could be the same. Ivy could act like a bridge between our families.”
He was laughing, mocking. “You want to marry Ivy? Jesus fucking Christ. I don’t even want you speaking to Ivy, never mind marrying her. What sort of deluded fucking idiot are you?”
I clenched my teeth. I needed to keep my cool, no matter what insults he threw at me. But I could feel the adrenaline rising inside me like lava. I clenched my fists at my sides. I’d never been known for my self-restraint, and I guaranteed this arsehole was betting on me losing my shit.
“I suggest you leave, Bruno. How do you think Ivy’s going to react to you being here right now?” I ground out my words.
“I don’t give a fuck how she’ll react. It’s our job to protect her, and the girl has clearly lost her damned mind.”
I noticed he’d said ‘our job’ but he was the only one here. “Where’s your brother? What about your father? Do they know you’re here?”
I wondered if one of them had warned him off, told him not to stir up trouble, but he’d come anyway. Did the other family members realise that if they fucked with me, it would not only cause problems, businesswise, but it might also drive Ivy farther away. If that was the case, they were clearly more sensible than Bruno.
He cracked his knuckles. “They knew they could leave this up to me. They have more important things to deal with.”
I cocked my head to one side. “So you’re just like the hired thug, then?”
My instinct was to storm over there, grab him by the throat, and throw him out of a window. I imagined the very satisfying crunch as he hit the pavement far below, and the screams that would follow as people realised what had happened. But, of course, I couldn’t do that. This was my hotel, and Bruno Gilligan being found dead on the pavement outside of it would bring about too many questions. I just needed for him to leave. Should I say I wouldn’t keep seeing Ivy, just to appease him? It was tempting, if only to bring this situation to a close, but then what would happen? I had no intention of letting Ivy go, so I’d only turn around in another month from now to find him or the other brother, Aiden, back on my sofa.
I wanted a life with Ivy. I wanted us to have a family and build a home and grow old together. If I lied to Bruno and said I’d stop seeing her, I won’t have achieved anything.
He got to his feet. “The only thug around here is you.”
“Don’t come into my home and insult me. You’re under my roof, you show me some respect.”
“Your father’s roof, you mean. If he wasn’t dead, you’d be screwing around town, just like you always were, not a single responsibility on your shoulders.”
“His death changed me. So, I guess that’s something I have to thank your family for.”
Bruno shook his head. “My family had nothing to do with that bomb going off.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
“What reason do I have for lying?”
I hesitated for a moment. What reasondidhe have for lying? It would be a hell of a thing for him to use against me—maybe even a way to get me to hate Ivy, too, if she was involved in the planning.
But if it wasn’t the Gilligans, who else could have been behind it?
I didn’t want to get caught up in that right now. This was about me and Ivy.
“Fine, say whatever you want, but that doesn’t change anything about the way I feel about your sister. You can break into my penthouse and threaten me all you want, but it won’t make any difference.”
He took a step forward. The beer bottle was still clenched in his hand, holding it by the neck. “I don’t think you’ve heard me correctly. I’m not giving you an option. You’re not to see my sister again.”
“How exactly are you planning to stop me? I’d die before I stopped seeing her.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to that question. He wouldn’t try to kill me, would he? Not right here in my home? What would he do? Steal a few things and try to make it look like a break-in? Or did he already have a plan to get rid of my body so he could just make it appear as though I’d vanished?
Bruno set the beer bottle down on the sideboard. “I can make that work.”