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“He chased you. I’m the only one allowed to do that.”

Huh.That shouldn’t be hot. There shouldn’t be a rush of eagerness shooting straight between my legs.

But there was.

All because this big, bad mobster leapt out of the dark to rescue me.

“What are you doing out here, Markos?” I asked dryly.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

The thug’s movements slowed. Here we were having a normal conversation while he was strangling my aggressor.

Maybe I should scream or freak out.I probably seemed too calm in the Greek’s eyes. Yet as I looked at the face turning blue and purple from lack of oxygen, I didn’t feel a drop of remorse. He’d accosted me, chased me, and tried to rob me.

I was done with men thinking they could walk all over women because they were physically stronger.

“Why don’t you go back inside?” Markos jerked his chin to the door.

I arched a brow. “Where are you going?”

“To play a little game with this lump.”

Lump. That made me cringe. “No, don’t do that.”

Markos tipped his head to the side. “He assaulted you.”

“Yes, so kill him and be done with it,” I snapped. “Don’t play with him for some sick, twisted reason.”

Markos blew a short laugh from his nose. “Of all the surprising things.” He cracked the man’s neck and dropped the limp body. “You’re something else, Serena.”

Yeah, the kind of messed up only someone with a very fancy degree and access to pills could possibly hope to treat. Because I found this monster insanely attractive—even though he was emotionally unavailable, wanted to marry someone else, and was holding me prisoner. A damn fine mess.

I watched with an unhealthy level of detachment as Markos tossed the body into the alley behind Delphi. The feelings swirling in my chest weren’t normal. It should bother me that the mobster disposed of a still warm body as though it was nothing more than a trash bag.

I blamed it on growing up in the mob—not that my brothers let me see family business.

“I’m done being bullied,” I said with a shrug and took a step toward the entrance.

The broken stiletto reminded me how the pavement felt. This time, my graceless crash tore the skin clean off my flesh.

A violent curse left my lips.

Strong hands scooped me into the air. “What was that, beautiful?”

Distracted by how nice it felt in his arms, it took a moment for the details to fall into place. Holy shit. Panic iced my veins. Those words hadn’t been in English. Sure, I’d slipped a few random cuss words in Italian, but that was the first time I spoke a string of words aloud. One of my secrets was revealed, out in the open, unable to be retracted.There would be questions, and I wasn’t ready to answer them.

“Nothing,” I muttered, scrambling for a reasonable answer. “Just something my granny used to say.”

Markos hummed. The sound was rich and comforting, vibrating through his chest.

I stared at him, trying to assess his thoughts, but I couldn’t even see his features clearly.

“Are you ever going to stop hiding from me?” I whispered, reaching out to touch his cheek.

Bouncing me hard to adjust me to a one-handed grip, he caught my hand right before my fingers made contact with his skin.

“Someday,” he said through clenched teeth.