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"Don't." Antonio strokes my arm. He is the most perceptive man I know. "This isn't on you. Whatever you two were up to, first, the guards should never have allowed you to pass, and second, that is their job. To protect what's mine."

"But they wouldn't have died if we hadn't left, so that is on me," I point out.

"That's the life," Gigi cuts in. "They know it; we know it. It doesn't matter when or where; they're there to protect us, and that's their job."

Scarlet's stiffness tells me she isn't all that convinced, and I move my hand from her arm to her back to massage the stiffness out of it. "Whatever stupidity you two were up to, the death of these men is not on you. It lies squarely on the men who killed them, and on Carlos."

Her eyes are wide, and I see apprehension in them, but her voice is strong: "Shouldn't I go with you?"

Another wave of pride for her fills me. "It's not a pleasant visit."

"No, I didn’t think it would be. But as your wife, shouldn't I be at your side?"

"I would be proud if you were, but I would never ask this of you," I tell her, making sure she understands.

"I want to come," she says determinedly.

The car stops at the entrance, and I open the door to help Scarlet out. Vito does the same for Gigi.

"In my office, in an hour," I tell Gigi sternly.

She throws a worried glance at Vito. "Oh, for Christ’s sake, I'm not going to kill the bastard. Do you really think he keeps secrets from me? Especially ones that involve dating you?"

It takes Gigi only a few seconds to realize what I'm saying. Her eyes grow wide, and her mouth opens and closes until she finally presses out, "You knew?"

"Of course I knew, nobody is keeping secrets from me."

She glares from Vito to me, then slaps him in the face and storms off.

Vito stares after her. "Thanks, boss."

"You deserved it. Now be a man and go after her."

Scarlet lets out a startled gasp, "You knew?"

I roll my eyes. "Passerotta, there is nothing in this house I don't know."

She tilts her head and scrutinizes me before shaking it. "Not everything."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask as I follow her up the stairs to our bedroom.

"Just what I said," she throws over her shoulder. I think I have an idea what she is referring to.Ah, passerotta, you have no idea what I know and don't know, I think smugly.

I slam the door shut behind her. I'm glad she and Gigi are unharmed, and I'm more than happy to have them back, but we still need to lay down some ground rules. One of them is obedience.

At the slam of the door, she turns, but all smugness vanishes from her face when she sees my schooled features. It's not easy being mad at her, but it’s necessary. She needs to understand that certain rules are in place to keep her safe.

"I know, okay?" She tries to ward me off.

"Do you now?" I walk towards her, and she slowly backs up until her back hits the wall.

"I do. Trust me. I will never do anything so foolish again."

I brace my hands on both sides of her head and lean down to look at her. Her sapphire eyes shine back at me, unafraid, but she does look contrite. All I want is to kiss and fuck my wife, but it’s important to make her understand that this life brings a lot of rules with it. I fucked up by not having made her realize that before.

"So, little wife, do you want to tell me now what was so important that you and Gigi had to leave, after I explicitly made clear that neither she nor you were to leave the house?" Anger sparks in my gut. I'm not sure what I'll do if she tells me something stupid, like they needed to get a mani-pedi.

She whispers something inaudible.