Page 40 of Angel of Light (Lords of The Commission: New York #5)
“I don’t think that’s it.” Matt said, “I’ve seen how he looks at you, Ali.
How panicked he was when you were in that hospital bed.
How much he wanted to kill me for putting you in danger.
Not once did he mention his precious building.
The projects. The profit loss. He was genuinely scared to lose you. His little girl.”
Tears welled in my eyes. Even though those words hadn’t come from my father, a very small part of my little self healed by listening to them anyway.
“So, yes,” I said, sniffing my tears away and getting back to what brought me here, “I remember that I’m promised to marry Don Massimo in a few months.”
“Why did you feel the need to hide this from us?” Liam asked.
“Because,” I started, keeping my silence for a few seconds as I tried to find a reason for my madness, “I thought maybe I could find a way out of it if I didn’t remember. But I didn’t want to drag you along. I know how much your ‘honorable word’ means to you.” I mimicked Matt’s voice.
Matt closed the gap between us, holding my face in his hands, forcing me to look into his stormy gray eyes. I saw Nonno in them, and as much as my brother thought he couldn’t fill his shoes, he absolutely already had.
The calmness in his gesture broke something inside of me. His reassurance and firm words shattering a piece of ice from my hardened heart, “There is nothing in this world that means more to me than my family. You do not come second to anything, Alison. This is my mess, and I will fix it.”
I held onto him, grabbing his wrists and pleading, “Please don’t kill him. I don’t care if we have to move the wedding to tomorrow.”
Matt hugged me then. Tight and steadying. His broad frame covering me like a warm blanket.
“Am I that much of a monster that you thought killing Max was my go-to answer?”
“You’re not a monster,” I replied, nuzzling further into his chest. “But Max isn’t answering his phone. Every call since this morning has been going straight to voicemail. So I assumed.”
“Assuming is not a good practice, Principessa. ” Matt pulled back, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, and whatever softness had taken over his features immediately disappeared, giving way to that darkness with a promise of death he wore when he was all Mafia business.
“What’s this?” He tilted my chin, his fingers rough on my face.
Oh shit! Did I not cover that up enough? The mark Max left on my skin last night had sent an electric jolt between my legs when I looked at myself in the mirror this morning, but right now, the electric current went up my spine in alert.
“I wasn’t going to kill him. But now I fucking am!” Matt roared, taking a step away from me.
“You’re doing no such thing.”
“I told him to keep his fucking hands off you.”
“What if I told you I was the one who pushed him to break that promise? I’m a grown woman, Matt.”
“I don’t care. He shouldn’t have caved. He knows he’s not good for you.”
“That’s for me to decide. Not you.”
“He’s a menace, Alison.” The outrage was clear in his tone, “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”
“He’s gentle,” Except in the moments that gentle isn’t welcome, I thought to myself as I talked my brother off that ledge, “and he sees me for who I am. And I… I love him, Matt.”
“Are you listening to this?” Matt turned to Liam, incredulous.
My brother shut his eyes, his fingers pressing against them as he nodded repeatedly. Just by the look on his face, I knew he was trying to erase the image of me and Max in a not-so-PG-13 situation.
“I love him enough to marry Vincenzo tomorrow if that means Max is safe.”
“That’s what you don’t understand,” Matt yelled, “Max will never be safe. And I don’t want his ghosts to come after you, too.”
“Because Vincenzo is that much better?” I scoffed, putting even more distance between us. “Well then, let me tell you that this morning, I woke up with a surprise in my apartment. Diego makes some pretty good coffee, but I’m still choking on the threats he spewed over that steaming cup.”
“Diego was in your apartment? Where’s Jimmy?”
“Taking a nap on my couch. Cartel induced.”
“What did Diego want?” Liam asked, and I knew he was trying to keep his voice as level and neutral as possible.
“He wanted my help. As if I had any sway over Vincenzo, Diego wanted me to knock some sense into my fiancé’s head.”
“I’m sure he elaborated.”
“They have some kind of business agreement that Vincenzo is supposed to uphold as payment for the fact that the Massimos killed his father. That was their truce agreement, which Vicenzo is now breaking by backing down from whatever deal they have. He knows who I am, Matt. He called me Battaglia and still threatened to send my finger to Vincenzo as a special persuasion method. But something tells me Vincenzo wouldn’t mind me missing a digit, would he? ”
Matt paused in thought, but I could see the uneasiness rolling off of him in waves. Liam’s eyebrows were pinched together, too. If my ruthless brothers were preoccupied, it meant the threat was real.
“Anything else?” Matt asked, taking the glass from Liam’s hand and downing it in one large gulp.
“He knows Max’s real name, too.”
Both of their heads snapped to me as if I were sprouting another set of arms and legs. The tension settled like smoke in the room once again. Thick, hot, and ready to ignite.
“He told you?”
I simply nodded in response.
Before any of us could say a single word, Max burst into the office with a worried and absolutely pissed Francesca trying to stop him.
He marched right towards me, taking my face in his hands and searching my skin for any damage.
“Did he hurt you? Did Diego hurt you?” He urged, panic lacing every one of those words.
“No. No. I’m fine,” I replied with a smile that slowly started to vanish as I realized something wasn’t right. There was no way he could have known. “Wait. How do you know Diego was in my apartment?”