Page 24

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rafael

I grip the steering wheel so tightly that I worry it’ll snap for a second. I loosen my hold. I feel her eyes boring into the side of my face, daring me to deny it. But there’s no denying it.

She knows the truth—although how much of it, I’m still not sure. So, I play it safe.

“Why do you think that?”

“So, you’re actually going to deny it?” she asks incredulously. “Just tell me the truth, Dominic…Rafael, whatever your name is.”

“Yes, I’m Rafael Romano,” I admit. I pull the car into my parking spot and turn it off, swiveling to face her.

If I’m going to tell her the truth, I need to see her. I need to read her face because try as she might to hide it, I’ve spent too many hours studying that face. And nothing gets past me. I’m still unsure about how much I should reveal when she interrupts me.

“And you’re some hermit, Unabomberesque sexy philanthropist CEO billionaire?”

The words tumble from her mouth like word vomit and she looks surprised at herself. I almost laugh at the description because nothing could be further from the truth. Although about half of that is just my public persona.

I’ve worked hard to scrub every inch of my mafia ties from the internet, leaving only what I want people to think. She clearly Googled me, which is cute.

“That’s quite a description,” I start, holding eye contact. “It’s half the truth.”

“I’m almost scared to ask about the other half,” she says glumly.

“I’m going to tell you something about myself that’ll explain a lot of what happened tonight, but I don’t want you to get scared,” I tell her. I gently pick up her hand and run my thumb over her knuckles. When she doesn’t pull away, I continue.

“The philanthropist billionaire bullshit you saw online is my public persona. It’s a cover…a front, you could say.”

“Are you a spy?” she breathes, her eyes almost hopeful. A spy wouldn’t be the worst-case scenario, I realize, but the mafia would be.

There’s no turning back now, Rafael. You made your bed. You can lie in it—alone.

“No, I’m part of the mafia,” I say as simply as possible and wait for her reaction. Her eyes widen and her lips part in shock. I can see confusion painted across her face, until it gives way to anger, then fear.

She snatches her hand out of mine and plasters herself against the passenger side door, trying to create distance between us.

“No, you’re not,” she breathes. I can almost hear her heart rate spike as she feels around for the door handle, ready to escape.

“Relax, Lux,” I say, using my most soothing voice. “The guy you met, the one you fell for, that was me. That was Rafael…just with a different job. I never lied to you about who I was inside, I promise.”

“Promise?” she stutters. “You think I’m going to trust your promises now? And why isn’t this goddamn door opening?”

She nearly screams the last part, desperately pulling the handle. Her breathing is getting faster as blood rushes to her cheeks, flushing them beautifully. If she wasn’t terrified and about to lose her mind, I’d kiss her.

“Safety lock,” I say, tapping the button. The car automatically unlocks and Lux’s door flies open with one last aggressive yank from her hand. She moves to unbuckle her seatbelt, but I can’t let her run.

“Wait, Lux, breathe,” I tell her, hoping she’ll relax. “I need to tell you about Mancini. Whether you choose to trust me or not, this is important.”

She freezes, halfway out of the car. Her shoulders shake slightly and I know she’s crying. I hop out of the car and jog over to her side, keeping a respectable distance between us. Tears flow down her face freely, but her eyes burn fiercely.

“What about him?” she finally grinds out.

“He’s part of the mafia, too,” I say, registering the lack of shock on her face. “But you’ve probably figured that out by now. He’s head of the rival family. The Velvet Room is his front. Lisa and Rob are his kids…in fact, a lot of your ex-coworkers are part of the family.”

Her shoulders sag and she wipes the tears off her cheeks with a sweatshirt sleeve. “And what does he want with me?”

“I’m not sure,” I admit. “I originally thought you might be working for him, but I quickly realized you knew nothing. Although now that he knows about your connection to me, and you saw his cousin die, you’re definitely on his radar…and you’re not safe.”

A shock of recognition turns her expression dark, her mouth twisting in an ugly line. “That’s why you wanted me? You thought I was working for him? You thought I’d feed you information or something?”

“No,” I breathe out, but quickly realize this version of the events is probably kinder than the real deal, so I roll with it. “Well, yes. But Lux, then I fell for you for real. Hook, line, and sinker, I was a goner the second you smiled at me.”

She scoffs, slamming my door with force, and stalks away from me. I watch her carefully until she whips around and points her finger at me, ready to give me hell. Her face crumbles instead, and she breaks down in tears, sliding to the ground against a cement pillar.

I panic, never having seen anyone cry this hard—unless I was torturing them. Her entire body is shaking like she’s been dipped in freezing water and her breathing seems shallow. Fuck, she’s having a panic attack.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, I think, running to her side. I slide down beside her and pull her into my lap, circling her loosely with my arms. She shakes and sobs as I stroke her back lightly and whisper words of encouragement.

Finally, her body begins to go slack in my arms and her sobs transform into quiet hiccups. I keep rubbing her back, telling her that she’s safe and that I’ll never hurt her. As she relaxes, I start to worry that someone will see us like this, and it’ll make the front-page news.

That’s the last thing she needs right now.

“Listen, I know I just dropped a bomb on you, and you’re freaked out. You don’t have to trust me right now,” I assure her. “But don’t you think if I wanted to hurt you in some way, I’d have done it already?”

I feel her nod against my chest. “Good, so trust me on that, at least. Why don’t we go upstairs and talk about this some more? Because honestly, we’re pretty out in the open here.”

She lifts her head off my chest and looks around, dazed, but pulls herself up. I jog over to the car, grab her duffle bag, and we head into the elevator. She refuses to look at me the entire way up, focusing on her face in the mirrored walls as she wipes her eyes and nose.

When we get upstairs, she heads straight to the bathroom, and I recline on the sofa, nervously waiting for what happens next. She finally emerges, her face scrubbed clean and her hair pulled back in a messy bun. Memories of waking up next to her in the morning hit me in the gut, making me want to double over.

I will get her back. No matter how long it takes, or what I have to do, she’ll be mine again.

I pat the spot next to me lightly, and she accepts, slowly making her way over and perching uncomfortably on the cushion. She looks so broken and defeated that I can’t bring myself to tell her anything more tonight.

I curse my past self for all the hell I put her through—getting her fired, flooding her apartment, wanting to kill her. What a goddamn fool I was.

“So…”

“So,” I echo, sighing. “I’m the head of the Romano family, recently came into power after my father’s death. We trade illegal goods on the mafia side and produce construction material on the legal, tax-paying side. We try not to kill people too often unless they fuck with us. I’m not really evil unless I have to be.”

She stares at the floor and nods. “And the whole story about your mother?”

“That was all true,” I reply, my voice tired and soft. “She really was wonderful and we really did go to Route 42 often.”

“Okay,” she accepts, crossing her legs and leaning back against the pillows. “So, just checking again, you have no motive or desire to kill me?”

“Absolutely none,” I confirm. “The only thing I want to do is protect you because I…I care about you…a lot more than I expected I would.”

“And I’m safe here? With you?”

“The safest you could be anywhere in the world right now,” I confirm. I gently place my hand on her knee, testing her reaction. She doesn’t pull away, but I feel her body stiffen, so I quickly pull back.

“Can I have some time?” she finally asks. “To think and clear my mind?”

“Luxy,” I turn to her, willing her to look at me. When she finally does, I smile softly. “You can have all the time in the world. I do want you to stay with me for the time being though, because I don’t know what that fucker Mancini has going on right now. You’re safe here with me.”

She nods and slips off the couch, heading down the hall. My heart skips a beat imagining her climbing into my bed, but she stops at the guest bedroom and slips inside, locking the door.

“I love you,” I whisper softly to the closed door, testing how it sounds coming from my mouth.