Page 8 of His Deadly Devotion

“Yeah, the whole kidnapping thing kind of gave that away, babe.” He chuckles.

“I panicked. It wasn’t my finest moment.” I scowl at him. “But it worked, so I’d do it again.”

“I got shot,” Connor says.

“Because you ran in front of a bullet,” I remind him.

“Better me than you.” He shrugs.

“I don’t agree.” I shake my head. “If you die, I die anyway.”

“Ditto.” Connor leans in. And as if on cue, the door swings open.

“Fucking hell. Pops, can I kill him yet?” my brother yells out.

“Shut it.” I climb off the bed. Connor slowly follows me. He has to be in pain. Why didn’t I think of that? “You need pain pills,” I tell him.

“Trying to drug me again so soon?” He smirks.

“Here. Put these on and never let me find you in bed with my sister again.” Enzo shoves a pile of clean clothes into Connor’s chest.

“Seriously?” I shove my brother back.

“What?” He gives me that innocent look.

“One day you’re going to fall for some poor girl, and guess who they’re going to be stuck with as a sister-in-law? Me. And we both know I’ll stop at no lengths to torture her.” I smirk, imagining how much fun I can have with whatever girl is dumb enough to fall for my brother.

“It’s funny you think I’d let myself fall for anyone, sis.” Enzo taps a finger on my nose, and I swat his hand away. “Hurry up. Jet’s waiting.”

“Where are we going?”

“Not us. You two.” Enzo points at Connor and me. “You’re going to Australia. You can be Lorenzo’s problem for a while.”

“She’s not a problem,” Connor states. Both my and my brother’s eyes land on him. “What? You’re not anyone’s problem, Aurora.”

I smile, nudging Enzo’s side with an elbow. “See? He’s perfect,” I whisper loud enough for Connor to hear me.

“Or dense,” my brother mutters.

“Nah, he’s smarter than Dante.” Connor really is a genius. He’s just more subtle about it than my cousin.

“No one is smarter than Dante.” Enzo snickers.

“Connor is.”

The whole time Enzo and I are going back and forth, Connor just stares at us with a puzzled look on his face.

“We should go.” I take hold of his hand.

“Pops is going to cut that arm off.” Enzo smiles as we walk past him.

“No, he’s not.” But when we reach the hallway, I drop Connor’s hand on the off chance my Papa isn’t as on board with letting me keep my boyfriend as I think he is.

“I’ve never been more relieved to be an only child,” Connor whispers.

“And he’s the better one of the two…” I sigh. The realization that we’re heading to Melbourne sinks in. At least here I have Papa to rein in Enzo. I’ve got no one in Australia to do that. Well, no one other than my sister-in-law. She’ll help me.

Papa leads us into the garage. Connor and I climb into the back of the SUV while my father and Enzo get in the front.