Page 30 of Runaway in the Mafia (The shadows of Cosa Nostra Chronicles #3)

I’d felt—I shook my head violently. Just because he took care of me when my migraine from hell hit me didn’t mean he was anything but the devil in disguise.

He proved it again and again. The only idiot in this equation was me.

The one who’d thought there was a saint hiding behind the black screen.

He may have looked like a hero, but he acted like the villain. I shouldn’t have believed otherwise.

I walked to the attached ensuite and splashed my face with cold water. My hands clutched around the pink porcelain sink as I gave myself the pep talk of the century.

Don’t you dare let him see he’s gotten to you, Ahana.

No man gets to put you down. With actions or words.

You can do this. Get hold of yourself. He’s shit. He’s shit.

But he’s so dr—

I slapped my face. He’s shit.

I lost track of time and hung in there. The place was ancient.

Peeling floral wallpaper, powder pink tiles and baby pink porcelain.

No wonder Lia liked to come here. It used to be her grandparents’ place.

Happy memories sang from the walls. Different to a locked office door in Corleone.

I couldn’t remember if it was Ada’s parents’ or Carlo’s.

Didn’t matter, anyway. I just had to get through today and get back to Corleone.

Then I’d forget all of this. Not. For. You.

A last breath of courage, and I was ready to face the music downstairs. But when I popped the lock open and walked into the room, I found Lia on one bed. One leg half out of the bed. Mouth in an O. Fast asleep.

No way.

“Lia?” I shook her gently. No movement. I was not putting up with that demon alone. “Don’t you dare leave me alone with your lunatic brother.” I got onto the bed, gave up all pretence of being gentle, and rattled her violently. The only reaction I got was a loud, inhuman snore.

“She’s not going to wake up anytime soon.” I rolled my head to the open doorway and glared, even though he was obviously still downstairs.

How would he know?

I jumped off the bed and stormed out. Clutching a hand over the rail, I half hung over it. “Why is she out?”

He stood in the middle of the room, whiskey in hand. “She’s tired?”

“Tired, my ass.” I snorted and regretted it immediately when he tilted his head to grab a better look at said ass.

Mine. I was too agitated. Fired up enough to kill him.

At least hurt him. Badly. I rushed down the steps before I thought about the wisdom of that decision.

I clutched the railing at the bottom and glared daggers at him.

He had a devilish gleam in his eyes that spoke of evil deeds.

“What the hell did you do?” My gaze darted to the half-empty bowl on the sofa, littered with crumbles and jam. “Did you…” I shook my head. No, he wouldn’t.

He took two steps in, and I mounted one up. “Say it,” he whispered.

I couldn’t. He wasn’t that...

He glared. His gaze taunting.

“You didn’t drug her. Did you?” Oh my God, that sounded even more ridiculous when I said it out loud.

He laughed. Of course he would laugh. See. It was all fine. “You have an overactive imagination...” I totally did. His gaze pinned me, and a wicked grin played across his face. “But when it comes to me, it’s always right.”

I gasped. “No.”

He took two steps in. “Yes.”

Another step, and I was off. I wasn’t hanging around with a lunatic. He had a different idea about that. I didn’t even get halfway up the stairs before his arm circled my waist, and I was lifted off the floor. “Let me go,” I screeched.

“What? And leave Lia with a headache tomorrow, all for nothing?”

“She wouldn’t have a headache if her brother didn’t drug her.” I pulled my leg in to kick him, but he was far ahead of me. His arm wrapped around my legs tightly and he body walked me downstairs, my back to his front.

“She’s your sister!”

He threw me on the sofa, and I landed next to the sweet weapon of his.

“She should have fucking stayed home.”

“That’s what I offered—”

“She. Not you.” His gaze sparked. “Oh, I want you here, alright.”

Ah. Ah. Not going to happen. I jumped off the sofa. He pulled me up and shoved me right back. My breath left me in a gasp. What now? He handled me like a doll. The worst part of it was that I couldn’t tell if I hated it or loved it. I crossed my arms and glared. Hopefully, he’d get the message.

He didn’t. “You know. The more you run, the more people I’ll have to hurt.”

You’d think he was talking about what’s for dinner. He looked so damn casual, with one hand in his pocket and the other rubbing his chin, deep in thought.

“You aren’t even bothered by it.”

He traced my cheek with his knuckle. Heat exploded in my face. “You couldn’t have those cookies. I’m sorry I hurt you.” Regret threaded his voice.

“How about drugging your sister or shooting your cousin?” I asked hopefully.

He shrugged. “A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

“For what?”

“Time. With you. Alone.”

“You want to talk to me, you could have done it back home.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. You’re smart. But fucking. That’s what I want. To. Fuck. You.”

Hey Bhagwan!

Those eyes burned through me like he’d shredded all my clothes and thrown me inside a furnace. I pinched my elbows. Something had to pull me out of this spell he’d cast over me. Plus, I needed to fight him. And keep those nipples from peeking through.

“I’m flattered. Your seduction techniques are unique. Do they work with other girls?”

Amusement pulled at his lips. “Don’t know.

Don’t care.” He stepped forward and shoved his knee in between my thighs.

He was all warm and musky. Leather and sandalwood.

Mellow and smooth. Refined, yet unconfined.

His arms caged me in and, leaning forward, he coated his heated words against the back of my burning ear.

Like a strip of hot wax, they stuck to me. “Did it work with my girl?”

Boom.

It was like he’d hit the switch and full voltage electricity bolted through my veins. Like he’d found the magic words that would destroy me. My girl? The armour I’d built around me, holding this man away from me, clattered, the sound of metal clanging in my ear.

I’d never been anyone’s girl. I shouldn’t have let that get to me.

But it did. And he knew it when his gaze found mine.

Green glittered with devilish decadence.

Everything around us melted. I couldn’t put a place or a time.

It was just me and him. I may as well have been standing in a dark cave, with him as the raging fire on my face.

His palms burned my cheeks when they cupped my face.

He didn’t expect me to refuse, nor did I want to. All that I wanted was him.

Him. Him. Him.

He must have read my inner thoughts, or I breathed it out. I wasn’t sure. But in one motion, he pounced on me.

Good God! I was going down, and all I wanted was to drown.