Page 36 of Scorned Beauty (Scorned Fate #5)

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Dom

“I…I can’t breathe.” I had to tell Sloane I loved her before I died. Otherwise, I would haunt her for the rest of my days from purgatory, or maybe even hell.

“Is your left arm feeling numb?”

In my chaotic thoughts and reactions, I concluded Lucy was only making me feel worse.

“I’m calling Sloane!” she said.

“No!” I was already running for the front door.

I needed to see her. Waiting be damned. And since I could barely breathe, running to her was out of the question.

I climbed into the SUV, gunned the engine, and sped the short distance to her beach house.

That short time seemed to be forever. The stabbing in my chest eased, but I sounded like I had asthma and I knew what that sounded like because Lucy had it when she was a child.

Why was I thinking of Lucy when she had asthma? Was I flashing back to my childhood because I was dying?

No. No. No. Sloane had to see me. I gripped the steering wheel, speeding up because my gaze zeroed in on her van.

In the back of my mind, I knew I should be slowing down.

That fucking van was a death trap. How many times had I watched her try to start that thing and check under its hood?

But she wouldn’t accept help when I came over and asked if she needed a ride.

She would return to the house and slam the door in my face.

Well, she was becoming unreasonable, and I could be vindictive—to her vehicle. I floored the gas and catapulted off the road, straight into the back of her van, and braced.

My body shot forward, the seat belt bit my shoulder, and the thundering sound of metal clashing with metal should have woken her up. Otherwise, I’d have to barge in there.

Her door swung open, and she came running out with a phone to her ear.

“Are you having a heart attack?”

I unclipped the seat belt and shoved open the door. “Maybe. You’re the nurse.” I was still in a semi-daze with what I had done. What progress I had made giving Sloane space had come screeching to a halt, literally.

“You shouldn’t have gotten behind the wheel!” she yelled and grabbed my arm to lead me into the house.

“Do I have to be dying for you to talk to me?”

She spun around, eyes narrowing. “Is this all an act?” She gave me a withering head-to-toe appraisal. “You don’t look like someone having a heart attack.”

My head dropped, and I assessed her mood under hooded eyes. Shit. She was going to kick me out. “I think I was having a panic attack, but Lucy made it worse by suggesting I was having a coronary.”

Sloane heaved a heavy sigh and raised her arm toward the kitchen table. “The power of suggestion works wonders. Sit. I’ll check you out.”

She didn’t look pleased, but there was no question about the terror in her eyes when she ran out of her house. Sloane still cared for me. She didn’t even get mad about her van. I was sure that would come later.

I let my eyes wander around her beach house.

Nothing much had changed. After I informed her of Kolya’s arrest, she mentioned a move to Oregon or San Diego.

She’d asked the Rossis for help to escape to either Canada or Mexico.

But Sandro calmed her down and told her they had the pulse on the Russians’ movements.

I’d also given instructions to Sonny and Matteo.

Now if only I could convince her to return to Manhattan.

The tracker was out of her. We could leave it here, while I hid her in the penthouse.

No way was I delegating her security again.

Sloane returned and had the stethoscope around her neck and a blood pressure cuff.

“We seem to find ourselves playing doctor-patient frequently,” I said.

“That seems to be a language we understand.”

“Taking care of each other?” I said innocently.

Our eyes met, but hers squinted. “Now don’t speak. Breathe normally.”

She put the listening piece to my chest and listened to my palpitations.

Then she stood and put the probe to my back and gave me instructions to hold my breath and release it.

I followed her orders automatically, but I was struggling not to react to her nearness.

She smelled of coconut and vanilla. Not her usual scent of citrus and floral—she mentioned it was ylang-ylang once.

But Sloane had her own essence, and its ability to make my blood surge south was absolute. My cock tented my pants.

Sloane’s body shook. She was trying not to laugh, but she backed away and stared at my erection.

“You’re impossible,” she whispered, both in annoyance and mirth.

I smirked. “What can I say? I feel so much better when you’re around me.”

“I’m serious, Dom.” She sat on a chair and looked me in the eye. “You shouldn’t have driven. At all.”

“I needed to get to you quickly, and I wasn’t sure I wasn’t gonna pass out while running.”

“Well, it would have been worse if you were driving. Lucy called me in a panic.”

She started putting everything away.

“Aren’t you supposed to check my blood pressure? Run an EKG?”

“With your monster cock saying hello? The results would be skewed,” she said dryly.

“Monster, huh?”

My eyes lazily traveled the length of her body. She was wearing a tank top and shorts. Her arms were thinner, but her tits were as full as I remembered. Fuck, this wasn’t helping my erection go down.

She stood up.

“Don’t go.”

She glared at me. “I think you’re the one who should go.”

“Sloane, please,” I whispered. She must have recognized the desperation in my voice because I saw a trace of pity, so I rushed out the words. “Please listen to me. I know I don’t deserve it, especially with the way I turned you away.”

Her face hardened, and I realized my mistake when she sneered, “I thought you’re done slumming?”

I briefly shut my eyes at the memory of those cruel words, but when I opened them, Sloane had already gathered up her stuff and left me to wallow.

I followed her to the bathroom. “Please listen to me.”

“I’m beneath your station, remember?”

The hateful words I said to her clawed inside my chest. Did I deserve her at all? No wonder she didn’t trust me.

“Leave.”

“I should have taken out Grigori when I had the chance,” I continued. I would never win Sloane back if I didn’t come clean. “Sandro asked me if I would consider it.”

“I didn’t expect you to take care of my problems!

” she yelled, going into the kitchen. She grabbed a bottled water and handed it to me.

“Drink this. That’s why I didn’t want to get involved with anyone from the mob.

Mixing business and pleasure was the worst fucking idea of my life. So yes, it’s on me too.”

I was in whiplash with her handing me water, but I guessed my persistence was winning out.

I twisted off the cap and took a gulp. I didn’t realize how parched I was.

“We both made mistakes, but I had the power to ease your burdens and I didn’t.

Selfishly, I thought I could have everything, but having everything was an illusion.

The properties that I wanted Grigori to sell to me were for my mother. ”

“Your mother?”

She walked over to the living room, and I followed eagerly like a lapdog. I was so gone for this girl and she wasn’t even aware of it. It wasn’t guilt. I simply stopped lying to myself. When I did, my obsession for Sloane flared so fucking bright, I was blind to everything else except her.

“The properties were a Moretti legacy. They owned them for generations. My mother had an arrangement to be married to a high-ranking member of the Russian bratva. Let’s just say, in the underworld, it could have been the match of the century.

But they demanded our villas on the Amalfi coast as dowry.

All the documents had been signed, but my mother backed out last minute and married Pop instead.

The De Luccis aren’t small fish by any means, but we didn’t have the pedigree of the Zahkarovs.

” I recounted the series of events that led to Ma’s breakdown and depression.

How I did my part to take care of the family.

And how her promise to a dying Emilio Moretti to get the properties back had been my vow to her.

“Those are the same properties Lucy was telling me about,” Sloane mused. “The lawyer of the witness…”

I felt that familiar stabbing in my chest again, and I rubbed the spot.

“Are you feeling okay?” Sloane asked.

“That’s the reason for my panic attack,” I confessed.

For someone in my position to admit having such vulnerabilities was unspeakable.

But this was Sloane. She’d seen me at my weakest and I’d seen her at hers.

How could she not see we fit? “I realized that was the night you had strangle marks. The night you broke up with me was also the night I had put security on you.”

Her eyes widened. “That far back?”

“Yes.” I drained the bottled water. I was really thirsty and there was more I needed to own up to so we could start with a clean slate.

“You broke up with me. And I fully intended to follow up on you. But Luca found Natalya, and we had to shut down any leaks of information so Luca could make his move. Then Lucy also asked for my help to hide Elyse Bailey. I was pulled in all directions.”

“You had me on ice while you took care of others.”

I hung my head. “I failed you. Plain and simple.”

“You told me you had enough to worry about and you didn’t have to worry about me,” she said.

“So tell me how is this supposed to work if I give you a second chance? I’ll be your mistress, protected from all the shit that touches you, spend your money, but I can only watch while you escort more suitable women to events.

And what happens when you decide to marry? What if I get pregnant again?”