Page 177 of The Billionaire's Secret

"We’ll see, shall we?" She sets her jaw.

I glare at her, "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"Why do you have to be so…blinded by your own ego?"

"It’s the only thing that’s kept me alive so far."

"What kind of living is it, if you can’t even come clean to your own wife?"

"Oh, sonowyou are my wife?" I thrust out my chest.

She throws up her hands, "Just leave Saint, please."

"I intend to." I turn to go, when the phone in my pocket vibrates. I slide it out of my pocket, see the message from an unknown number. I swipe open the screen, play the message. A video flickers to life.

A woman speaks into the screen, "This message is for Victoria." She swallows, "V? This is Nina. I am fine." She glances at someone off-screen. "Antonio has promised not to hurt me as long as no one comes after him." She firms her lips, stares at the screen, "I am fine V, really. Call off whoever is shadowing Antonio. He’ll take care of me." A smile curls her lips. "I believe him, V." She pauses, then adds, "Take care of yourself." The message switches off.

"What is it?"

I walk over to her, hand her the phone.

She glances at me, then back at the screen. I play the message for her. She pales, replays the message once again, then hands the phone back to me.

"You believe her?"

She nods. "No reason for Nina to lie."

"Yet, you kept the truth from me. Why didn't you tell me what the Mafia wanted from you?"

She pales.

"Why, Gigi?"

"Because…I had to protect you Saint. I couldn't...risk the Mafia finding out. What if they did something to you? I could have never lived with myself," she draws in a breath.

"You wanted to protectme?" I scowl.

"Why not?" She sets her jaw, "Is that so difficult to understand?"

"Yes," I growl, "because you don't get to put yourself in danger for me... You never get to endanger yourself for anyone else—especially not for me. I can take care of myself, you feel me, Gigi?"

"Oh, spare me the macho bullshit," she mutters.

The fuck is she talking about?Of course, I am macho. I was born this way... No excuses there. I can't stop myself from taking care of her, any more than I could stop myself from breathing. I glare at her; she glowers back. Stubborn woman.

Why can't she understand that if something were to happen to her I'd never survive it?Fuck.I rake my fingers through my hair. "You make me a little crazy, Gigi, you know that? You make me do things that I can’t explain. You fucking tie me up in knots, and that makes me desperate. It makes me miss things I didn’t know I wanted in the first place."

"Like?" She stares at me, "Like what?"

"Like, being married to you, for one. I had no idea that I needed you—your touch, a glance, the whisper of your voice to infiltrate the recesses of my mind."

"What else?" she whispers.

"I want you, isn’t that enough?"

"I want more." She swallows, "Can you give me that, I wonder?"

My heart begins to race. "What is it?" I ask. "What more do you want?"Do I want to hear it? Do I?