Page 36 of Wounded King

"I respect her," he corrects. That's a new one.

"She's fierce and brave. She's got balls, too," he chuckles.

He'd better not be telling me he's in love with her, because… because…I want her.Shit, I really do. What the hell is wrong with me?

"What do we know about her?" I ask, keeping my voice level, keeping the appearance up of me just doing my due diligence—vetting a new hire. Not obsessing over a woman I shouldn't even be thinking about.

He rubs his chin. "She's been in New York since she was five. Hasn't left. She studied nursing and has been working at St. Raphael's since she graduated. She's well-liked, respected, and has been promoted several times. The only vacation she takes is with her family at a lake house. She was engaged, but she broke it off a couple of months ago."

A muscle in my jaw tightens.Engaged.

Some part of me wants to know his name. Wants to know what kind of man gets down on one knee for a woman like Violet and then lets her go. Wants to find him. See if he still thinks he made the right decision with a broken nose.

I shouldn't care. Shouldn't want to dig into her past. But that protective, territorial instinct is already in me, rising like smoke off dry kindling. Whoever he was, he didn't deserve her.

Just like Mina didn't deserve me.

The thought strikes harder than I expect. Huh.We both dumped our fiancés.Maybe that's why this already feels different. Clean slate. No lies. No expectations. She's not chasing my crown. I'm not chasing her down the aisle. And yet…

She's everything I didn't know I was looking for.

And if she ever lets me get close enough?

I won't be the idiot who lets her walk away.

The part he isn't telling me grabs my attention: "What happened before she was five?"

"That's the strange part. Nothing. She's a ghost. So are her mother and siblings. There's nothing on them before twenty years ago."

Intriguing. Whatever it is she's hiding, though I doubt she even knows she's hiding it. "Concentrate on the mother. I want to know everything."

"I've got Luca on it," he fills me in. It's a good choice. Despite his being only nineteen years old, Luca Boddigo is a beast of a hacker. If there is a secret, he'll find it.

"I'm going home now," Luciano grabs more cookies, "I need a shower and to sleep in my own bed."

"Couldn't agree more." I throw the chicken bone into the garbage. I'm still hungry, but my stomach is making angry sounds, telling me I should take it easy.

"See you in the morning." Luciano moves toward the door that leads into the antechamber where the elevator and the guards are stationed. "Get some rest."

"Yes, Mom." I grin sarcastically at him before I add, "And, thank you."

"Yeah, I'll add it to your tab." He grins back.

Restless, I move to the balcony and stand outside for a while. Down below, traffic rolls through the streets uncaring that it is one o'clock in the morning. NYC is always busy. The sky is too bright from all the lights to make out any stars. Maybe Enrico has it right. He lives in a mansion in the suburbs, where you can see the stars at night. But I love this city too much to consider moving. I saw plenty of stars in Sicily. This city is more alive than any other place I've ever been. I missed it when I was gone. At least, on the few occasions I had time to miss anything.

My phone vibrates. A message from Sophia.

Sophia:

Glad to hear you're out. I'm out of the city for a few days.

I pushdialand call her. I don't have the patience for long, drawn-out text messages.

“How are you?” She greets me.

"Where are you?" I ask right back.

"Los Angeles. Roberto has some business here, so I decided to go shopping," she replies.