Page 56 of XOXO, Little Butterfly (The Storyteller’s Bodyguard #2)

Tino

I’d watched her since the beginning.

Since I’d learned one of my men was a lowlife who liked to touch little girls. His girls.

With a job like mine and what I did to keep it over the years, a man like me wasn’t appalled by many things.

And my position required I didn’t get my hands dirty anymore.

But what that scum had done was enough to bring the darkest side of me to the edge.

I’d gladly mauled the bastard with my own hands and enjoyed every tremor and scream that came out of his disgusting body.

For little Nicole and Angelina.

Everybody called the younger sister Lina, but in my head, she was Angel. My Angel.

From the moment I first saw her, I’d wanted to protect and care for her. She was twelve for fuck’s sake. So innocent. So beautiful. So sweet she melted my heart when I didn’t even think I had one.

Her mother was dead, and she had no parent but that fucker Baldi, with no one to protect her from him but her older sister, who was tough but a kid herself.

Who would hurt such an angel? How could a father do that to his own child?

As a father myself, there was nothing that I wouldn’t do or sacrifice for my son and his protection. My Angel deserved a father that would do the same for her.

Nicole, too. She’d been looking out for my girl before I even knew what had been going on in their house, taking what no kid should have ever endured to keep Angel away from the monster as much as she could. For that she deserved to have the best.

I watched as Angel’s sister lined up with her friends in graduation gowns, waiting with an excited smile for her name to be called to get her diploma.

I was proud of her as if she’d been my own kid.

Soon, she’d be off to college on a full scholarship I’d made sure she got.

Just like the one my Angel would get in two years after she graduated.

After I got Baldi out of the way, I’d orchestrated everything in our lives so that I could give her the life she deserved.

So that, at the perfect moment, I would have her.

My eyes traveled to the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen as she cheered for her sister.

My Angel was sixteen now. No longer a little girl but still so innocent and pure.

Her light brown hair bounced behind her back as she jumped up and down, clapping with real joy, her green eyes and olive skin alight.

When I saw her smile, the bitter taste always in my mouth turned into a sweetness I craved. Needed.

My body pulsed with the need to get closer. I never did though. A safe distance separated us as I always remained hidden from her sight. Even though Angel had been taking over all of my mind and heart for the past four years, I was making sure she wasn’t aware of my constant presence.

At first, I had no intention she ever would be.

I swore to protect her, even from myself.

My life had no room for innocence or purity such as hers.

But with the years, my obsession had worsened.

Fighting it wasn’t going to help me protect her.

It was driving me insane, and that would only put her and everything around her in more danger.

She belonged with me. She was safe only with me.

For a second, my gaze locked on her lips. Pale pink painted the perfection that was her mouth, and my mind raced to a moment that belonged in the future. Our future that sometimes—most of the time—I ran out of patience waiting for.

I clenched my jaws, the urge to just go over there, put her over my shoulder and steal her away forever nagging.

I was going to hell anyway. What was another sin to add to my long list?

Or maybe I should just go ahead and propose to her.

The state of Illinois allowed marriage at sixteen.

I fucking checked—not that I cared about the law, man’s or God’s.

I only cared about her. Not spooking her.

Like a stranger almost double her age kidnapping her or proposing to her out of nowhere won’t make her run for the hills.

Chuckling, I dismissed my crazy thoughts. My Angel sucked all logic and sanity out of me. She did things to me that could start wars and destroy worlds.

I reprimanded myself, which I never did except when it came to her, dragging my gaze up to hers. Not yet, my sweet Angel, but when the time comes, I will make you mine.

Read The Italian Obsession until Z for Butterfly Man is Live