Page 343 of Beautiful Villain

"I don’t think I deserve you after what I’ve done," she whispers, and I’m against her in a moment, pulling her into me. My arms are tight around her, and I hold her as close as I can, her face pressed against my chest.

"Whatever you agreed to do to hurt me, it doesn’t matter," I promise her, and her body trembles, the weight of her against me, a comforting, familiar feeling now. "You didn’t know me, or my people. I was faceless, another monster in the dark. You were just trying to?—"

"Save my home," she says, her voice cracking. "They’re selling our home." She looks up at the building, the fear in her eyes so very real, like she doesn’t have a place with me now and forever. Because maybe to her, nothing is forever. Maybe she’s never had that, the promise of once-and-always.

She doesn’t know the Greco men. That once we promise our hearts, we’re done, there is no other option for us.

"What if I told you," I say, brushing her hair away from her face. It’s getting wet from the rain, her bangs plastered to her forehead, the rest hanging limp around her shoulders. "That I’d make all your problems disappear? Your home would be safe, and you wouldn’t need to worry about anything, ever again. You’d want for nothing. Not a single thing."

"And in exchange, what?" She asks, her eyes glittering, and I smile, because the smart, fierce woman that I know and love is coming back to the surface, pushing her fears and her anxieties aside. She was clever enough to insert herself into my business, unobtrusive, invisible. She was so very clever, beautiful, resilient, and now I am going to see she’s rewarded.

"Ash?" A voice unfamiliar to me has me stiffening, and I shove her behind me, one hand going to the gun at my waist. The door to the town-car opens, my driver emerging, in similar preparedness.

A small, dark-haired girl with wide, scared eyes is staring at Ashley, standing in the doorway of the apartment building, the rain falling in earnest now around us.

"Sam," Ashley gasps, and moves to push past me, and I don’t stop her, even though my instincts are screaming at me to. But she’s not a captive anymore, she’s a woman in need, and my woman. I’m not going to be the one to stop her from giving comfort to the friend she’s clearly been missing.

"I was so scared," the small, pale girl whispers, and her arms wrap tightly around Ashley, and a shiver runs through her.

"You’re okay," Ash whispers, and glances at me, a pleading in her eyes. I nod to my driver, and pull out my phone. Whatever Ashley needs, whatever this building needs? I’m going to make sure they have it. Whatever it takes.

CHAPTER 14

ash

Luca is deeply a man of his word, and if he says something’s going to be okay, I believe him even if trusting goes against my best instincts and most hard-earned experiences. But I when I look at Sam now, and there’s a sparkle in her eye, a glow in her cheeks, that I haven’t seen since before the attack.

And it’s all because Luca, in the space of less than a week, has found her a new place to live, in a small apartment in his building, several floors below ours, but close by. That’s just an insurance policy, he murmurs to me, as I coax Sam (and Herbie in a brand new carrying case that he yowls his displeasure about) out of our old building, and into the new one.

This isn’t to say that he’s ignored our old neighbors either. He’s promised me he’ll find a solution to it, although I don’t know what he could do other than outright making an offer of purchase on the building, which seems insane. It must be valued in the millions for the land alone. I could never... ever... ask that of him. Not even for blind Mrs. Polcha, who ratted me out but I still care about. Or Mr. Gomez, the elderly man whose kids have moved him into the city, but he has a long-distance relationship with his wife in the countryside, and she’s not able to visit.

I blink away tears at the thought of it as I make my way from the bedroom I’m sharing with Luca, to the open living room where Sam’s sitting, upstairs for a visit with me while Luca is out on business.

"He’s very sweet," Sam says, and I roll my eyes.

"Luca? Sweet? You don’t even know the half of it," I tell her. It’s been a whirlwind week, and she’s only seen Luca when he’s come down to greet her when picking me up personally at her door, or when he helped her move into her new place.

"Well I guess I’ll have to get to know him better," she says quietly, with a mischievous smile on her face, "he have any brothers?" I throw a pillow at her and she shrieks in joy, batting it away, and for a moment it’s like we’re kids again.

"I’m just teasing," she says, and there’s a wistful tone in her voice, "it’s good you have him." A glance around the room from her tells me she’s thinking about this place, how immense it is, the money of it all, and she wonders how the hell she got here, along for the ride with me.

I’d never have left her behind.

"Are you okay?" I ask, and her head jerks.

"Yes! Of course, Ash, this is just weird. It’s... too much, you know? And you’re like, the boss’ girlfriend, or whatever, and I know he’s bad news, but the good kind of bad news, and what else?—"

There’s the clacking of low heels on the marble floor out in the foyer, and Sam goes dead quiet, craning her neck to see. I stiffen, sitting up, when in comes someone I haven’t met before. She’s beautiful, dark skin glowing with a warm peachy blush on her cheeks, her curling, coily hair pulled back into a neat bun. She’s dressed like an upscale business professional, and has the walk of a powerful litigator, on her way to win her client some cases.

I feel scrubby in comparison.

"I’m sorry," I say with a start, knowing for one that nobody would ever get in here without Luca’s say-so, but also feeling at odd-ends just sitting in his living room. And from the way she looks at me, and her gaze slides over to where Sam is, this newcomer definitely thinks I’m an interloper.

My mouth goes dry.

"Is Luca around?" she asks, her voice deep and warm.

"He’s out," I reply, and then swallow. The expression on her face? Tells me she already knew that. So why did she come, and why is she asking? "Can I, uh, help you with something? I’m Ash, by the way, and that’s Sam."

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