Page 37 of Forced Vows

I guarantee we don't. When we were kids, Ollie taught us it was safe to move when the bunny said so. We still use the bunny signs.

Two fingers spread slightly and pointing upward means the bunny is on alert. When they twitch like a happy bunny, it's safe to move, or enter a new environment. When the bunny ears curl down, he's hiding and so should we.

Allessio holds his index and middle fingers together, straight and pointing upward. "This is all clear."

"Got it." I wait until Ollie gets close enough to whisper. "I like the bunny ears better."

"Using universal symbols telegraphs your purpose." My still irate bodyguard doesn't bother to lower his voice.

No way can the Genovese soldiers miss his criticism. For once, Zoey doesn't respond. She's too busy checking for bogeyman in the naturally secure exit from the house.

The standalone garages with soldier's quarters on the second floor create a barrier parallel to the side of the mansion. The walkway between the two buildings is covered, limiting line of site from the only two directions not blocked by the garage or house.

And one of them is the bay.

My irritation goes through the roof when we reach my college and Allessio tells me they plan to follow me around all day.

I don't have time to argue because I really am late, but I try.

I'm in the middle of a reasonable and compelling (I think) argument for why they should leave when I receive my own text message from Brogan Shaughnessy.

I glare at Allessio. He's not just a Cosa Nostra thug. He's a tattletale.

BS: Behave, Róise. I don't have time to deal with your tantrums. Your new bodyguards are under Miceli's orders. If you don't like the way they guard you, take it up with him.

Yes, I have my uncle listed as BS in my contacts. For Brogan Shaughnessy. If it implies he's full of something else, that's okay too.

It's a long message for Uncle Brogan and that shows how annoyed he is. Unlike some men, the angrier my uncle gets, the more verbose. It's pure BS.

Both kinds.

But the text tells me one important thing. My current situation is 100% on Miceli. Sure, Uncle Brogan could kick up a fuss about it, but why would he?

I'm not a multi-million-dollar weapons deal he doesn't want to sour. I'm just his niece.

Every question I get from classmates throughout the morning, every curious look is fuel to the fire of my growing indignation.

This. This is the one thing I've worked so hard to avoid for the nearly three years I've been attending the university. Being seen as different from the other students with wealthy parents.

This is me being singled out as having a level of danger in my life they don't.

Ollie drops me off and picks me up every day, but that's not so unusual around here.

A security detail trailing me, checking every classroom for threats before going to wait outside? It's a level of intrusion in my life I won't put up with. I have a year and some change before I graduate.

Is it too much to ask for that year to be mine? Me living like the normal woman I won't get to be once I marry a mafia underboss?

Apparently for Miceli De Luca, the fake boyfriend from hell, it is.

Chapter 14: MICELI

The door to my office slams open and Róise storms in, a five-foot-four avenging fury in an oversized flannel, khaki cargo pants and…

"What the fuck are you wearing?"

She ignores me, her fury incandescent. "How dare you? You had no right to set these two rottweilers on me!"

Allessio texted to tell me she insisted on being brought to me, "Wherever the fuck he is."

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