Page 14 of Assistant to the Mafia

Grace tipped her head back, looking up at him. Her eyes were red and swollen, he thought he could see the beginnings of a bruise near her jaw, yet she tried for a smile. “Will you stay?”

Romeo almost didn’t hear her barely whispered question through the haze of his darkening thoughts. He blinked at her.

“Will you stay with me?” she repeated, her voice still too soft, too weak. “I’ve never … been more scared…”

Fuck. Romeo couldn’t fully restrain the groan as he bent down and brushed his lips over the unblemished side of her jaw. “You sure you want that, angel?”

She nodded with more urgency than she’d shown since he’d found her at her apartment.

He hated to dampen that, but he needed her to understand at least one thing. “We need to get you cleaned up, Grace. Out of these bloody clothes. I’ll find something you can wear, and you can use my shower if you want, but we can’t leave you like this.” If she had any open cuts and got some kind of infection, he didn’t know what he’d do.

She shook a little harder with her next breath, bit her lips, and nodded again. “Okay.” She was trying. She was trying to pull herself together and not let the trauma of the night overwhelm her the way it so easily could.

He was so fucking proud of her for that.

Romeo scooped her bags back up, kept his other arm around her, and walked her from the room. He’d just have to put in a little effort, too. He supposed he could be a man about that for once. So he walked her across and down the hall a handful of paces, toed his door open the rest of the way, then kicked it shut. He wasn’t worried about Lucy. He still kept a baby monitor in her room and checked it regularly to make sure she wasn’t fiddling with it, so he’d know if she got up and moved around, let alone left her room altogether.

He filled the room with soft light, enough to see by without being blinding, set Grace’s bags down again, and guided her to sit on the foot of the bed. “Wait here just a second, okay?” As soon as she nodded again, he pulled away and rushed through his closet. Giving her something of his to change into was dangerous, arguably stupid, but it was the only option. He didn’t exactly keep women’s clothing on-hand. He settled for a t-shirt he hoped wouldn’t be too loose for her and a pair of pants with a drawstring, snagged a couple of towels, and returned to the main part of the room.

Grace was where he’d left her, gripping the edges of his coat that was still wrapped around her figure, her eyes slowly roving around the space. Taking it in.

Part of him wanted to leave her to it, but he couldn’t, so Romeo set the items next to her and dropped to a crouch, not wanting to tower over her. “I know you’ve been through a lot tonight,” he said, trying to keep his voice gentle. “We can talk about it if you want, or not at all. That’s entirely up to you. But let’s do the shower first, all right? And take all the time you need. Neither of us is worrying about a schedule right now. It’s important you let yourself process all of this.”

Her lips parted. “I—” She cut herself off, bit her lips again, and nodded.

Romeo stood and held out his hand for her. She took it immediately, having already abandoned her phone to the side of the bed. He pulled her up, then carefully removed his coat from her shoulders, tossing it aside the way he wanted to do with the rest of her clothes. Instead, he lifted the pile he’d gathered and held it out to her. “Some clean clothes and towels. I’m afraid you’re stuck with my hair products, though.” He tried for a grin.

She looked at the items but didn’t reach for them. “Can you … set them inside for me?” She motioned to the en suite, visible from where they stood, then to herself. “I’ll just make them dirty.”

He frowned, shifted his armload, and moved his freed hand to her nape to encourage her to walk with him. “Need me to show you how to use the shower?” He set the items on the counter when they were close enough and let his other hand glide down to the small of her back. With her hair loose for once, he got to feel it slide between his fingers and he had to fight with himself not to grab hold of the strands.

“No,” she said after a moment. “I’ll manage.” She turned to look up at him, and for the longest second, he swore he thought she was about to ask him to shower with her.

She didn’t, and he stepped back. “I’ll be right outside the door, Grace,” he promised.

She smiled, just a little, and the restraint was worth it.

He shut the bathroom door as he stepped out, leaving her alone to clean herself up, and locked his jaw to swallow the slew of curses that wanted to spew from him. He didn’t know anything for certain yet, but he didn’t believe in coincidences. The Ink Blots pop back up on the radar earlier that very day after months of silence, and then Grace is attacked? He had no goddamn clue why they’d target her, but they were the only aggressors he could think of.

Romeo shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone, but waited until he heard the shower start before opening his contacts. It was the middle of the night, and newlyweds tended to be late to sleep—or that was the impression he’d developed—but if he didn’t make the time to make a call, the argument would only be worse. He wasn’t trying to pull a Cristiano and lock the woman he wanted up in secret or something.

His thumb paused over the call button. There is a certain appeal to that… He blew out a breath and tapped the screen.

Dante’s phone rang three times before he answered, already sounding irritated. “This better involve someone I get to kill.”

“Eventually, I’m sure it does,” Romeo replied, keeping his voice quiet. “I have a customer for Cris I think you’ll agree needs to take priority, at least based on current information. He should be registering within the hour. But that’s only part of the situation.”

“You wouldn’t have woken me up for that.”

“A team of at least seven men were sent after Grace tonight. Made a fucking mess along the way.”

“What?”

“If you hadn’t put those guys in her building, she’d either be dead or captured by now. Not clear yet what their agenda was.” He was betting on dead, based on the number of men and guns. But then, they could simply have been assuming they’d run into resistance.

Dante drew a breath. “Instead?”

“She’s with me. She’s pretty shaken up, but I haven’t found any major injuries.” Romeo paused for a beat and clenched his free fist. “She asked for a personal day. I think you should give her the rest of the week.” It was a tall ask, particularly in light of his own assistant’s departure, but he put it on the table regardless.

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