Page 66 of A Sinner's Virtue
“I know that, but I thought… I guess I thought someone was targeting you.”
Marcel shakes his head. “I wish they were.”
Someone is after me? My hands start to shake. I can feel my heart rate picking up speed.
“Hey. It’s going to be okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“I don’t want anything to happen to you either. I just… I want it all to stop. I want to wake up and not even know the mafia world is real.”
“You don’t really want that. This world is your family, Zoe. The Petrovs, the Valentinos, me. We’re your family.”
“It’s not safe, Marcel.”
“Life isn’t safe, babe. We’re all born to die eventually. But you and I? we’re going to live a long time. We’ll die of old age. You’ll probably get tired of me after about sixty years and stab me to death or something.”
“That’s not funny.” I laugh. “I wouldn’t stab you. It’s too messy, remember? And I’ll be old and weak. I’ll just poison your food instead.”
“When we get our own place, I’m hiring a chef. You are never going in the kitchen,” Marcel replies with wide eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ipeer down at the sleeping beauty in my bed and don’t want to leave. I have to. This family has too much fucking shit going on not to get up and get moving. But I could easily say fuck it all, pick Zoe up, and just run away with her. I want to take her somewhere far away from all this bullshit.
If I could get away with it, I’d wrap her in bulletproof clothing and then add some bubble wrap on top just for added protection. The Petrov family has been trying to identify whoever the fuck is after her. All we know about the one dead body left behind at the club was that the fucker was Italian.
He was nothing but a foot soldier for whoever the fuck he’s working for, though. No identification. His fingerprints aren’t in any databases. Right now, I have his image running through facial recognition software, although that could take days before it brings back a hit.
Zoe’s going to want to go to work today. I know I can’t keep her locked up forever. Santo volunteered to go with her, which shocked the fuck out of both me and Gio. Santo has been hellbent on keeping women away from the family ever since Shelli was killed. He’s been different with Zoe, though. I was watching him over the weekend. He likes her. Not that he doesn’t like Eloise or Daisy, but there’s something about Zoe that my brother connects with.
I’m not going to question it. If my girlfriend is the key to getting through to Santo, then I’ll take it. I’m desperate to get my brother back. At the moment, it feels like my family is being torn apart at the seams. Gabe’s locked up, and the longer he stays there, the more my hopes of him getting out diminish.
I can see Daisy losing hope as well. It doesn’t help that Gabe has taken her name off the visitation list. She can’t even go and see him. She’s holding out for the trial though. After that, I’m not sure what she’ll do. He could be locked up for years if all the charges stick.
The fuckers wanted him to turn on Gio. That’d never happen. None of us would ever turn on the other. It’s the one thing that’s unbreakable. Our loyalty, our bond. Trust me, our father tried it more than once over the years. He couldn’t stand our brotherhood. He wanted us to hate each other as much as he hated us.
“Babe, I have to go,” I whisper into Zoe’s ear while pushing her hair away from her face with my fingers.
“Mmm, where?” she groans while slowly blinking her eyes open.
“I have to go see Gabe,” I tell her. “Santo is going to take you to your office this morning. Don’t give him too much hell.” I pepper her face with kisses.
“I don’t need a babysitter, Marcel.”
“I know you don’t. It’s for my peace of mind. Just go with it for me. I love you,” I tell her.
“I love you too. I’ll let Santo come with me, but he’s going to be so bored,” she says.
“He’ll be fine. He likes you.”
“I doubt he likes anyone,” Zoe grumbles.
“That’s not true. He likes me and he likes you. I’ll call you later,” I tell her, forcing myself to get off the bed.
“Okay. I’m just going to sleep a little longer,” she says before rolling over.
I watch her for a second. Then I gently close the door and go in search of Gio, finding him in his office. “You ready?” I ask him.
He looks up from his desk with a glare aimed my way. “Yep,” he says, pushing his chair back and standing. “Xavier is meeting us there.”
