Page 18 of Under His Protection

Franco and I talked a little further about having someone track Ricky. He brought up the presence of the motorcycle club members at the gambling rooms, and I debated banning them altogether. That move would also be taken as an “attack” against them, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to mess with them officially like that. Not yet, at least. I saw what happened the last time an MC got involved with a Mafia family—the Dominos were done. Gone. Dead, and broken up as an organization. While I knew the Constella name wouldn’t fall so easily, I would do all I could to steer clear of large issues and unnecessary threats.

“Romeo left an hour ago,” Franco said as I pulled up to the estate. He wasn’t expected to keep tabs on my son. I didn’t micromanage him, either. Romeo was his own man and he’d never let me down. I doubted he ever would. However, Franco and I were both more than aware of how poorly Romeo was getting over his guilt in not saving the three soldiers in that fight. It was a testament to how much we all mattered. Like I told Nina, we were one big family here.

I wasn’t sure if that meant Romeo would be here. We mostly lived together, but he had several other properties he liked to stay in as well.

It looked like it would just be me and Nina, though. After I hung up, I got out and rounded the car to open her door.

“What’s going on?” she asked, taking in the enormity of my home.

“You’re staying here.”

“With you?” She gawked at me as I tilted my head in a mute order for her to follow me to the door. Already, a man was approaching to drive the car to the garages, and she was waylaid with watching the man do his duties without order.

“Yes, with me.”

Nina hurried to catch up with me, grabbing my forearm. She clutched me to stop me, but I rolled with it, tugging her closer and forming her hand to rest on my arm, with mine over hers.

“You expect me to just move in with you?” she spluttered. “Just like that?” She snapped her fingers, and I stopped in the middle of the steps rising to the front door.

“I do expect you to move in with me. Just like that. Because if you go to wherever you call home, your brother or the bikers will take you. Just like that.” I added a snap of my fingers to both mock her and emphasize my point.

She blanched.

“I don’t trust Ricky,” I said as I led her toward the door. “I don’t trust that MC, either.”

“Okay. I realize that, but?—”

“But nothing,” I replied, secretly loving how she would protest and stand up for herself every inch of the way. Pushovers were boring. Obedient, docile, and meek people grated on my nerves. Nina didn’t argue for the sake of bickering, but because she wanted to make her voice heard.

I also loved squashing whatever retort she wanted to fling at me. Satisfaction curled within me, warm and potent, and I reveled in the thrill of this push and pull. Per the texts and emails that had come in while I was kissing Nina and fingering her tight cunt, I had many other things to do. But here I was, bringing her into my home.

“Keeping you close is in my best interests.”

Her eyebrows dipped as she thought over my words.

Shit. I didn’t have the time or patience to explain why pretending to be with her was beneficial for me. “Your staying here, close to me, is in our best interests.”

“To dissuade the bikers from thinking I would be their leader’s.”

I nodded. And to give Vanessa the impression I wasn’t available, since the times I told her no didn’t stick.

“In order to make it believable,” I said as I released her in the foyer. She didn’t seem to be listening, spinning slowly as she took in the opulent entrance. Her plump lips parted in awe as she roved her appreciative gaze over the stained-glass windows and huge chandelier sparkling and glittering with the low lights from the walls.

“In order to make it believable…” she prompted. She was listening, and I had a hunch she always was. Nina didn’t make much of an impact on me when she was a girl because she was quiet and bookish, keeping to herself. But I’d be stupid to assume she lacked any sense of perception and awareness of her surroundings.

Observant. I liked that.

“In order to make this deal between us believable,” I repeated, “you will really need to act the part.”

She sobered, stopping her survey of the foyer. “Which entails what, exactly?”

When she bit her lower lip, I held in a growl. Was she hoping it might include more intimacy? More chances to fuck? The heavy lidded expression she couldn’t hide hinted at it.

“Act the part by living in my house,” I said, pulling my phone out since it buzzed in my pocket again.

Nodding, she accepted that. “Okay. It’s probably safest, too. I wouldn’t trust Ricky if I went home.”

“And you’ll need to be seen with me, too.”

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