Page 30 of Married to the Mafia

His brows pinched together as if he were pained. “Ma’am, I can’t—” He cleared his throat. “Surely you don’t intend to walk through your errands?”

She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “Don’t worry. I’ve got a battleplan.” She turned to continue walking, at the same time offering a wave as if she were departing a friendly conversation. “If Mikey asks, tell him I expect to be home in time for dinner.”

The guard made a distinctly uncomfortable sound. “Ma’am, please let me at least call you a car.”

“Exercise is good for me!” She walked straight up to the individual passage gate and calmly input the code Mikey had previously given her.

Movement at her back drew her attention and Brandi glanced over her shoulder as the console beeped to indicate acceptance of the code. Her eyes widened at the sight of the guard she’d been speaking to and another, maybe half a decade younger, coming to stand at her back. Both visibly armed.

Before she could ask the obvious question, the guard she had previously spoken said sternly, “If you won’t take a car, then we’ll have to walk with you, ma’am. It’s our job to keep you from harm and Mr. De Salvo would not appreciate if we stood idly by knowing the person who hurt you is still out there.”

Brandi stared at them, stunned speechless for a long second. “You can’t be serious.”

“We won’t stop you from going wherever you want to go, ma’am,” he replied. “But we insist on accompanying you.”

Indignation flooded her, followed promptly by confusion. She couldn’t run a simple errand without burdening and endangering multiple people anymore? It was so outrageous it wasn’t even flattering. Except that it also kind of was, because it almost implied she was wrong. It almost made her think she might have some degree of emotional importance.

She had no idea what to do with these feelings. She wasn’t used to being so conflicted.

The younger guard spoke up suddenly, his voice a sharp command. “Get back to the house.”

Her lips bent in a frown at the words and she looked up, only then realizing her gaze had dropped to the ground. “Excuse—”

“Come on out, sweet Brandi.”

Everything slowed down and Brandi felt the breath rush from her lungs. No. She turned toward the voice, on the other side of the gate she had only just unlocked, in time to see her stalker raising a gun. Where the hell he’d even come from she didn’t know. She didn’t exactly have time to play twenty questions.

Ralph George, even uglier in the full light of day, looked her dead in the eyes. “Don’t make me kill those monkeys, too.”

No!

The guards who had volunteered to come with her moved forward, weapons already in hand, shoving their way between her and the possible trajectory of George’s gun. “Get inside, ma’am!”

Brandi opened her mouth, still hesitating. Did they realize she’d unlocked the gate?

Something exploded in her ears and the younger man jerked back with a distinctive grunt of pain. He didn’t fall, but he lowered one arm and blood quickly started dripping from his fingers.

The older guard grabbed her and moved so that he was fully in front of her, his back practically flattening her nose. “With respect, ma’am, fucking move!” His shoulders gave a sharp, controlled jerk as he punctuated the command by pulling the trigger of his own weapon.

Brandi instinctively backed away from the noise, her ears ringing, and screamed out when another guard grabbed hold of her arm from behind.

“Sorry, ma’am, we’ve got to get you inside,” the newest one said. He didn’t wait for her compliance, physically dragging her with him back toward the house.

Her feet complied eagerly even as her mind panicked. “Wait,” she said stupidly, “the gate—I unlocked the gate—I have to lock the gate!”

“We’ll handle that, ma’am,” her escort said without breaking stride. “Protecting you comes first.”

She didn’t agree with that, but she had no other argument, so she let him nudge her up the stairs and didn’t question throwing the lock on the door as soon as it was shut behind her. Gunfire had still been going off up near the gated entrance to the property and she hoped that meant George was pinned down. She didn’t know what else it could mean.

Why is he here?

Brandi ripped off her officially useless walking shoes and carried herself to the comfort of the den, dropping onto a sofa where she could haul a pillow into her lap just for something to hold. She still felt vulnerable, but she wasn’t sure if that was because she was alone in the massive house or because her emotions had already been all screwed up before this had happened. She shifted in order to curl in on herself as much as she could.

Of course he’d eventually found her. He’d been stalking her, he knew she had previously reached out to her boss, and he knew she’d gone in to the office on Wednesday. She had assumed he hadn’t seen her get into Mikey’s car the day this arrangement had started. Surely Mikey would have mentioned if he had any suspicions of George camping out just beyond the gate.

But regardless, it was her fault. Again.

And she really had almost walked straight into her stalker’s grasp. Fuck. Me.

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