Page 55 of Vicious Rule

I let out a heavy sigh. “I wish I could. Just trust me when I say that I couldn’t stay in that villa not a minute longer.”

“Sounds like someone has been giving you a hard time. I’m surprised about that, to be honest. I didn’t think anyone fucked with you, Sasha.”

“Why?”

With a sweet smile, he says, “Because you’re you. I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, but you’re tough. Hell, you’d be tough if you were a guy. For a girl, you’re really tough. I wouldn’t fuck with you.”

“I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or not, but thank you. I’m just the way I’ve always been. Some people don’t like that, which is their prerogative. I’m not going to change for them, though. If they don’t like that, they can fly back to their island and leave me the hell alone.”

Andre stops walking and looks down at me with a frown. “Problems with Mrs. Rule? What’s she have against you?”

I know I shouldn’t talk about this with him, but I’m just so furious about what Kerry said that I can’t stop myself. Leaning up against the side of an old building, I say, “I don’t know what the problem is. Well, that’s not true. I guess now that she came right out and said it I do know. She blames me for Gideon being single when I guess she thought he should have settled down long before he did.”

For a moment, I stop and Andre asks, “Who’s Gideon?”

I should have known he wouldn’t know who Gideon is. Alex rarely mentions his brother to anyone, and I doubt Andre has ever been around when his name came out of his mouth.

“Alex’s brother.”

A look of confusion comes over him. “Oh. I didn’t realize he had a brother. All I’ve ever seen are his father and now his mother as of today.”

“Well, he does, and he runs a hotel on the Amalfi Coast. I used to work for Gideon until I came to work for Alex when his brother met someone. Kerry actually blames me for her son not meeting someone before Aria. As if I had anything to do with that. Does she think I kept him chained to his desk in the hotel, refusing to let him out to meet anyone? I wasn’t the one who told him to work when he could have been out having fun. The man’s a workaholic, for God’s sake. She acts like I kept him from being happy. For her information, Gideon was quite happy. Not that he isn’t happy now with Aria and the baby coming, but it’s a different kind of happy.”

I stop talking and realize I’ve probably said too much. “Sorry. I’m sure you don’t care about any of this. I’ll shut up now.”

“It’s okay. I get it. Families are tough.”

“Especially when they aren’t even your own. Don’t say a word about what I said to anyone, especially Alex. Okay, Andre?”

He crosses his heart and nods as a feeling of relief washes over me. “I promise he’ll never hear a word from me about anything.”

“Thanks, Andre. You’re a good guy.”

As he starts walking again, he says with a sinful smile, “Not really, but I’m okay with you thinking that.”

We make another turn into a second almost pitch black alleyway, and I begin to ask where he’s taking me, but I hear the sound of shoes tapping off the pavement that makes me nervous. I squeeze his hand and speed up my walking, sensing danger even though nothing the man behind us has done should scare me.

I tug on Andre’s shirt to get his attention and whisper, “Should we be concerned this guy just appeared out of nowhere?”

He looks back and then shakes his head. “Nah. I’m way bigger than him. You should be afraid of me.”

Instantly, a chill runs up my spine. I open my mouth to ask what the hell that means, but before I can say a word, he covers my mouth and something hits the back of my head. The last thing I see before everything goes black is a familiar face that now terrifies me.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Alex

A knock on my office door tears me away from making plans on how I want to retaliate against the Olivettis. I bark at the person on the other side of the door to come in and am surprised when I see my mother.

“Alex, I think I need to talk to you.”

The last thing I need right now is to have to deal with one of my mother’s heart-to-heart talks. She usually saves them for my siblings, but I sense from the worry etched into her expression that she has something to say to me, probably about what I do for a living that gets me shot.

Fucking great.

“Mom, now’s not a good time. I’m busy with some work. Can we do this tomorrow?”

Or never. Never would work so much better for me.

---