Page 65 of Not Mine to Keep

“I need to get ready.” She gave me her back while sputtering, “I’m mad at you.”

“Noted.”

But the fall of her shoulders as she stood by the bathroom door had my chest aching more than my damn back.

“I’m still grateful to you for helping me, even if it doesn’t seem like it, though,” she whispered, making me feel like a shitty human being. “Maybe your reasons aren’tjustfor me, but I’m still indebted to you for what you’re doing.” With that, she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door.

Indebted to me?No. No more favors. She owed me nothing.

I just needed this mission to be over with. The sooner the better.

With any luck, I’d kill her father before the Fourth of July, we could annul the marriage, and I’d be free again.

And she could go be with the one man who so clearly loved her—Braden. Well, as long as I didn’t kill him first for wanting my wife.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Calliope

New York City

“Please, call me—”

Alessandro cut off his mother before she could say her name, and they began rapidly speaking in Italian. I looked back and forth, following the Ping-Pong match between them, unsure what to say or do.

I hadn’t known his parents would be meeting us at the airport. From the look of Alessandro’s shocked face when the jet door had opened, he’d been equally clueless of their plans.

Alessandro’s brothers, father, and Hudson were now outside the hangar, talking away from Frankie’s and Leo’s ears—and yeah, they’d been the ones Armani had chosen to send with us.

I turned to see Izzy beckoning me off to the side of what was becoming a heated conversation between Alessandro and his mother.

“They could go at it all day,” Izzy said as she guided me away from them.

“What are they talking about?” I asked her.

“I can’t hear them now, but he’s worried she’s going to get attached to you. And then it’ll be too hard for her to lose you when the inevitable divorce happens.”

“It’s sweet of him to protect her,” I said as Alessandro peered at me. Twenty feet apart didn’t erase my ability to see his pained irritation.

The man had spoken all of a handful of words on the jet—none of which had been to me.“Don’t talk to my wife. Look at her. Or even think about her. And I won’t throw you from the plane,”he’d ordered Frankie and Leo before taking a seat and keeping his mouth shut the rest of the way.

“He wants to protect you, too, you know,” Izzy said, her tone light. “You’ll get attached to Mom as well. It’ll just hurt all around when the time comes for you to leave us.” There was a sad edge to her tone now that was like a knife to the heart. “Alessandro is uber protective. He tries to act like a tough guy, but he’s a—”

“Teddy bear.” I repeated what she’d said to me yesterday. Maybe she’d forgotten she’d given me the heads-up, pre-wedding. I surely hadn’t.

“And he hides that inner teddy bear beneath a few layers of asshole,” she said with a light laugh. “But, um, how’s the fallout going from the story breaking about the marriage? Your phone must be blowing up from your friends.”

“I don’t have a ton of friends. My close circle is like a dot. People tend to break my trust, so I don’t give it out so much these days.” I hadn’t meant to overshare, but her little nod was as if she was on the same page and understood me. “I did speak with my principal over email on the plane. She said there are parents asking me to resign. She’s giving me time to consider what feels more like an ultimatum.”

“Damn.” Izzy squeezed my arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“I could be dead from being attacked in the park or married to Rocco, so I guess I should focus on the positives for now.” I had to convince myself of that, at least, so I didn’t spiral about my potentialforced resignation. “As long as my aunt doesn’t learn about this disaster of a situation, I can handle almost anyone else.”

“We sent one of our guys from the security office to keep an eye on her as well. Try not to worry.” Izzy had my heart climbing into my throat.

“You did? Why didn’t Alessandro tell me?” I focused back on the man full of surprises as he threw a hand in the air, and from the looks of it, he was being lectured hard.

“It was his idea. He has a lot on his mind, though. Probably forgot to mention it.” Izzy unhanded me and reached into her purse and offered me an iPhone. “He asked me to get you a new one. New number as well. You know, to avoid reporters. I, uh, programmed all his numbers in there. Mine, too.”

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