Page 29 of Her Overprotective Fiance

My own unease turns to shock when I listen to Giancarlo make a call. A few moments later, the girl is being escorted out of the house...for good.

"W-What—-"

Giancarlo only looks at me, and I snap my mouth shut.

Fuck.

I know manners mean everything to theirfamiglia,but what the fuck?

I march past him and throw the door open to his study.

He enters right behind me, and a crazy mix of emotions rages through me as I stare at him. He shuts the door, and as soon as he turns to face me again—-

"What the hell was that?" I burst out. "It's her first day, for fuck's sake. She just happened to be at the wrong place—-"

"That's reason enough."

"Are you fucking—-"

"The day Martino and his friends were able to abduct you—-"

My face whitens.

"It was because you were at the wrong place, too. Weren't you?"

I can't believe Giancarlo of all people would bring that up without warning.

"Fuck you—-"

"No, Sarica. Fuck them."

It's my first time to hear him drop an F-bomb, and it makes me take a step back—-

"Do you remember asking me why I saved you?"

—-not out of fear, but pain.

"Do you remember me telling you that it was something I needed to do?"

Because even though his tone hasn't changed at all, every word he speaks now is breaking my heart.

"And how I didn't care if I died trying?"

It's the past all over again, dammit.

One moment, I feel like I'm the fucking victim between us, but the next thing I know, I'm the one with a tiny head bump while it's Giancarlo once again bleeding to death in front of me.

"All these years, I couldn't make up my mind if I ever had to tell you the truth. It's one of the few things in life I found myself...indecisive. But after what happened tonight..."

His lips twist, and my own heart twists alongside it in shared pain.

"All it takes is for a person to be at the wrong place, Sarica, and you can lose everything...the way I lost everything."

His face has turned into an expressionless mask.

And yet I could've sworn I heard his heart crack with every word he uttered.

"The night my father and grandfather were ambushed...I should've been there. With them. But I wasn't. I was at the wrong place. And...that was all it took."

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