Page 26 of Ruthless Guardian

“Get off!” I shout.

“Oh, come on, baby, you don’t mean that.” His thigh pushes my legs open, pinning me to the wall.

A flash of darkness streaks across my peripheral vision, and Jason’s mouth is wrenched free of mine, nearly taking my lip with him, then his whole body is midair. I gasp as he hits the marble floor halfway down the hall an instant later. And a familiar form is hunched over him, bashing his face into the ground.

“Raf!” I cry out. My feet are moving again, the haze of alcohol suddenly lifting. Where the hell did he come from? I sprint down the hall and slide to my knees.

Jason’s head bounces off the marble, blood spewing from his nose and mouth.

“She said no, youpezzo di merda. Don’t you know what that means?” Another crack as Raf’s fist connects with Jason’s nose.

“Stop!” I tug on my guard’s arm with both hands, barely able to encircle his massive biceps. “You’re going to kill him!”

“Good. That’ll teach the fucker to listen when a woman says no.”

He hits him again, now with his left fist.

“Raffaele, stop!” I shout again, doing my damnedest to haul him off the guy, but my best efforts achieve nothing. It’s like a mouse trying to move a mountain.

“This is your fault,principessa,” he growls as he hits him again. “What the fuck were you thinking sneaking out of the penthouse?”

“You’re right, it’s my fault.” I kneel in front of him and cup his cheek, forcing his gaze to mine instead of the bloodied form beneath him. Those wild eyes meet mine, a tempest of rage crashing across the dark surface. “It’s my fault, not his. You want to take this out on someone, take it out on me.”

The hard line of his jaw softens, the desperate look in his eyes waning. His jaw ticks, that tendon feathering. “This is on me,” he grumbles. “Fuck!” Then he’s back on his feet, pacing the length of the corridor. “How the hell did you get past me? This happened on my watch. I’m the one responsible.”

“Nothing happened,” I whisper. “The guy got a little handsy. I could have handled it.”

Raf barks out a laugh, that unhinged look back in his eyes. “That’s what you think. You have no idea what was in that man’s head. What he wanted to do to you…” His words fall away, and he swallows hard before dragging his fingers through his hair.

“Merda, what happened over here?” Matteo jogs down the hallway, eyes wide.

Before he reaches me, Raf lunges and pins him to the wall. “What were you thinking bringing her here? I should beat the shit out of you, too.”

“Raf, no!” I jump on his back, wrapping my arms around his neck so I’m hanging off him like a freaking monkey. “Don’t you dare hurt, Matteo. This was my idea. I forced him to help me escape.” I cling onto Raf’s back, tightening my hold around his neck until he releases my cousin.

He finally steps back, and Matteo sidesteps around my hulking guard. “Dio, what did you do to his face?” He stares down at the floor, and I’m too scared to look.

“Get Serena, she was with his brother.” I slide down the length of Raf’s broad shoulders, and my stilettos hit the floor with a smack. “We need to get him to the hospital.”

“No,” Raf snarls. “No hospitals. We’ll call your father’s personal medic.”

“So you wantPapàto find out about this?” I glance between Raf and the poor bastard on the floor.

“No,” Raf finally grits out.

“Then just drop him off at the hospital.”

“What if word gets out?”

“I didn’t tell him my last name, you idiot. I’m not stupid.” Wrapping my arms across my chest, I glare up at the insane man who’s taken over my life. “Hopefully, he’ll just think you’re some jealous boyfriend or something.”

He snorts on a laugh. “I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”

“Fuck you,” I hiss.

“You wish.”

Matteo appears with Serena a moment later, hauling James behind her. “Oh, shit.” Her eyes bulge out of her head as she takes in the bloodied man on the floor. Luckily, all the otherattendees have been too busy with the raging party to notice the disaster down the hall.

---