Page 95 of Ruthless Guardian

Just being around my patients could put them in danger. And I want to work with children…Dio, this is so fucked up and unfair. I blow out a frustrated breath and tie back the dark waves of hair into a neat bun.

Soft footsteps echo down the hall an instant before Raf’s familiar scent invades my nostrils. His knuckles graze the door, which is already ajar. “Are you okay,principessa?”

“No,” I grumble.

He creeps in, dark eyes meeting mine through the mirror. Instead of his typical black tee and dark jeans, today, he’s in a suit, the sleek charcoal fabric clinging to the sharp lines of his broad shoulders, then tapering down to his narrow hips. Raffaele Ferrara is gorgeous in any clothes, but in a suit, he’s devastating. He drapes his body around mine, a comforting shield of warmth and pure muscle. Another sigh parts my lips as I lean into him, helpless to resist the pull.

“You know you don’t have to go to the service,” he whispers.

“Yes, I do. He died atmyhouse… because of me.”

His face contorts into something almost painful. “It wasn’t because of you…”

“Of course it was.” I spin around to face him, that guilt still so heavy even after an entire week it feels like I’m moving in slow motion. “Don’t try to make me feel better. I’m a big girl, and I can handle the truth.”

“It’s not the truth,” he grits out then takes a step back before he starts to pace the tiny bathroom. “Damn it, I should have just told you right away, but I was hoping I could get some answers first?—”

“Told me what?” I grab his arm, jerking him to a stop.

He heaves out a breath before fixing his eyes to mine. “Before I killed thepezzo di merdawho shot up your rooftop, he confessed you weren’t his target.” He paused, pain slicing into his features. “I was.”

An actual gasp spills out, my breath hitching. “You? Why you? And how could you not tell me all this time?”

“Because I still haven’t found out why,” he growls and drags his hands over his face. “I wanted to tell you the very next day, but I had the call with your father, and you know how that went.”

“He threatened to kill you himself if there was one more incident.”

“Right. And I couldn’t come back to you without answers, answers you deserve. I’m supposed to be the best, Isabella. And now with you, the one person I fear losing most, I’m failing left and right.”

The air sweeps from my lungs for the second time in so many minutes as I read the anguish in his piercing gaze. “You fear losing me the most?” It’s not a confession of love, but it’s something.

“Absolutely,” he murmurs, his hand rising slowly to cup my cheek, rough and gentle all at once. "Dio, principessa, you've unraveled me. You stir something in me, a wild urge to shatter every rule I've ever lived by, just to be close to you. But it fucking terrifies me, Isabella. What if my questionable decisions put you in danger?” His voice breaks slightly, vulnerability flickering across his features.

I reach up, covering his hand with mine, the connection sparking a wave of warmth. “Raf, being with you,” I whisper, “feels like the safest place I’ve ever known. Isn’t that worth the risk?”

He searches my face, as if looking for an anchor in a sea of doubt. “Every moment with you is a risk I want to take, if you think it’s worth it.”

It's more than worth it. It's everything. In his eyes, I see the reflection of all my hopes mingled with his fears. We are two sides of the same coin, flipping endlessly, waiting to see where we land. But in this moment, I know. “It's worth it, Raf. You and me, we're absolutely worth it.”

His mouth claims mine with the urgency of a tempest breaking the shore, wild and relentless, as if trying to communicate every unspoken emotion through this single kiss. He lifts me onto the vanity, wedging his hips between my thighs and stretching out my dress. I should be angry at him for keeping the truth from me for an entire week, but instead, all I can think about is how perfect his lips feel against mine, how my body naturally curves into his.

I’m desperately falling for my bodyguard. Hell, I’ve probably already jumped to my doom. Which reminds me… I force my lips away, despite every inch of my body screaming at me to remain trapped in his muscled arms. “So what did you find out from thatbastardo? And why would someone want to killyou?”

The tendon in his jaw feathers, and I can almost hear the grinding of his teeth.

“Raf?” A wicked tangle of unease roils low in my belly. “What haven’t you told me?”

“It’s about my family…”

My thoughts flicker back to the night at the club when we ran into his brothers. At the fear, at the rage, that had consumed him not only during their discussion but for hours later after we’d returned home. So they had some sort of falling out, but a part of me knows there is more to this story.

“What about them?”

“My father is not a good man, Isa.” His dark brows furrow as his wary gaze locks on mine. “He has enemies, men in this city who would stop at nothing to bring him down.”

Understanding rolls over me in suffocating waves. I suspected it that night, but I preferred to remain blind than face the truth then. “He’s involved in organized crime?”

Raf grunts, a snarl twisting his lips. “Heisorganized crime,principessa.”

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