Page 43 of Mistletoe in the Mafia

“Sure.”

“Don’t run away again,” he says sternly.

I look up and meet his narrowed eyes with a small smile. Or at least a cross between a grimace and a smile.

“I won’t. I promise.”

He nods once before starting to walk in the direction of his room. Then he seems to remember something and turns around.

“Have you eaten?”

My eyes widen and I bite down on my bottom lip, “I kinda, might have forgotten to eat.”

He shoots me a disbelieving look. “You’re joking.”

“I’m sorry, okay? I was a little too worried about you to think about that.”

Plus, I really didn’t feel like leaving his side.

He huffs out an annoyed breath. “When I tell you to do things, Madelyn, they’re not suggestions. I actually expect you to do them. Am I clear?”

I wrinkle my nose at his tone. “Crystal,” I say dryly.

“Get your ass in that kitchen and eat. We leave for your house in thirty minutes,” he says, pointing in the direction.

And then he walks away. I let out a relieved breath. At least he’s back to normal. I don’t know what demons he was fighting while he was sleep, but I’m beyond glad that they can’t reach him right now.

More than anything, though, there’s a burning question on my mind.

Who is Ilya?

CHAPTER 11

Dominic

Never thought I’d see the day when I was actively ignoring a problem in hopes that it would disappear. Madelyn and I didn’t say a word to each other throughout the ride to her house two nights ago. She was quiet—too quiet, which was worrying in and of itself.

It made me curious about what I said while I was having that nightmare. I don’t usually have nightmares. Or any sort of dreams. Most of the time, I sleep peacefully, which is a relief because the reminder of my reality is torture in and of itself. But once in a while, when my body crashes like last night, I’m unable to escape my pain in my dreams.

Madelyn looked pretty spooked when I came to, and I can’t help but wonder if I said the wrong thing. And then I kissed her. I shouldn’t have kissed her. She set clear boundaries and I practically bulldozed them. All I know is that in that moment, I physically needed her, more than I needed to breathe.

I opened my eyes and saw her clear green ones and I immediately felt a sense of calm and peace. Kissing her grounded me; it made everything else grow quiet.

I realized for the first time after that kiss how deep this has gotten. Camila was right. This is dangerous. And I’m so fucked.

Over the past two days, the two of us have been doing a pretty good job of pretending nothing happened. She’s seated beside me right now and we’re at a morning debrief. I’ve been tuned out the entire time, hyperaware of Madelyn. Her soft lilac scent clouds my senses. I’m miserable as fuck because I’m constantly battling the urge to throw her into my bedroom, lock us both inside, throw away the key, and stay there forever.

“That’s all for today,” Joshua announces. “Anyone have anything to say?”

Madelyn’s hand shoots up. I roll my eyes, expecting her to talk about her precious Christmas games or something along those lines.

“Yes, Maddie?” Joshua prompts.

“As you know, I’ve been studying the footage of Torres. And I was able to figure out the identity of the man he was speaking to thanks to Dominic’s database.”

My gaze shoots in her direction, wondering at what she’s getting at. I already know the identity of the man Torres was dealing with. I just chose to be careful because digging into him would only serve to further escalate matters.

I grit my teeth, regretting that I didn’t go over exactly what she used my database for. I should have checked. All I was did was ensure that she wouldn’t have access to the identities of anyone important or incriminating.

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