Page 196 of Divine Obsession

I immediately started laughing.

“Right?” She giggled. “I’d rather hire somebody. But I already love this place the way it is.”

It was strange, seeing her this relaxed. I knew it was because Zach was almost fully recovered now, so all the stressors were gone. He was just a few feet away, sleeping in their bedroom down the hall.

“You’re happy,” I said, returning her smile.

“It feels right,” She said softly, her gaze drifting to the closed bedroom door.

“You ever going to tell me what happened between you two?”

She took a deep breath. “It’s a long story.”

“We got all the time in the world.”

She glanced toward the hallway leading to the master, as if checking to see if Zach was still asleep. “Do you remember when I told you about what I used to do?”

I nodded slowly. Maria’s past wasn’t a secret between us. At nineteen, she’d retired from being a government agent, though more specificallyassassin.She never went into detail, and I never pushed her for more than she was ready to share.

“And do you remember my last job? The one I did for Francesca?”

I nodded again, letting her speak.

“She called me three years ago. There was a problem in Mexico – a mess she needed cleaned up. Their main supplier wasn’t in the country, and some people got bold, tried to take over.”

“Maria…” I trailed off, already connecting the dots.

Cosa Nostra’s main narcotics supplier slept peacefully in a bedroom down the hall.

Maria let out a slow breath. “Zach thought I was an assassin sent to kill him, not knowing Francesca had sent me to save him. He spent three years hunting me down… But when he finally found me… He fell for me. And I fell for him.”

I swallowed hard, my pulse quickening, letting her continue.

“Someone from my past with the government reached out, offering to erase my criminal record if I killed Zach. I never even considered it, but before I could tell Zach, he found out on his own and thought I'd been playing him the whole time.”

I spoke cautiously. “What did he do?”

Maria’s gaze dropped. “He didn’t hurt me, but his words did. Told me nothing between us had been real, that he’d only used me to get to another assassin. When the truth came out, he begged me to stay. But I couldn’t get past it.”

“Of course not.”

She nodded. “Still, we had…Unfinished business. Which led to Zach pushing me out of the way taking four bullets for me in thechest.” Her voice broke on the last word, and I felt my own chest tighten. “Then I took the other out. All of them.”

“Good.”

A moment of silence passed.

“I thought he was gone,” She whispered, her hands trembling slightly. “I couldn’t bear to lose him. He risked everything for me. Almostdiedfor me. And it wasn’t the first time either that he’d chosen my life over his.”

“He’s okay now.” All I could do was reach out and take her hand, squeezing it tightly.

My chest eased slightly, knowing Zach would put his life down for Maria. They were both dangerous people living dangerous lives, and protecting someone else with your life meant an insignificant amount to both of them.

She looked at me, her eyes glassy but determined. “I love him.”

The admission hit me harder than I expected. Maria wasn’t the kind of person to say things like that lightly.

A peace I didn’t expect came with her words. The assurance that Zach would die before anyone ever thought about hurting her. The knowledge that she’d found her other half. There was an undeniable connection between her and Zach that everyone had been able to see since the very first time they locked eyes across that club.

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