Page 79 of Heartless Vows

“We’re done for now. You can’t handle more, so just relax in my arms for a few minutes. We’re almost home.”

I nod again and slip into an exhausted half sleep. When the world shifts and I hear a masculine voice coming from a chest other than the one I press my ear against, I jolt awake. I relax asI recognize Fiero’s frame. He opens the doors to the townhouse in front of Giorgio as he carries me inside.

I curl my fingers into my husband’s shirt, needing his warmth more than my next breath. He toes off his shoes mid-stride and settles us on our bed with his back against the headboard. After requesting a few things of Fiero, he gathers all the pillows close, almost building a fort around us, and extracts my purse from my grip before pulling the blankets around me. It’s too stifling.

“You’re shivering. Stop fighting.”

“I’m not cold.”

“Maybe not, but let me care for you. Be still.”

All my strength seeps from me. I’m too tired to argue, so I relax and enjoy the firmness of his arms.

Fiero returns with a tray of snacks and three steaming mugs. Giorgio trails his thumb over my brow.

“I asked him to sit with us for a debrief. He’ll leave in a few minutes, but this can’t wait.”

Fear sparks through my nerve endings.

“Did you kill him? Your uncle?” I ask.

“No, but I should have,” he growls.

“Giorgio! You can’t—”

My words jumble in my mind as he snarls and grabs my chin.

“He touched you, Aurora. He put his filthy hands on my wife. I don’t care if he’s blood. He’s a dead man walking.”

The promise of death in his eyes warms my heart.

It doesn’t make sense. I abhor violence. His threat shouldn’t pebble my nipples or make my clit throb, but my body responds as though he whispered filthy words in my ear and nipped all my sensitive bits.

I grab his collar and give us both a vicious shake.

“No! You can’t kill him, not yet. Not until I find solid evidence.”

Giorgio stills. Fiero freezes with his hands still on the tray, half-bent over the bedside table.

“Evidence of what?” Giorgio demands.

He pries my fingers off his collar and gathers my wrists into one of his hands, never taking his eyes off mine. I swallow.

“I think he hired whoever’s behind the cyberattacks. Possibly coordinated Camilla’s car crash and Serenity’s kidnapping, too.”

He tightens his grip around my wrist before setting my hands in my lap and spearing his fingers through my hair.

“My father went to great lengths to keep those incidents under wraps. How much digging did you do last night?”

I shrug.

“Obviously not enough if I don’t have evidence,” I grumble.

“Then what do you have? What pulled you out of my bed last night and made me wake to empty sheets?”

Shock spears through me at the depth of emotion in his voice.

I swallow before answering.

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