Page 46 of Twisted Games of Revenge

“Stay with me for the night. Just one, then you can go back to Sloane and do whatever it is you have to with her.” His eyesplead with me to understand how badly he needs this, and his sadness crushes me. I already know I can’t refuse him, and more than that, I don’t want to.

“One night,” I whisper, letting him collect me in his arms and carry me to his bed.

Chapter 20

“Can’t you stay alittle longer?” Geovani groans sleepily as I slip back into my clothes from the day before.

I glance over my shoulder at him. It’s not like him to sound so needy, but I guess when I was staying with him I was trapped there, so he knew where I was all the time. “Sorry, I have a thing.”

He captures my hand and pulls me back to him, my body slamming up against his bare chest. “A thing with Sloane?”

I sigh heavily, not wanting to go, my body already on high alert knowing what I need to achieve today. What if her stuck-up friends don’t want to talk to me, then we’re back to square one. “I have high tea with Valentina Moretti. And you have training to do with Maddox.”

He runs his hand through his short hair, looking at me like I have lost my mind. Then he rolls on top of me, so I’m pinned underneath him. He’s glaring down at me, and I know I have a fight on my hands if I want to leave this room alone today.

“Vivian is her latest project. She wants me to meet her friends,” I try to explain.

“I don’t want you to go anywhere near that woman, she’s just as dangerous as her husband.”

I shove him, trying to get him off me. “We have been over this, Geo, I have measures in place to keep me safe. The Strykers will be able to hear everything through a cuff earpiece I’m wearing, and the boys have a tracker on me so they know where I am at all times. I’m safe.”

He caresses my face, his fingers tracing the line over my jaw so tenderly it throws me off kilter. I was expecting him to fight me. “It’s not enough. What if something happens and no one can get to you fast enough.”

“Then it’s lucky you taught me how to protect myself so well.” I roll out of his grip, and he lets me. He’s still not his normal self, and something in that scares me. “Come on, you need breakfast,” I tell him with a smile and an outstretched hand.

Reluctantly he takes it and lets me pull him out of bed. I watch as he throws on a pair of sweatpants. Nearly drooling at the sight of his bare chest, I know I will never get used to how fucking hot he is. When he pulls a T-shirt over his head, I move over to the vanity to fix my wig back in place.

He comes to stand behind me, watching me in the mirror. “You’re really going to keep this up?” He flicks the wig.

“Until we have dealt with Enzo, yeah.”

Something washes over him, and I turn back to him, worried.

He pulls me toward him and hugs me close. “Don’t get hurt, Red. I need you,” he whispers into my hair before placing a delicate kiss to the top of my head. I hold him close, enjoying the warmth of his body. I really have missed him.

“Thank you for supporting me. Part of me thought I might wake up chained to your bedpost or something.” I laugh, trying to lighten the heavy mood between us this morning.

“I did consider locking you up,” he says more seriously, and I know he’s not joking. “But I can see this is what you need. You’re determined, and I know I would be the same. Enzo Moretti deserves everything he gets, and I will happily help you put a bullet in his head.”

I pop up on my toes and kiss his lips, glad we’re past the controlling shit and he finally trusts me to take care of myself. Well, kind of, because he’s at least letting me leave the boys’ place without him this morning.

“Don’t forget that when you’re done with all this, there is still the matter of your papa’s businesses for you to run.”

I sigh heavily, preferring to block it from my mind right now. “Marco can take care of them; they should have been left to him in the first place, he’s the first-born son. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?”

“But they weren’t. Your papa wanted you in charge for a reason, Red.”

My head drops, sadness washing over me when I think of the predicament my papa was in when he signed them over to me. “Only because he thought he had to.”

“Do you really believe that? We both know you’re more than capable of running them.”

I place a hand to his chest, not wanting to discuss this anymore. I can’t think about what my papa wanted right now. “Geo, stop. I trust Marco to take care of it all.”

He nods once, even though I know he doesn’t agree with me. He wants me back in his office working alongside him where he knows I will be safe.

“Just so you know, though, Marco can’t know I’m around. If he or Dani finds out, it just makes this more complicated. For now just you boys, okay?”

“Okay,” he agrees, wrapping his arm around me, as we walk toward the kitchen, the smell of bacon and eggs wafting through the air.

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