Page 44 of Queen's Move

He paused for a second, thinking. “Tell me about your daughter. Did you always keep track of her?”

“Always,” Vee replied immediately. She pressed her hand over her eyes to block out the lights flashing in her vision and talked to him. “From the moment she left my womb, I tracked her every move. W-wanted to make sure she had the life I’d envisioned for her. A happy, healthy family… a normal childhood. All the opportunities she deserved.”

“You didn’t give her money,” he noted, a hint of curiosity in his voice, but no censor. “You could’ve paid her way through University, but you chose not to.”

“She needed to learn some things herself,” Vee replied. “Stand on her own two feet and all that. She did an excellent job of financing her own education without my help or the help of her adopted parents. If she’d struggled I would have stepped in.”

“You parented her from afar,” he said with admiration.

“I suppose you could call it that. I did the best that I could without being directly involved.” Vee knew he wanted to keep her talking, keep her focused on something other than his movements. She sighed in relief when she felt the brush of his knuckles against her arm as he tied off the last stitch and leaned back.

“You gave that child everything you could,” he noted quietly. “Including a part of yourself. You are the definition of sacrifice, my dear.”

Vee tipped her head to the side, which took real effort given the exhaustion swamping her, and looked at him. “You know about the kidney?”

He didn’t smile exactly, but the corners of his eyes and mouth crinkled. “I know everything there is to know about you, Elvira. Which means I know everything about your daughter.”

She gazed up at him, trying to summon anger at the way he’d interfered in her life, jacked her daughter’s life too. But she couldn’t. He was mafia, right to the marrow of his bones. He would always go his own path, ensure his success no matter how he got there. Vee understood, because she’d lived in that world her entire life. She was mafia too. The only difference between them was that she’d nurtured a person along the way, even if it was from afar. It gave her a different perspective on life. Softened her. In a way, Raina had saved Vee’s life over and over again. Because as long as that child survived, Vee would do everything in her power to survive herself, to ensure the girl’s future.

“Almost done,” he announced. “Except this.” He poured the disinfectant on her wound. Vee yelped and tried to roll away from him. He slapped a hand down on her belly and forcibly held her still holding her injured arm with his other hand so she wouldn’t tear the stitches.

“You could have warned me!” she gasped angrily, settling back on the counter. She pushed a hand up into her hair, gripping the strands as the pain faded.

“Lo siento,” he mumbled leaning over her.

“You aren’t sorry you sadistic asshole,” she growled.

He chuckled. “I just need to wrap it now, cariño. We’re almost there.” The warmth in his voice flowed over her like honey. Now that the pain was fading her skin felt hypersensitive to his every touch. The intimacy of the situation was getting to her.

“Just get it done.”

“Si,” he said and began wrapping the wound. “Is there anything you wish to know about me?”

Vee was about to demand he knock it off with all the chatter when something surfaced. Something she’d been wondering but hadn’t found an opportunity to ask him. “Sure,” she said in a clipped voice. “How old are you? And while we’re on the topic of your age, why haven’t you ever married before? Seems odd, someone in your position should want a succession plan.”

She couldn’t see his face, but she suspected he was amused by her questions. “I’m forty-seven, ten years older than you,” he said easily. “And I never married…” he lifted his head, dark eyes pinning her where she lay, “… because I hadn’t yet met you.”

“Romantic,” she grunted sarcastically and then yelped as he tightened her bandage and stood.

He looked down at her, his expression becoming serious. “I’m a practical man, Vee. I didn’t want a woman that would merely warm my bed, grace my arm and my table, would stand behind me, ignorant of the world we live in. I wanted a woman that knew her mind. A woman with vision and the intelligence to match. I wanted you, Elvira. I’ve been waiting for you my entire life.”

She stared at him, the breath catching in her throat. Then she reached up with her good hand and captured him around the neck, pulling him down until his face hovered over hers. He let her have her moment. “Don’t call me Elvira,” she whispered, but there was no heat to her tone. Inside she was melting at his words. The man was nearly impossible to resist. “Kiss me, Isaac.”

He did. Leaning down to give her one of his perfect kisses. Moulding his lips to hers, exploring her lips with his. The kiss was chaste, yet passionate. It held a wealth of feeling without being a precursor to more. Sotza would never allow it. Not while she was freshly hurt. She was beginning to understand that about him. His code of ethics. He would always protect Vee. From him, from herself, from everyone.

He leaned back, still staring down at her, his dark eyes nearly black. He touched her bandage with the lightest of caresses. “I am sorry I wasn’t there for you. More sorry than you can know that I wasn’t there to stop this from happening.”

She shook her head, trying to banish the tone of self-castigation from his tone. “You couldn’t have known.”

“I should have known!” he growled. “It was my responsibility to keep you safe, to ensure that my men are loyal. I failed you, Vee.”

“No, you didn’t,” she said, lifting her hand to touch his cheek. Her fingers were still bloody from when she’d clutched her wound, but it didn’t matter. Sotza had her blood smeared all over the front of his shirt. Proof that he’d been rattled while caring for her, despite his seeming calm. The Gentleman Butcher never spilled blood on himself. “We don’t know why John turned, why he gave us up to the Mexicans. You have always had impeccable instincts. Don’t doubt yourself now… we can’t afford it.”

He took her hand in his, which was also bloody, and brought it to his lips, kissing her fingers. “You will never again be harmed under my watch, Vee. This is a promise.”

She smiled up at him. “And I promise to defend you as well.” She held his gaze allowing the moment to flow between them, before adding, “Unless I’m the one attacking you. Then you’re on your own, esposo.”

He laughed. A spontaneous laugh that made her heart stutter. He helped her sit up, one hand around her back while the other still held hers. Dizziness rushed through her again and he placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her still. “Give yourself a minute to recover. You lost more blood than I am comfortable with.”

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