Page 43 of Burning Beauty

Oh. No. He. Did. Not.

Fury rippled through Maria as herboyfriend, and she was using that term loosely for now, tried to suggest he could pencil her in for a meeting the next day.

She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to convey her fury telepathically so she wouldn't start screaming and throwing things as she was sorely tempted to do. Of course, she knew that would be a very bad idea, that her boyfriend was also a mob boss and that he had a reputation to protect. If she lost her temper with him, he might be forced to retaliate. Or that's what she told herself to keep from breaking his office.

"Did you know that Cassandra's father calls her?" Maria demanded, assuming Nic knew far more of the back story than she did and would understand the significance. Maria felt a slight twinge of guilt in betraying Cassandra’s confidence. But having gotten to know the other woman, Maria suspected she wasn’t actively trying to keep the phone calls a secret but didn’t want to bother Nic with their existence and content.

He frowned and said slowly, "Cassandra has her own phone and account. She can call whoever she chooses."

Maria shook her head. "She doesn't choose to talk to her father. He calls her and he berates her and calls her names, while she takes it like an obedient little Italian daughter. You should have seen her this morning. She looked like a ghost, or like she'd seen one. She was scared and hurt."

Nic seemed to absorb her words, and then nodded his understanding. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

Relief that Nic understood and actually seemed to care flooded through her. She smiled shyly at him. "What are you going to do?"

Nic looked past her at Luke and raised an eyebrow.

"I'll take care of it," Luke growled and then turned to leave, slamming the door behind him.

Maria was stunned. What just happened?

"Come to me, bellissima."

Maria turned to look at Nic, catching the glint in his eye that meant what she hoped it meant. She bit back a grin and started backing toward the door that Luke just left from. "Actually, I have plans. I promised Cassandra that I would watch TV with her."

He caught her before she could make it far, dragging her back to his desk and leaning her ass against it. "You don't need to worry about Cassandra right now, Luke is taking good care of her."

Maria grinned and wound her arms around Nic's neck. "What should I be worrying about then? You?"

He pressed his lips to the top of her cheek, just beside her eye setting off a flutter of sparks in her belly. "No, bellissima," his voice dropped into a husky growl. "You will never have to worry about anything again."

Though she sort of doubted it, she still couldn't help but melt over his words. How could such a brutal and terrifying man be so sweet sometimes? Then she almost laughed out loud at her word choice. He was about as sweet as she was, and they were perfect for each other.

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Boss wants to see you."

Maria froze in her seat, shivered and then slowly turned her head to look at the source of the voice. The words were eerily similar to what Ronson would say to her when he was ordered to bring her to Franco. Luke stood behind her chair. She was curled up in one of the comfy armchairs in the upstairs TV room watching, of all things, RuPaul's Drag Race. Cassandra had gotten her addicted to the show and then abandoned Maria to watch alone.

Maria was worried about the other woman, she hadn't seen her in two days. Not since their chat by the pool. She was worried she'd said something wrong. She had even gone to Cassandra's suite of rooms in another wing of the mansion, but no one answered the door. When she badgered Yara about it, Yara had told Maria not to worry, that Cassandra gets this way sometimes and that she would be out in a few days when she felt better.

Forgetting that Luke was sent to fetch her, Maria twisted around to look at him imploringly. "How's Cassandra?"

He sighed heavily and ran a hand over his head. She could feel his tension and frustration. Then he did something uncharacteristic, he dropped into the chair next to hers and relaxed. Just a little, but enough that Maria was shocked. The stoic bodyguard did his job with extreme efficiency, blending in and reacting when he was told to react. As far as she knew, he didn't know the meaning of the word relax.

"She won't see me," he admitted. "Not since you told us about her dad's call. I talked to her about it, told her he's a piece of shit, manipulative, old world mafia asshole. But my words don't dent her when she's in this kind of mood."

These were more words than Maria had ever heard the man speak all at once. She wanted to take advantage of his sudden willingness to talk and ask him any number of questions that had been plaguing her. Where was her brother? Has Nic done this kidnapping thing with any other girl that he knew of? Was Nic really as deadly as he seemed, or just a passionate Italian with a bad temper? But she knew she had to focus on her immediate goal if she were going to keep the big guy talking.

"What kind of mood is that?" she asked cautiously, not wanting to scare him off, but wanting to know what the hell was going on with her insta-bestie.

"She gets this way sometimes. Feels like she's worthless, that the world would be a better place if she were dead." At Maria's alarmed look, he was quick to reassure, "Not like that, she's not suicidal or anything. She just gets to feeling down, like she can't get out of bed or anything."

"It sounds like she might be depressed, though I’m not a doctor, so I’m not sure," Maria murmured. "Does she get like this often?"

He nodded. "Yes, though less often these days. Still, it seems to happen several times a year."

Her heart broke for the other woman. Cassandra was such a beautiful vivacious creature. Yes, she was strange and pushy, but her personality was like the sun, if you looked directly at it, you might go blind. But if you basked in the glow of her warmth, she would warm you up too. It seemed too awful that someone like Cassandra might be suffering.

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