Page 129 of Ruthless God

His grating laugh was the last thing I heard before the line went dead.

I sat there, frozen in shock and not knowing what to do. I didn’t think calling Mom back would help. I doubt she would even answer the phone.

Lina left the safe house.

She really did the one thing that would have gotten her to Boris the quickest. She went back home to Andre.

He betrayed her by setting up this marriage once, and he would have no trouble betraying her again when he brought her back to New York.

Massimo found me ten minutes later, still in the same position, and sat on the bed beside me.

“Are you okay?” he asked with a frown.

Tears welled in my eyes, and panic moved through his. “Fuck, baby, what’s wrong? Who the fuck do I have to kill to make it better?”

“I talked to my mom,” I said.

His frown eased slightly. “Did she say something to hurt you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t even know why I’m still surprised. I feel stupid for always hoping she would love me the way she loves Lina, you know?”

“Hey, don’t say that about yourself. You’re not stupid for wanting your parents’ love. It is her fucking fault if she can’t see how precious and wonderful you are.”

I looked down at my lap. Maybe one of these days, I might truly believe I didn’t do anything to earn her animosity toward me. That she couldn’t love me the way she loves Lina because I looked too much like my father—something that was completely out of my control, but right now, I was feeling too much to convince myself otherwise.

“Lina left the safe house,” I said.

The look in his eyes told me he already knew.

“Andre is going to bring her back to New York.”

“Do you want me to stop that from happening?”

“You could do that?”

“I can have men stationed out in the airports of New York, waiting for Andre and his family to arrive. We can get your mom and Lina away from Andre. I can hide them out of the country.”

“She won’t leave him,” I said, knowing that was true. Mom really did love Andre. And she would follow him off the cliff if he told her to. “And it’s too risky. No, I don’t want you to do it. Lina knew Andre would bring her back to Boris when she escaped. She did it anyway. We can’t be responsible for her anymore. I can’t…”

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in close. “Okay, sweetheart. But the option is there if you change your mind.”

I nodded against him, turning my face to his chest, and kissed him right where his heart was beating.

“Thank you,” I whispered into his shirt.

“For what?”

“For loving me.”

“That’s not something you ever have to thank me for. I was born to love you.”

I pulled away and shot him a watery smile. “There you go again with those cheesy lines. What would your siblings think?”

He tapped my nose. “You’re not going to say anything to them. Especially Matteo.”

I grinned at him. He rolled his eyes.

“Well, there is something to look forward to,” he said.

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