Page 35 of Mafia Shade's Reluctant Bride
I swallowed. “What?”
He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling. “About yesterday…”
My stomach tightened.
“I shouldn’t have been dismissive like that,” he continued. “I—” He sighed. “I don’t want you involved in this world because it’s dangerous. Because I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
My chest ached, but I forced myself to hold his gaze, even though every part of me wanted to look away, knowing how hard it was not to want him when he gazed at me like he needed me. “You think I don’t know it’s dangerous?”
His jaw clenched. “That’s not the point—”
“No, that is the point,” I cut in. “I’ve been surrounded by men my entire life telling me what I can and can’t do, making decisions for me like I’m some fragile thing that can’t handle the truth.”
Lorenzo flinched.
I swallowed, pushing past the lump in my throat. “I won’t let you be one of them.”
I was expecting him to snap back, to tell me how stubborn I was, but he didn’t. That single act melted every courage and counterattack I was already rehearsing in my head.
Then, softly, “I’m not trying to control you, Maria.” His voice was quieter now and rougher. “But I do want to protect you if you let me.”
Something in my chest cracked open because I believed him. Because I knew him, and because beneath all the arrogance and sharp edges, his words revealed something deeper and something real.
I exhaled, looking down at my hands, knowing I was already losing this fight.
“Just…” I swallowed, “don’t be too quick to dismiss my feelings. It makes me feel unheard.”
Lorenzo stepped closer, close enough that I could feel his warmth and his presence.
“I won’t,” he murmured. “And I am sorry if I made you feel that way,”
And for the first time in a long time, a man didn’t invalidate my feelings. Something about that felt so reassuring and so safe. I could feel the tears slowly welling up in my eyes, but I pushed them back, not wanting to show him how much his words had touched me.
“I want to see the club.”
Lorenzo stilled. For a second, he just looked at me, unreadable as always. Then, slowly, he pulled out his phone, tapped something, and slid it back into his pocket.
“Let’s go.”
I raised a brow. “That easy?”
“You were expecting a fight?”
“Honestly? A little.”
His lips twitched, but he didn’t say anything as he led me to the car.
The drive was…awkward.
Not the heavy, unbearable kind of awkward—just a strange tension lingering between us. Like a space between us, waiting to be acknowledged.
I watched him. Too closely.
The way his fingers gripped the wheel, and how he shifted gears so smoothly, it was almost lazy. I watched how his throat bobbed when he swallowed and how his jaw clenched every time he was lost in thought.
“Maria.” His voice snapped me out of my trance. “If you keep staring at me like that, we’re gonna crash.”
Heat rushed to my face. “I—I wasn’t staring.”
