Page 52 of Runaway in the Mafia
She looked at her brother. “Will he live?”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s fucking Romeo.”
“See?” Lia looked at me with an exaggerated sigh. “No worries… he’ll be… wait!” She paused with a stricken look.Finally.“Who’s taking us?”
I couldn’t believe this. Vitale grinned, his gaze travelling over his sister’s shoulder to mine. “I am.”
“Awww…” She ran up to him and he swung her up. “You’re the best.” She hugged him tightly.
“Anything for my girl.”
Why the hell is he looking at me then?
“See.” Lia jumped off her brother and skipped to the other side of the car.
“I think we should cancel.”
Two pairs of Di Matteo eyes came to me. Both of them angry glares. One funny, the other not so much. “Oh, come on,” Lia moaned. “I’ve been looking forward to it for ages.”
“We can do it another time.”
“Get in the car, Ahana.” There was a warning in his tone. I ignored it and clutched my bag.
“I think we should stay.”
“I’m going.” Lia slid into the back seat and slammed the door shut. Such an attentive cousin.
Vitale’s glance was murderous as he pulled the passenger door open and stood next to it. “You have one minute.”
“Is he at least joining us there?”
“Not unless he wants a kneecap gone this time,” he muttered softly, but I caught it.
He couldn’t have… his glare told me he had. I shook my head. I couldn’t think… the man was insane. I needed my wits together to put up a fight. As if he could see into my thoughts, he put an end to any idea of a fight. By striding over and flipping me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I’d never been so demeaned in my life. Hitting him with my weekender didn’t deter the thick block of muscle that he was. It only made his grip on my ass tighter, and that I didn’t like. I didn’t.
That wasn’t why I was out of breath when he dumped me on the seat. Not why my nipples tightened when he hung too close to them, and his hot breath sneaked through my cleavage as he buckled me in. The tick on his jaw was out of control. Frustration oozed out of him. The buckle clicked in, and his fist gripped my chin. He hovered an inch from my mouth, clear intention in his eyes.
Shit.
No.
Lia is in the back seat.
Her giggles told me she found this highly entertaining. But it stopped him. Barely. With a muttered curse underneath his breath, he rolled his knuckle down my neck and pushed his thumb on my locket. It dug deep into the dip on my collarbone.A reminder of what he could take away. I stiffened, and he pulled away. But it reminded me of what I had woken up to a few days ago. When I’d found the locket on the nightstand next to my bed. He’d given it back to me.
My grace faded away when he slipped into the car. A shiver ran the length of my spine at the way his hand clenched around the wheel.Not like I asked him to take us.
I crossed my arms and glared at him. “I would have been perfectly alright staying back.”
“No doubt playing nurse to my idiot cousin. It’s just a hole in his shoulder.” His tone was all snappy.
“He’s shot.”
“He’s an idiot.” The engine fired up, and instead of going forward and turning, he reversed all the way out. At full speed. Creating a trail of brown dust. The man drove like he had a bounty on him. I frowned. He probably did.
“Why would you even shoot him?”
“Wait.” Lia leaned forward between the two seats. “You shot Romeo?”
