Page 73 of Vincenzo
“I thought we were going to take our time and use these?” He holds up the bag of knives.
“Yeah… I’ve come to realize I tend to get a little trigger happy. It’s a flaw. I’ll work on it.”
Armando chuckles.
I raise a brow at him. “You know, I’m surprised you didn’t join in on the fun,” I say, nodding at the bloody scene next to us.
“Oh, I wanted to, but there was something I noticed back at the club.”
“What’s that?”
“Amalia’s basically my little sister, and I would kill anyone that lays a hand on her.” He assesses me for a moment, shifting his gaze between my eyes. “But I saw the rage in you at the club. You come off as nonchalant, but I knew from the darkness in your eyes that you needed to find these guys and use them as an outlet for your anger. I can step aside for someone who’s ready to go to bat for my cousin like that.”
I give Armando a nod of understanding. “Do you have cleaners you can call for this shit?”
“They’re already on their way.”
“Good. I appreciate you, man, but I need to get back to the hotel. I don’t want Amalia waking up without me there.”
“Let her know I’ll call her tomorrow before stopping by.”
I give him a nod, then he steps aside for me to pass by.
“Oh, and one more thing,” he says, catching me right before I’m about to step over the threshold. “I never said thank you.”
“For what?” I ask over my shoulder.
“For loving my cousin the way she deserves to be loved.”
26
AMALIA
My shallow breaths suck the bag into my mouth, and my lungs seize, burning…
My eyes snap open as I suck in a sharp breath and shoot up in bed. A large arm falls off me, and I scramble toward the edge of the bed, nearly falling off in the process.
That same large arm grabs ahold of me, pulling me back toward its owner.
“Enzo?” I say, my voice hoarse as it gets acclimated to the morning.
I wrap my hand around my sore throat and press my other hand against the back of my head.Why does everything hurt right now?
It only takes me a second before the previous night floods my mind.
My uncle tried to have me killed.
“Are you okay?” Enzo asks, the concern deep in his morning voice.
I run my hand through my hair, pulling it back out of my face. “Yeah, I just forgot where I was for a moment.”
“You’re safe. I promise.” His comforting words bring a smile to my face.
“I still can’t believe everything that happened last night… I can’t even believe that you’re here. Inmycity.”
Enzo chuckles, that deep velvety sound wrapping itself around my body and making me feel all warm inside. “Funny how the tables have turned.”
“About that… We didn’t exactly have much time to talk last night with everything else that was going on, so… whatareyou doing here? Why did you follow me down to Miami?”
