Page 56 of Their Reckless Thief
VINCENZO
My pulse quickened.I stared at the phone, a strange mix of anger, confusion, and… something else bubbling up inside me. What the fuck was this? A gift? A bribe? Some twisted way to keep tabs on me? He did break my phone, but I never expected him to replace it.
Vivian leaned over my shoulder to read the note. Her eyes narrowed. “Vincenzo? Seriously?”
“Yeah,” I muttered, a rush of conflicting emotions crashing into me. “Seriously.”
“What’s his deal? Is this his sick way of tracking you?”
“Probably,” I said, my fingers curling around the phone. “But I don’t know. He’s… complicated.”
“Complicated?” Vivian raised an eyebrow. “Celeste, the guy’s a mafia lord. There’s nothing complicated about that. He’s a cold-blooded murderer who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Period. End of story. You can’t accept this from him. Send it back.”
She was right, of course, but that didn’t stop my heart from racing every time I thought about him and the way he looked at me, the way he’d saved me, then kicked me out of his life. Noneof it made sense. And now, with this phone, it felt like he was still trying to stay connected. Like he wasn’t done with me yet.
“What are you going to do?” Vivian asked, eyeing me as if she was trying to dissect my every thought. “You’re not going to keep it, are you?”
I stared at the phone for a moment, then slipped it back into the box, my mind swirling with thoughts I couldn’t quite pin down. “I don’t know. I just don’t think I’m ready to cut ties yet.”
The soft thudof boots hitting the floor woke me. I blinked, pushing the fog of sleep from my mind as I propped myself up on my elbow. “You really like sneaking in, don’t you?” I asked, a small smile tugging at my lips.
Dorian grinned as he shed his jacket. “I like keeping you on your toes. It makes things more interesting.”
There was something endearing about Dorian coming in through the window, even though it was impractical. He could have walked through the front door like a normal person, but this? This was more Dorian.
Before I could say anything more, Dorian crawled into the bed beside me and pulled me close like I was his anchor in a sea of chaos. His warmth wrapped around me, and I found myself sinking into it, into him. I wasn’t sure when exactly it had happened… when he’d become this constant, comforting presence. It unnerved me how easily I’d grown used to it in such little time.
His hand drifted into my hair, his fingers softly brushing through the strands in a rhythmic motion that relaxed me. Suddenly, he stilled, his hand freezing on my skin.
“What the fuck happened to your neck?” A dangerous edge sharpened his words.
My stomach clenched, and I instinctively shifted back. “It’s nothing.”
The dark flash of his eyes told me he wasn’t buying it.
“Who did this to you?” It wasn’t a question; it was a promise. A promise that someone would bleed for this.
I shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, Dorian. I lied to Roberto. He didn’t like that very much.”
His expression turned murderous in an instant, his grip on me tightening as he sat up. “Roberto?” His voice was cold, deadly. “That bastard put his hands on you?”
I sat up quickly, trying to hold his attention before he did something reckless. “Dorian, don’t?—”
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” he growled, already halfway out of the bed, his muscles tensed with fury.
“No! Dorian, please.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him back toward me. Tears welled in my eyes, blurring my vision. “You can’t get involved with Roberto. He’s my livelihood, Dorian.”
He looked back at me, jaw clenched and chest heaving. “I don’t give a damn what he is. No one…no onelays a fucking finger on you without consequences.”
I shook my head, and the tears spilled over. “As fucked up as it is, Dorian, I need him. He took me off the streets. He trained me. He gave me a job. He’s like a… fucked-up father figure.”
Dorian’s eyes softened, the anger receding enough to allow some tenderness to shine through. He cupped my face between his hands, wiping away the tears with his thumbs. “He’s not your father, Celeste. No good father treats their child like this.”
“I know,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “But I can’t lose everything. Please, don’t make it any worse than it already is.”
He exhaled sharply and pulled me into his chest, holding me like he could shield me from the entire world. “Fine. I won’t killhim… for now. But he will pay. And when you’re done with him—because trust me, you will be done with him—you’ll be thriving. You’ll be out from under his thumb, living your life without him. Mark my words, Celeste. It’s going to happen.”
I clung to him, trembling as the weight of everything crashed down on me. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” I whispered into his chest.
