Page 134 of The Billionaire's Secret
"No," she shakes her head.
"So he was…"
"My contact with the Mafia... My handler."
I still my hand.
"The Mafia planted me to play the role of Adam’s wife." She turns in my arms, her lips swollen from my kisses, her cheeks flushed from the hot bath. "But you knew that already."
I tilt my head.Should I reveal how much I know? Has she guessed how much I’ve already uncovered about her past?"Go on." I pull back my arm. She shivers and I pull the blanket up to her ears.
"They…they wanted me to keep an eye on him."
"Adam knew about it?"
She nods, "He had no choice, but to accept that I was reporting on his activities back to the Mafia."
"And you, Gigi? Did you have a choice?"
"It…it isn’t that simple." She licks her lips, brings her hand up to chew on her nails. I weave my fingers with hers, pull it down between us.
"It really is. Tell me what they have on you and let me help you."
"Is saving damsels in distress your specialty?" she asks.
"I’m no fucking white knight, and you know it."
"You’re also not as much of an asshole as you make yourself out to be," she muses.
"Each of us have the stories we tell ourselves, and the masks we put on to face the world," I answer.
"And you, Saint, what’s the persona you’ve bought into?"
I allow my lips to kick up, "I am not the one with the agenda here." She pales, turns away from me. I tug on her hand so she has no choice but to stay facing me. "Don’t push me away, Victoria. This is our chance to come clean so we can make a fresh start of it."
"Is that what you’re offering?"
I hold up her hand with the emerald ring glittering on it. "Isn’t this proof enough?"
"Is that why you gave me your mother’s ring?"
"Not only." I run my thumb across the smooth surface. "It felt right. When my instinct points me in a particular direction, I follow it."
"What does your instinct say about me?" She lowers her chin, peers up at me from under her eyelashes. That green gaze of hers deepens, stormy emotions caught in their depths.
"My head says that I shouldn’t trust you."
The remaining color leaches from her cheeks.
"Let me go." She yanks at her hand, but I don’t release it. I use the leverage to haul her into my chest. "My instinct says to ignore what my logical mind is pointing out to me—that you are dangerous, that for both of our sakes, I should walk away from you, that if I were a betting man, I should cash in my chips and leave, that you are a riddle with more than one answer as a solution. Too bad, when it comes to you…" I search her features, take in the hollows under her eyes, the sharp jut of her cheeks, "I have no choice but to follow my heart, Gigi."
She bites on her lower lip, "I… I am not sure what that means."
"It means…" I cup her chin, "why don’t we trade secrets, hmm? Hell, I’ll even start with answering your question…"The fuck. Am I actually going to do this?
"What’s your answer?" The skin around her eyes creases.
"That I want neither." I set my jaw. "I don’t intend to have children, and hell, I’m definitely not qualified to be a babysitter."
