Page 73 of The Virgin Temptation (Caprice Langden)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

-Willis-

THERE ARE THOSE BADfeelings you get; the ones you just can’t shake.

I lived with those feelings, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I made decisions that affected people’s lives: their ability to make a living, their wages, their medical care, the ins and outs of how a government works and what it is, and isn’t, supposed to do for its people. In most circumstances, I made decisions that I thought were good for the general population. On a few rare occasions, I voted for bills I didn’t like, but I understood their purpose. I understood what the end goal was.

Mostly, I voted to enhance people’s quality of life. I championed projects that I thought would improve the world we lived in.

Sometimes, that meant doing something distasteful, like taking the life of another human being. People who made a living bringing other people down and keeping them there. Drug cartels. Human traffickers. Pedophile rings, just to name a few.

I wasn’t a goddamn superhero, and I didn’t get my hands dirty. There were a limited amount of people I could rely on and as of that morning, one of them had betrayed me.

I threw back another shot of whiskey and started to reach for the decanter again.

But I stopped.

Alcohol wasn’t the solution to my problem.

I rubbed my brow to relieve the pressure. The solution to my problem was already in motion, but everyone else’s impatience was fucking it up.

Especially his.

Dante Calegari.

Damn him.

I liked him. I always had. We weren’t the best of friends, even though we were neighbors. He was quiet and stayed to himself. I was too busy to get too close to the Calegaris, but Noemi’s friendship with them made it inevitable.

I watched it happen for years. Watched from a distance and never said anything as Noemi’s feelings for Dante changed from a fondness for her best friend’s brother to a schoolgirl crush. I knew she’d grow out of it and was relieved when she called out of the blue one afternoon and announced that she had accepted an archivist position in England. I’d miss her like hell, but I thought it was a good choice for her.

After our parents died, she needed to be the person she wanted to become. She needed her freedom, to be the woman she’d always wanted to become but had been too shy to try.

She needed to get the hell away from Dante Calegari.

I’d always known he wasn’t right for her.

The day I faced him across a negotiating table, I was glad she’d moved on from him, even if she had to move to another country.

Who the hell would want their baby sister dating a hired killer?

Dante and I spent several years working together after that, but any conversations about our personal lives were off limits. When Noemi called to say she was ready to move home, I was torn between how much I’d missed her and the fear that once she returned, she’d fall for him all over again.

I was right. She hadn’t even been back for a month and it was like she’d never left as far as her feelings for Dante were concerned. It was worse than that. What with their trip to Barbados and all.

I pulled strings I shouldn’t have. Tried to scare her away from him. I was desperate and not thinking straight, what with the other shit I have going on. And it backfired.

If I’d taken longer to plan it, I would have seen that, but I made rash decisions and... And she was going to kill me when she found out what I’d done. She was a grown woman and could make her own decisions, but damn, why did she have to choose Dante Fucking Calegari, the most lethal, dangerous man I knew? What kind of life could they have together because as her big brother, I wanted her to have a good life, a meaningful, happy life where she had the job of her dreams and a man to love and spoil her. What would happen if she ever found out her lover was a cold-hearted assassin? Would their relationship ever have gotten that far?

Thankfully, no. It was a moot point. Dante had made it clear when he broke into my house that they were through. He had walked away from her. While I knew that would leave her heartbroken, it was for the best. That was probably why she had called and said she was coming for a short visit. I didn’t ask her why because I could tell by her voice that something wasn’t right. She needed me and I’d be there for her. She’d hurt, and then she’d heal, and then, eventually, she’d find someone who could really make her happy.

And if she and Dante were over as quickly as they’d begun, I could put that issue to bed and deal with the man who was making my life a living hell.

And that nagging feeling that something bad, something so bad the hairs on my neck were at constant attention, was about to happen would go away and I’d get to go back to living with my usual sleeplessness and anxiety.

Despite the premonitions I couldn’t shake, my heart felt a little relief when the doorbell rang. She was there, and for a few hours, I could relax, pretend the bastards of the world didn’t exist, and feel like a human again.

“Hey, Noe.” I grinned as I pulled open the door, blinking into the sunlight as I saw that Noemi hadn’t come alone. Dante was with her.

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