Page 22 of Nico (Belles & Mobsters 2)

She tilted her head, as if studying me.

“You mean escort?” She snorted. “Like your prostitute or something?”

I had to bite the inside of my cheek. I wasn’t quite sure whether I should be offended that she’d found being mine so repulsive. Instead, I took it as a personal challenge.

“Actually, I had something a bit more permanent in mind.”

Her eyebrows creased, confusion in her expression. She was trying to get a read on me and understand me so she could find a way out. Good luck with that!

“Like what?” she asked in a low voice.

“Marriage.”

Her mouth parted, her expression morphed into one of shock. “Marriage?”

“Yes.”

“Whose?” Her wide eyes stared at me in disbelief as if she was convinced she misunderstood the meaning of my words.

“Yours to me.”

A choked laugh escaped her. “You must be joking. I don’t want to marry you!”

“You will marry me.” My voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. But her brows remained furrowed.

“But why?”

“Because you owe me your husband’s debt.” I thought it was obvious, but maybe I had to spell it all out for her. “Unless you have three million dollars laying around?”

She shook her head. “As if,” she muttered. “If I did, I wouldn’t be here. Trust me on that.”

I smiled at her honesty. I knew she didn’t have the money, but I had to be careful, steering this in the direction I wanted.

It was ironic that she didn’t want to marry me. Women have tried to trap me into marriage for decades, and here I was offering it to this woman and she struggled with the concept, reluctant to even be in the same room with me.

“So, what is it going to be?” Whether she wanted to or not, she would marry me. I’d rather she did it willingly though. Dragging her down the aisle might be overkill, but it was still an option if all else fails.

She shook her head again.

“You-you are a-” she searched for the right word, and then finally gave up. “You’re a mobster, a criminal.”Ouch!Talk about an ego deflator. “Shouldn’t you marry someone like you?”

“You are in my world, Bianca. After all, you stole from a criminal, so it makes you a criminal too. Like me.” She winced at my words. “That makes us a good fit.”

She scoffed. “In your dreams.”

Maybe not so meek after all! I would enjoy taming this dark-haired beauty very much. “You’ll find marriage to me to be beneficial. I’ll offer you and your family protection and financial security. In return, you will be my wife.”

“Protection from who?” She eyed me suspiciously.

“From other men like me,” I deadpanned.

“Like you?” Her voice was a whisper and her eyes wide, staring at me. Fuck, when she watched me like that, it took all I had not to just lift that dress and pound into her. The lust around this woman had to subside. Was this what kept Benito fascinated with her mother?

“Your mother is Benito King’s mistress.” She bit into her lip but not before I heard her gasp. There was no surprise on her face. She knew exactly who her mother’s lover was, and his status in the underworld. The question was whether she knew he was her biological father.

Then her chin tilted, her little telltale sign of stubbornness and defiance.

“So what?” She tried to sound brave. “She can do whatever she wants. She’s a grown woman. It has nothing to do with me.”

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