Page 33 of His Broken Queen

“I’m not going anywhere.” I curled into his side. “I want to take care of you the way you take care of me.”

“I’m sorry, Lu.” His breaths were labored. “I’m sorry about Stella. I’m sorry about your parents. My life has caused you nothing but misery.”

“That’s not true.” He wouldn’t remember this conversation in the morning, but maybe he would tire himself out enough to fall asleep. “I don’t blame you for anything.”

“My father killed your parents.”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

“I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t need him to apologize, but maybe he needed to purge himself of his guilt to heal. He was such a tortured soul. I wanted more than anything for him to leave this life behind, and start over. It wasn’t a practical dream, but it was my dream.

I rested my head on his chest, and listened to his breathing. He appeared calmer. He was still running a fever, but I hoped once the antibiotics kicked in he would feel better.

“I love you,” he whispered. “Don’t leave me.”

“Not ever.”

Chapter 10

Romero

“Gio!” I shouted from the study in the penthouse.

I had been stuck here for over two days.My shoulder hurt and I wanted this damn sling off, but every time I tried Gio or Luciana insisted I needed it.

“Gio!” My patience couldn’t take much more. “Where are you?”

“I’m coming.” My brother entered the study, mumbling something in Italian. “What is it?” He looked me over. “Leave that on.” He pointed to the sling. “I mean it.”

“I fucking hate it.”

“Too bad. You need it.” He shut the door. “You have to relax. No one wants to be around you. They’re all going to quit.”

“Relax?” I threw my hand in the air. “How can I relax? Someone took a shot at us.”

“That will be one of the last things they do.”

“We have to fucking catch them first.” I clenched my fist, wishing the pain meds could take this ache away. “I can’t be cooped up here much longer.”

“We don’t have a choice.” He shook his head. “We have to figure out what is going on and who is responsible. I can’t get any information on the street. People are scared. That’s not usual.”

“Someone will slip up and say what they know, and when they do, I’m not holding back. They started this war, but I’ll finish it.”

“I spoke with the Malatesta family.”

The Malatestas were a prominent family in Italy. They ran many of the products in and out of their country. If anyone wanted anything moved, they had to go through them. When our father died, and Gio and I relocated to Italy, they took us under their wing, and helped us get established.

“How did that go?”

“Janero is disappointed with us. He doesn’t trust Antonio.”

“I should have sought his advice when Antonio came to me with the alliance, but I trusted Giancarlo.”

“He said you were stupid.”

“We hit a rough patch. If we can get back in with the cartel, we’ll be up and running again.”

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