Page 48 of Crowned In Blood
I threw my hands up in the air. "Why? Why do you want to stay in a house with literal pools of blood and bodies on the floor? Where someone's already broken in once and can do so again?"
"Because I can't stay withyou!Marco, you are the leader of a mafia family. What will people think? What message would that send to the other heads?"
"I don't give a fuck, Catalina. I don't give a fuck about anything else butyou!"
"Well, you should! You're already at my office every day. I've had to put up with a lot of trouble from other families, but if I stay with you, they're going to link us together. And that could disrupt the entire Underground." She flailed her hands around us. "Both of our families are powerful and if people think we're going to combine, they will do anything they can to stop it. It won't just be us in danger, it'll be the people we're supposed to look out for too."
I ran my hand through my hair. I hated this. If she needed me to, I'd give up my family right now, without a second thought, but if I told her that, she wouldn't believe me.
She gently squeezed my arm, and the simple touch soothed me in a way nothing else would. "I really will be fine. There are plenty of other places I can stay if I need to."
That's not enough.
"Then I'm staying with you."
"Marco—"
I pressed my body against hers, trapping her between myself and the wall once more. Her eyes went wide. "I said, I'm staying," I growled.
She opened her mouth, but I grabbed her chin. “Stop fighting me on this, because you're not going to win. I will follow you to the lowest levels of hell, if that's where you want to go. But the one thing I will never do again is leave you to fend for yourself."
Her breath hitched.
I brushed the backs of my fingers against her cheek. “I know you've spent your life suffering and I know I can never make up for that. But you're not alone, not anymore."
I stepped closer, pinning her against the wall, leaving no space between us.You’re not going to push me away. Not this time.
"Whatever battles you need to fight, I will fight them with you. If you want to celebrate, I will be there beside you, praising you. If you decide to burn the world down tomorrow, I will pour the gasoline and hand you the match.”
“Marco, I-I?—”
“I know you can’t trust me or believe in what I'm telling you right now, so use me. Use me as a tool. Let me be a part of your arsenal. That will be enough for me. Fornow.”
Her lips quivered, drawing my gaze, but then she nodded.
I stepped back before I lost the last of my control. Because if she tried to argue with me one more time about staying with her, I'd shut her up by kissing her pretty little mouth the way I’d been dying to.
She watched me, pensively, as if she were weighing her options. Then she swallowed and whispered, “Would you like to go to a gala with me?”
I'd barely heard the words, and if it weren't for the gentle expression on her face, I'd thought I'd imagined them.
She was letting me in, just a fraction.
“Tell me when and where, and I’ll be there.”
Catalina looked physically refreshedafter her shower, but I could still see the exhaustion in her eyes.
The clean-up crew arrived and once they finished, we shared a meat lover's pizza on her couch.
Her eyelids grew heavy and, without meaning to, she leaned against me.
I didn’t move, barely remembered how to breathe.
I loved the way she felt, how her softness melded into my body. Knowing I was of use to her, even being just a pillow, felt like a blessing.
I had a good life as a child. I'd been taught and felt love throughout my formative years. But I'd never been so at peace. It felt like I'd found my home, my purpose in life. I desperately wished I could be the person she always leaned on.
I'll just have to strive harder to make sure I am.
