Chapter 11
ELEVEN
Marchello
Why does Lissia push me every time? Couldn’t we get through one day without madness—without fighting and trying to tear one another down?
“I’m sorry.” Lissia tugged at my hand in an attempt to get me to release her. “Chello.”
“That’s the thing.” I let go of her delicate throat. “I don’t believe you.”
“That’s a shitty thing to say when someone apologizes.”
“You’re not sorry. If you were, you wouldn’t keep doing it.”
The sharp crack of my fist hitting the wall by her head reverberated down the hallway and quieted the hum of voices in the distance.
Lissia flinched, curling her fists at her sides as if she braced herself for another blow. But no matter how insane she made me, I would never lay a hand on her like that.
I straightened one of the pictures on the wall as I tried to calm myself down. “Your behavior is my fault because I’m the one who keeps putting up with your shit.”
“I said I was sorry.” She looked at her feet. “I don’t want to be without you. Why don’t you get that? I don’t want you to go without me.”
“And I don’t want to be told what to do.”
Going to Miami wasn’t about leaving her. It was about me doing my job and keeping her safe. I had an obligation to this family. I would not allow her to derail me again.
Milo came into the hallway and stood next to me. “Is everything okay over here? Things look a little intense.”
“That’s just us.” I glanced at my watch. It was time to get the hell out of here. “You should be used to it by now.”
“Your brother is impossible,” Lissia said. “Maybe you could talk some sense into him.”
“Don’t you dare pit me against Milo.” I glared at her. “You’ve caused enough problems tonight.”
“Lorenzo told me about Miami.” Milo looked between me and Lissia. “If that’s what this latest argument is about, I can go. It’s not a problem.”
I didn’t need my brother taking her side.
“It is a fucking problem! I’m going to Miami. Your job is to stay here and get this club going.” I nodded toward Lissia. “And to watch her and make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“Fuck,” Milo mumbled.
“I’ll put her on lockdown. She’s not leaving the main house.” I paced the small hallway, turning back to them. “Do you both understand the fucking plan? Because I don’t know how I can be any clearer.”
A flame of fury flickered in Lissia’s eyes before she pushed past Milo and stormed into the club. When I went after her, Milo grabbed my arm, giving her a chance to get away.
“Ricardo won’t let her do anything crazy,” he said.
“Do you really believe that?”
“Christ, Chello.” He held me back. “Can you give her a break? She’s been through hell.”
“I’m trying to pull her out of that hell.” I tugged from his hold. “She makes everything so difficult. Why can’t she listen?”
I don’t listen… Her words from a few months ago echoed in my head. She wasn’t lying when she told me that.
“She does seem to cause a commotion wherever she goes.” He laughed. “But you chose her.”
“I thought I would break her by now.”
“You thought wrong.”
“We need order in this organization.” I pointed at him. “I’d appreciate it if my fucking second didn’t undermine me in front of my wife.”
“Fuck you.” He gritted his teeth. “You know that wasn’t what I was doing.”
“Would you have challenged Dad that way? Would you have intervened and told him you would go somewhere in his place?”
“If I thought it would help him, I would.” Milo squared his shoulders and scowled in my direction. “Speaking of Dad, he would want you to get your wife under control. How are you supposed to run this empire when you can’t even keep your bride in line?”
“Watch it.”
“I don’t want to fight with you, but someone has to say it like it is.”
“You could have fooled me.” I cocked my head to the left, trying to decide if that ugly picture of a horse was straight or not.
“It’s my job to see the things you can’t.” He challenged me with this line of thinking. “You’re in a mood because you have to leave New York and go back to the place where you feel you failed the most.”
I leaned against the wall, bracing myself for Milo’s brutal honesty. As much as I hated him lecturing me, I needed to hear it.
“You think you didn’t protect Lissia when we were in Miami, and now you have to face it all again.”
How could I bring her to the place where I almost lost her? Why would she ask me to take her there?
“When I offered to go in your place, it wasn’t about undermining you. I would never do that.”
“I know,” I said. Milo was always on my side, even when he was at his most honest. “I’m sorry. I’m keyed up, and fighting with her makes me crazy.”
“I wanted to remove you from a situation I didn’t think you needed right now. I’m protecting you.”
“I appreciate that.”
“You’re welcome.” He leaned against the wall next to me. “Lissia can’t help who she is. And I don’t think you want her to change.”
“No, I don’t.” I sighed. “But I don’t want her to be so out of control that I lose her.”
“Like Mom?” His voice was softer now, more reflective.
“Mom wasn’t as absurd as Lissia when it came to authority, and look how it ended for her.” I squeezed my eyes shut and slowly opened them. “If a man like Dad couldn’t keep Mom safe, how can I ever expect to keep Lissia breathing?”
“What happened to Mom isn’t going to happen to Lissia.”
“You don’t know that.”
I thought back to the first time I’d seen Lissia at the auction—wild, defiant, and entirely untouchable. Now that she was my wife, she looked like the same woman, but the cracks in her armor were undeniable. That frightened me more than I wanted to admit.
“Chello.” He patted my shoulder. “We are going to do everything we can to make sure she is guarded and safe.”
“I want to believe that, but she has a way of screwing things up.”
“The way I see it is the only person she’s in danger of being killed by is you.”
“You’re an asshole, you know that?”
“Am I wrong?” He held up his hands. “You think about strangling her on a daily basis.”
“Two or three times a day.” I smiled. “I think the idea of it turns her on.”
“You’re a lucky guy.” He smirked. “Why don’t you go find her. Apologize and get her out of here. She’s had enough.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I couldn’t do any of this without you.”
“I know.” His lips were still curved in a smug smile. “What do you want me to do now?”
“Make the arrangements with Lorenzo and decide which soldiers I should take with me.” I gazed out at the bar area, spotting Lissia in a conversation with Ricardo. “Where are we with Collins?”
“I have two guys following him. I’ll get as much intel on him as I can.”
“Let things settle down, then we’ll finish him.”
“It might be best to do that when you’re in Miami.” He wanted me to have an alibi, but I wouldn’t leave him vulnerable.
“If that’s something we consider, then we’re going to have to figure out the logistics.”
I continued to watch Lissia, noting her slumped posture. She wasn’t her usual sassy, rambunctious self. That bothered me.
“I can get the job done and be on a flight to Miami before anyone realizes that scum is missing,” he said.
I didn’t want to place the responsibility of taking out Collins on Milo. My father left me at the helm, so the risk was mine. “I’m not going to leave all that on your shoulders.”
“I’ll work the details out. I can do it with my eyes closed.” Milo nodded toward the bar. “Take Lissia home.”
“I might have to toss her over my shoulder and drag her out of here kicking and screaming.” I rubbed my temple. “She’s in that kind of mood.”
“Maybe you should try a softer approach?”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Grovel?”
“Would you?”
“Fuck, no.” He gazed at the bar. “I would take her home, tie her to the bed, and leave her there until she came to her senses. If that didn’t work, I’d fuck the sense into her. Well, not her, of course, but if I ever had someone like her.”
“You don’t think I’ve tried fucking some sense into her?”
“Try harder.” He laughed. “I know you can do it.”
“And I know you can handle the Collins problem, but I don’t want you to have to do it alone.”
“Let’s sleep on it, and we’ll reevaluate in the morning.”
We had to eliminate Collins. If I could do it tonight, I would, but after the public altercation, I had to be patient. I couldn’t afford to act irrationally and make a mistake. Ridding my family of Collins was too important.
“I’ll touch base later,” I said as I went to find my wife.
As I reached the bar, Lissia turned her back to me and continued her conversation with Ricardo. That brat knew I was behind her, but she chose to instigate a fight.
“I’m going to see if Milo needs me for anything.” Ricardo kissed Lissia’s cheek and quickly whispered into her ear.
Lissia reached for his hand. “You don’t have to leave. Don’t let Marchello scare you away.”
Their friendship irritated me, but I also admired it. She needed him, and he was loyal to her. Despite the fuck up at the safe house, I believed he would take a bullet for her. I hoped it didn’t come to that.
I made eye contact with Ricardo, suppressing the urge to be rude. That was a surprise.
“You need your husband right now.” Ricardo smiled at me. “Be gentle with her.”
I didn’t acknowledge his request as he scurried away to find Milo.
“He’s still terrified of you,” she said. “Only you can fix that.”
“He should be afraid of me.” I gripped her stool and spun her to face me. “I won’t hold a conversation with you while you have your back to me.”
“Is that disrespectful?”
“Lissia.” I let out a frustrated breath. “It’s been a long night.”
“This place has so much bad energy.” She waved her hand around. “I’ve been off since we walked through the door. Maybe it’s haunted.”
“It’s not this club that has you off.” I caressed her cheek with the side of my hand. “I could think of several other circumstances that have led to your current state of mind.”
She bit the corner of her lip. “Like you going to Miami?”
“Among other things.”
“I really meant it when I said I was sorry for provoking you.”
“I believe you think you meant it.” I tilted her chin up and kissed her, letting my fury go. “I’m sorry I got so angry.”
“I tend to find all your rage, don’t I?”
“You just know how to trigger me. Your timing isn’t always the best.” I shrugged. “You push buttons when I’m already so close to blowing up.”
“I want to say I’m going to work on it, but…”
“We both know that isn’t true.” I traced a path along her wrist and to her palm, drawing small circles on her hand. “We need to get to a place where I’m not furious all the time.”
“You have so much to deal with, and I… Well, I don’t want to add to that stress.”
Too late.
“I’m trying to do better, but it just feels like it’s always one thing after the other.” Her lips trembled, but she held it together.
What is she hiding from me?
She said, “I want to be the woman you need to stand by your side.”
“Hey, you are that woman.” I brought her hand to my lips and gently kissed it. “There isn’t anyone I’d rather have with me. You are brave, beautiful, and relentless. You were made for me.”
“Did you think that when I threw those cookies at you?” Her full, sexy lips curved into a delicate smile.
“I thought several things that day, and if I’m being honest, I never thought we would end up here. But I’m glad we did.”
“I’m happy you kidnapped me.” She leaned into my ear. “You were exactly who I needed. Who I’ll always need.”
“As much as I like it when we’re volatile, this is kind of nice too.”
“Ricardo told me we need to find the balance.”
“What did Ricardo whisper to you before he left?” I ran my finger over her wedding bands. “I’d love to know.”
“It might surprise you.”
“Now I really want to know.”
She slipped her fingers between mine, interlocking them. “He told me to go easy on you.”
“Really? And here I thought he was Team Lissia all the way.”
“He is.” She touched my wedding band. “Make no mistake about that.”
“I love you,” I whispered before tilting her chin with my other hand. “No matter what, that will always be true.”
“It’s true for me too.”
She swept her lips along mine, kissing me softly at first, but once we found our rhythm, we were in perfect sync. I ran my fingers through her hair, twisting them in her silky locks as I bit and sucked her bottom lip.
Our connection deepened, and I lost myself in this profound moment. Our lives had been a whirlwind of torment and despair since the beginning, but right now, in this impassioned instant, I needed to think beyond the immediate, bleak future.
She was right when she said it was always one thing after another when it came to us. But feeling her lips against mine and tasting the need we both had for one another, I let myself see a way forward. One we would forge together.
Once my father was home and back at the helm, some of the pressure would be off me. When Collins was six feet under and no longer a threat, we could breathe.
It’s not that far away, I assured myself.
We just had to lay low and get through these next few weeks. No more added complications. No more distractions.
All we had to do was be patient, and Lissia had to behave and trust that I knew what I was doing. If I told her to do something, she needed to do it with minimal questions.
This was going to be more difficult than I thought.
“Hmm…” she moaned.
I broke the kiss. “As much as I love a hot and sexy make out session with you, I’d much rather get you naked and feel all of you.”
“Okay.” She breathed against my mouth.
“Let’s go.” I helped her off the stool. “I want to get you home.”
She stumbled forward, holding on to me.
“What’s wrong?” I wrapped my arm around her, keeping her steady. “Are you okay?”
“I think I stood too fast.” She smiled. “Maybe it was that kiss. It knocked me for a loop.”
“Are you sure?” I studied her face, not liking the uneasiness in her expression. “You look a little pale.”
“Can we make a stop before we get home?” she asked.
“Where do you want to go?” I held her close as we walked to the door.
“The drugstore.”
“I’m sure whatever you need we’ll have at the house.”
“I don’t think we’re going to have what I want.”
“What do you want?”
“A pregnancy test.”
The words hit me like a freight train—a collision of panic, wonder, and fear so visceral it rooted me to the spot where I stood.
A pregnancy test.
My mind raced through possibilities, each one more chaotic than the last. I wasn’t ready for this—not now. But as I looked at her, fragile and yet utterly adamant, a part of me wondered if I ever would be.