45. Make Me Forget
CHAPTER 45
MAKE ME FORGET
R affaele
I glare at the pezzo di merda who dared to hurt what’s mine, and raw fury pummels my veins. The asshole is cuffed to a chair, blindfolded and gagged in the basement laundry room of Isabella’s apartment. When Luca had started his search for a place in Rome, I’d insisted on a basement just in case. I never thought I would actually have to use it.
We caught the shooter trying to escape a few blocks away from the apartment, then I dragged his ass back here. Now, I simply have to find the calm before I start the interrogation because I’m afraid I’ll ring his neck before I can get any useful information out of him.
I need intel. I need him alive.
I remind myself over and over again as the raging wrath surges through me. My fingers are curled into fists, nails digging into my palms. All I want to do is rip his damned head off. He could have killed her.
And it would’ve been my fucking fault because I was so busy dancing with her, touching her, rubbing up against her hot little body, I hadn’t been watching the perimeter. The coglione had been perched on the neighboring rooftop. The question was: why? Which one of the Kings’ enemies had tracked her down here?
The other option… the one I dare not voice aloud is so much worse.
That it has nothing to do with her at all and instead, is because of me.
Have my past sins come back to haunt me? To steal the only woman I’ve dared care about in a decade?
“ Merda ,” I grit out.
“I can do it if you don’t have the stomach for it.” Enzo appears beside me, flashing brass knuckles.
“No, trust me, I can do it,” I growl. I’m worried I’ll do it too well. “Take off his blindfold, I want this fucker to see my face, to intimately know the man who’s going to deliver him to hell.”
A whimper escapes from the bastardo ’s bloodied lip. I allowed myself one shot just for fun when we finally caught up to him. Enzo loosens the dark length of fabric and drops it down around his neck. Like a noose.
Terrified eyes stare up at me, an unmistakable tremble in his lower lip. “Please, don’t…” he cries.
I bark out a laugh. “Why should I show you mercy when you shot at a bunch of kids at a party? When you could have killed her …” I stalk closer, my sanity hanging on by a thread. “If you had shed even a tiny drop of her blood, I would have shoved my fist down your throat and tore out your spine. Capisci ?”
“But I didn’t…”
“Because you’re a shit shot,” I roar before I draw my fist back and slam it into his nose.
The satisfying crunch of bones breaking and the ensuing scream sates some of the fury. Blood streaks down his upper lip and into his mouth as he sobs.
“Who sent you?” I snarl.
He shakes his head back and forth. “No, please, I can’t say. I don’t even know?—”
“Are you seriously going to deny me this?” I loom over him, my lips twisted into a savage sneer. “After everything you did, you cowardly shithead? I will get the information I need.” I inch closer, fixing my eyes to his until he’s trembling. “The rest is up to you. Either you give it to my now, and I make your death quick or you’re difficult and you’ll suffer every agonizing minute.” I pause and reach for the knife in my pocket. Running my finger over the edge, I draw a thin line of blood. “I can make the torture last for a long time, amico .” I bring the blade to his neck and press it to his Adam’s apple until I see blood. “And I would much rather be upstairs tending to my client than stuck down here with you. So every moment you make me wait will only heighten my fury. Your call, stronzo .”
He heaves out a shaky breath. “They’ll kill me.”
“You’re dead either way. The question is how do you want it?” I exert more pressure until a steady stream of crimson dribbles down his neck.
“Please, you don’t understand. They made me?—”
“Who?” I snap.
“I swear I don’t even know. It was a third party, an intermediary who brokered the deal.”
“What was his name then?”
I pull the blade from his throat and jab it into the meaty part of his hand. He lets out a shriek and a string of curses as drops of deep ruby splatter the wall. I bend down again, searing him with a murderous glare.
“Give me a name.”
“Arjan Kola,” he bites out.
The name is familiar, but I can’t quite place it. The Albanians have long been involved in the Italian mafia, more and more trickling over since the opening of the EU all those years ago. But what the hell do they have to do with Isabella?
“I need more, bastardo . I need to know who fucking sent you to shoot my… client.”
“It wasn’t her,” he murmurs, mucus mixing with blood as it trails down to his upper lip.
“What?”
“I wasn’t sent for her,” he rasps out.
“Then who were you sent to kill?”
“You.”
The blood paints the bottom of the basement sink in a bright red, the color much too vibrant for my weary eyes. I scrub my fingers mechanically, adding more soap until all the blood is off my skin. I kept my promise, making the shooter’s death a mercifully quick one despite my desire to flail his skin off inch by inch.
He may have shot at Isabella, but he’d come for me. Her life had been in danger because of me . I drag my wet hand through my hair and huff out a breath. This is all my fucking fault. I never should have returned to Rome.
Once I’m done, I force my legs up the steps with guilt eating at my insides. The apartment is quiet upstairs, all the guests having left a long time ago. The Kings’ team took care of the body, the local Italian authorities taking care of all the grisly details. I never realized how far Luca Valentino’s power stretched, but when everything went to hell one of his men knew exactly what to do and who to call.
Thank Dio it’s the middle of the night in Manhattan, and I’ll have until tomorrow to deal with Isabella’s father’s wrath. Miraculously, I’d managed to keep the incident at RiverBar under wraps, but my luck would only go so far. Now is my chance to come clean to Luca about everything.
I reach the second-floor landing and pause at Isa’s door. I peer through the opening and find her curled up beside Serena. I stand at the entryway, just watching her for an endless moment. After the hellish night, I just need to know she’s okay.
Her eyes pop open, and a relieved smile creeps across her face. I texted her the moment we found the guy, knowing she would be worried. I’d insisted she go to sleep because I didn’t want her waiting up for me. I had no idea how long it would take to crack the guy. Lucky for me, not long.
She crawls out from under Serena’s arm and tiptoes toward me, the slight creaks of the old wooden planks ratcheting up my heartrate. Her hair is a wild mess, long, dark waves cascading down her bare shoulders. She has that sexy, sleepy look on her face, the one she wears first thing in the morning and Dio , she’s gorgeous. My heart punches my ribs, the all-consuming feeling bloating my chest. Fuck . I’m in love with Isabella. Completely. Madly. Obsessively. Before she reaches the threshold, I lunge, unable to keep my hands off her.
My mouth crashes into hers as my hands curl around her hips before lifting her off her feet. Her legs wrap around my torso, arms lacing around my neck. A faint moan swirls between us as she kisses me with the same fire consuming my insides.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispers against my lips. “I was so worried…”
“Mmhmm, me too.” It’s all I can muster as our tongues tangle in a sweltering dance. Palming her ass to keep her pressed tightly against me, I walk us to my bedroom, locking the door behind us. This. This is why she needs a new bodyguard. Instead of spending the night tangled in her arms, I should be on duty.
Instead, I’ve relegated the job to Enzo and Alberto. They’re good, but they’re nowhere near as good as me. Still, I can’t keep from kissing her, from touching her. With the fear of losing her so real, I can’t not indulge in this one moment.
Then, I’ll resume my duty.
“I need you, Raf,” she murmurs as I lay her on the bed. “I was so scared?—”
“Nothing’s going to happen to me, principessa . I’m right here, with you.” I crawl over her, bracing my elbows on either side of her shoulders and trapping her against the mattress. “I’ll always keep you safe.”
Her eyes meet mine, the blue practically glowing beneath the moonlight streaking in through the window shade. “Promise me. Promise you’ll always be with me.”
I swallow hard. “In any way I can.” I don’t want to lie to her, but I cannot keep this up. I can’t be her bodyguard and whatever this is between us. It’s not safe for her, not good for either of us.
“I just want to forget about tonight, Raf.” She snags her bottom lip between her teeth. “Can you make me forget, please?”
The soft plea tears at my restraint, breaking down the walls I’ve fought so hard to build between us. Dio , I’m in love with her. I would do anything for her. But could I let her go, if it meant her safety?
Her hands find the zipper of my fly and before I can utter a sound, she’s freed my cock. Of course I’m hard and ready for her. So I bury the unspeakable thoughts to the back of my mind, to deal with another day. Right now, my principessa needs to forget, and there’s nothing I want more than to give her what she wants.
So when she slips her panties down her smooth legs and parts her thighs, I sink my cock into her, slowly, leisurely, enjoying every second as she tightens around me. Because with Isabella I’ve found my home, and it’s not something I’m ready to give up. Maybe not ever.