Chapter Fifteen Ella
Chapter Fifteen
Ella
Something bit me.
Shit, shit, shit.
Why is this always happening to me?
My legs buckle. From the bite? From shock? Who knows? The boardwalk suddenly tilts, the lights blurring into streaks.
Tiero’s hands are instantly on me, guiding me back down onto the bench. Then he lifts my dress.
“What the hell?”
I grab the fabric, instinct kicking in, but he catches my wrists mid-motion. His grip is unyielding.
“Stop.” His voice isn’t smooth anymore. It’s sharp. Controlled, but tight. “I need to see the bite.”
The edge in his tone slices through me more than the exposure does.
Okay. If he sounds like that, this isn’t nothing. Who cares if he sees things he shouldn’t?
Only… we’re not alone.
Five massive guards have formed a circle around us. Boots planted. Eyes down. And my dress is halfway up my hips.
Great. Just great.
The creature responsible has vanished, of course. It crawled up unnoticed, biting me before I understood what was happening. Now it’s gone, leaving me with the damage.
“It’s too dark,” Tiero mutters.
A flashlight snaps on instantly. White light floods me.
For a second, I see nothing but glare. When my vision clears, my stomach drops.
Too many eyes stare at the tiny scrap of red lace barely covering me.
If the venom doesn’t kill me, embarrassment might.
My face burns hotter than the bite itself. Mortified doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Tiero’s head turns slightly. That’s all it takes, and the guards look away.
I let out a sigh of relief, but then my eyes take in the angry red mark blooming beside the delicate lace of my panties, right at the crease where my thigh meets my groin. It’s already swelling, the skin tightening.
Holy crap.
“It was a poisonous spider, wasn’t it?” I squeak, beginning to sweat.
“The doctor is on the way to your hotel,” Tiero says, his voice clipped.
Oh my god. This really is serious.
“Shouldn’t we go to a hospital?” The words tumble out. “Somewhere with… more resources?”
His jaw tightens.
“I don’t take people I care about to public hospitals,” he says evenly. “I don’t trust the doctors there. Mine is one of the best.”
People I care about.
Those words hit harder than the rest.
For a second, they don’t fit inside my panic. They flare up, bright and disorienting.
He cares about me?
How is that even possible? We barely know each other.
The thought collides with everything else at once.
Bright specks explode across my vision. My ears ring. My heart slams so hard it feels detached from my body.
Is this the day when my animal sitting proves fatal?
Heat rushes through me. Or maybe that’s fear. My limbs tingle, light and strange.
“I’m going to faint,” I whisper, though I don’t know if the words make it out.
Tiero lowers my dress with one swift movement and scoops me up carefully.
I’m in his arms, his chest solid beneath my cheek. He strides toward a waiting car without looking at anyone. One of his men opens the door, and he slides into the backseat with me still held tightly against him.
“Fretta!” Tiero snaps. “Drive. Now. To Ella’s hotel.”
The engine roars to life.
My body won’t stop trembling. My breaths come shallow and fast, like I can’t pull in enough air.
I need to calm the heck down.
But I can’t.
If the spider bite isn’t the reason for my erratic pulse, sitting on Tiero’s lap certainly is.
He hasn’t put me down. Not even to shift more comfortably. I’m pressed against him, one arm wrapped tight around my back, the other braced at my waist as if I might disappear if he loosens his hold.
His warmth surrounds me. His scent fills my lungs. His palm moves slowly up and down my spine.
It should soothe me.
It doesn’t.
Every nerve ending feels amplified. My skin is too sensitive, too aware.
Desperate for space, I push weakly at his chest. “I can sit,” I murmur, trying to slide sideways onto the seat.
“No.” His voice is low and firm against my ear. “Stay.”
His arm tightens around me.
“Everything is going to be all right, princess,” he says, softer now. “I’ll make sure of it.”
I want to believe him. But the sting in my groin has its own beat now. My leg feels heavy, and I’m dizzy.
A strange, reckless thought slips in.
If this is it… at least I’m not by myself. At least I’m in his arms.
God, that’s dramatic, even for me.
Opposite Ella would probably make a joke about dying dramatically in Sicily.
But I’m not joking.
I give up trying to create distance and let my forehead fall against his chest. His shirt is warm beneath my cheek. I focus on his heartbeat.
It isn’t steady. It’s fast… too fast.
My eyes open slowly.
For all his composure, he is not calm.
Wow. The realization settles deeper than the pain.
He does actually care.
The car tears through the streets, corners taken too fast, brakes hit harder than necessary. My pulse won’t slow. It pounds against my ribs, against my throat. My head feels light, like it isn’t fully attached to my body.
I force myself to breathe in slowly and pull back just enough to look at him.
Tiero is watching me.
His gaze keeps flicking over me as if he’s checking for changes, for signs, for anything worsening. His thumb presses against my side like he needs proof I’m still there.
He brings up his other hand to cup my cheek, his palm warm and steady against my overheated skin.
I lean into it without thinking.
“I won’t let anything happen to you, angel,” he says quietly.
There’s no swagger in his voice. No teasing edge. Just certainty.
He presses a slow kiss to my forehead and pulls me back against him.
I let him.
My body softens. The tension seeps out of my shoulders. My fingers curl into his jacket as if I need to anchor myself to something solid.
For this one suspended moment, the world shrinks to the space inside his arms.
The sting in my leg fades into the background.
All of it drifts away. The guards, the SUV, the unknown spider.
I feel safe… held… cared for.
And something else.
Something that makes my chest ache in a completely different way.
Loved.
The word slips into my mind before I can stop it.
It feels dangerously right.
Like stepping barefoot into a place you recognize even though you’ve never been there before.
Like home.
My eyes snap open.
No.
Absolutely not.
This is not home.
This is Sicily, and a man I barely know. A powerful, secretive, ridiculously attractive Italian who probably has a trail of broken hearts behind him.
Not home.
Don’t be stupid, Ella.
Don’t get carried away because someone held you through a spider bite.
The sting in my groin throbs again, sharper this time, dragging me back into my body. I slide my hand beneath the hem of my dress, pressing carefully against the swollen skin.
It’s even bigger now, spreading down my thigh.
My stomach drops.
This isn’t a good sign. Nor is the fact that I’m falling into a man’s arms while something toxic spreads through my veins.
The thought sends a fresh wave of panic through my chest.
If this is it… who do I call?
I haven’t even made a will. Not that there’s much to leave behind. My tiny apartment. A few savings. Knox.
Who would take care of him?
Rhia. I should call Rhia.
Before I can reach for my phone, the car jerks to a stop.
“We’re here,” someone says from the front.
And suddenly the world is moving again.