When I’d drained half the glass, he took it away and set it aside. The mattress dipped beside me as he sat on the bed, cuddling me close. I leaned into him, breathing him in as he pressed a tender kiss against my pounding head.
“Just breathe,” he cajoled. “You’re okay.”
“She’ll be fine. She just needs to stay hydrated.”
I stiffened at the sound of Marco’s voice. He was talking about me as though I wasn’t here, and I bristled. He’d shown no consideration for my wishes or wellbeing when he’d freaking drugged and kidnapped me.
I looked past Joseph to glare at Marco. His black eyes stared right back at me, implacable. He obviously didn’t feel a shred of remorse for what he’d done to me. His blank expression betrayed no emotion at all.
I shrank closer to Joseph. I looked back at him, unable to maintain eye contact with the dangerous man who loomed over us, his corded arms crossed over his massive chest. Marco oozed danger, a darkness that emanated from his soul. I’d felt it the first time I’d met him, and I definitely felt it now. He’d attacked me, abducted me. The memory of those strong arms pinning me against the wall and smothering my panicked screams made me shudder. Joseph’s hand stroked up and down my back, soothing me.
“I’ve got you,” he promised again.
I stared up into his beautiful eyes, imploring. “What’s happening? Why is he here?”
I recalled Marco telling me that he was taking me to Joseph. I wasn’t frightened of the man I loved, but I didn’t understand why he wasn’t shielding me from his terrifying friend. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t coming to my rescue and taking me back to my apartment at Harvard.
“He’s here to protect you, just like I am.”
Joseph’s words didn’t make any sense.
“He kidnapped me.” There was no way Marco was trying to protect me. He was my enemy, a threat. He certainly wasn’t a white knight, not like Joseph. Joseph had always defended me. He’d saved me from Stu when the creep had tried to touch me without my permission. He wouldn’t allow his scary friend to get away with abducting me.
“To keep you safe,” Joseph countered calmly, but his eyes tightened with anxiety. “I’m sorry, Ashlyn. This is my fault.” His arm firmed around me. “But I can’t leave you alone and at risk. I tried, and it didn’t work.”
My mind churned, struggling to piece together what he was saying. My heart had shattered the night he’d walked out of my life. Now, he was trying to tell me why, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“What are you saying? Why did you leave me?” My voice was small, the familiar pain of his loss stabbing through my chest. He might be holding me, but that didn’t fully erase the torment he’d put me through when he’d left.
“I’m not…good for you.” He stumbled over the admission. “I don’t deserve you. I knew it from the beginning, so I tried to keep my distance. I saw you at the bar for weeks, but I didn’t let myself near you. Then, that asshole Stu touched you, and I couldn’t hold back. It was selfish of me.”
I remembered that night vividly. From the moment he’d rescued me, we’d been inseparable. Our relationship had been short, but I’d never felt so connected to any man. I’d fallen for Joseph, hard and fast.
But he left me. I still didn’t understand why.
“What do you mean?” I pressed. “Why do you think you don’t deserve me? All you ever did was protect me and make me happy. I…” I stopped myself from confessing my feelings for him. We’d never gotten to the point of exchanging the words I love you. With the uncertainty that plagued me, I knew now wasn’t the time.
His lips pressed to a thin line, and his eyes dropped so he was no longer looking at me. He was shutting down, shutting me out.
“Tell me what’s going on,” I demanded, frustrated. I was rarely so assertive with Joseph—he usually took the lead—but when he was trying to isolate himself from me, I couldn’t allow it. Especially when I needed to know what the hell was happening. He wasn’t really answering any of my questions.
“I don’t understand why you’re being such an angsty teenager, Joseph,” Marco said, his voice clipped with annoyance that mirrored my own. “If you won’t tell her, I will.”
Marco paused, giving him a moment to speak. Joseph swallowed hard and kept his gaze averted from mine. He still didn’t put an inch of space between us, as though he couldn’t stop touching me. I didn’t want him to. After a month of emptiness without him, I craved his nearness.
But that didn’t mean I didn’t want answers.
“Fine,” Marco sighed. His black eyes fixed on me, and I couldn’t look away. His expression was cool, detached. But there was something sharper in his eyes, a deeper emotion that I didn’t understand.
“We’re mafia, Ashlyn. Joseph and I are part of the Lombardi crime family. We were born into it. This is who we are.”
I shook my head, an absolute refusal to believe it. Joseph might have a bad boy sense of style and an intimidating physique, but he’d always treated me with tenderness. He was kind, good down to his core. He couldn’t be a criminal.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not. Tell her, Joseph.”
His aquamarine gaze lifted to mine, his eyes tight with anguish.
“Tell me he’s lying,” I begged, but I could read the truth in the taut lines of his face.
“It’s true.” His admission was little more than a whisper.
I pulled away from him, my stomach turning. Everything we’d shared—trust, love—began to crumble in my chest. He’d never told me much about himself; we’d always talked about me. Well, we’d talked when we weren’t tangled in the sheets, communicating our feelings with our bodies.
I put more distance between us, realizing I didn’t know the man beside me at all.
He didn’t reach for me. He dropped his arms at his sides, his hands clenching to fists. He wasn’t looking at me anymore.
“Jesus, Joseph, what happened to your balls?” Marco asked, exasperated. “This whole Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed-lovers thing is stupid. Get over yourself and explain what’s happening. You owe her that much.”
Joseph glowered at him. “You’re the one who kidnapped her. You explain.”
“You’re acting like a child,” Marco drawled. “But fine. If I have to be the bad guy, I’ll be the bad guy. You can keep pretending to be noble, but that’s bullshit, and you know it. You want to keep her. Admit it.”
“Keep me?” I demanded. “I’m a human being. Stop talking about me like I’m an object.”
Marco fixed me in his implacable stare again, and I froze. “I can see that you’re going to be just as dramatic about this as Joseph. Calm down and listen.”
It was a clear order, and there was a subtle threat behind it. An unspoken or else.
I didn’t want to find out what the or else was. I didn’t think Joseph would let him hurt me, but then again, it seemed I didn’t know Joseph at all.
“I took you because you’re in danger, Ashlyn,” Marco explained away his crime as though he’d done me a favor. “Joseph was hiding out in Cambridge for a few months. I found him, though. And he was lucky I did. His father has enemies, and they were looking for him, too. Even after I dragged him back home, they kept digging. They found out he’d been dating you while he was living there. If I hadn’t taken you away, they might have gotten to you first and used you as leverage against us.”