Page 98 of King of Omen

I still refused to forgive him for his boorish, Neanderthal behaviour.

I whipped my head to face him once again. ‘It’ll be clearer if you apologise.’

‘I won’t,’ he grated. ‘If I say sorry, I’ll be admitting I was wrong to watch out for you. I fucking won’t concede how much I adore you, and I must shield you.’

‘No, Lorenzo,’ I shot back. ‘Apologising is not about me discarding your logic about keeping me safe. It’s about acknowledging and responding to my pain when you made your heat-of-the-moment accusation, regardless of how guilty or innocent you feel in this mess. Stop justifying the situation, making excuses or granting yourself a ‘get out of jail free’ card.’

He sucked his teeth, eyes flashing at the schooling and reaming I was giving him.

I tagged the battle of wills raging in him until he sighed, eyes gentling. ‘I’m sorry, bella, for hurting you.’

I inhaled and sliced my eyes from him briefly before returning them. ‘You’re not forgiven yet. But, I’ll come with you.’

‘Grazie a Dio,’ he growled, relief on his face.

After a beat, he went on. ‘Mia, my world is dangerous, and I can’t take any chances. I need to know who’s in your life and why. I can’t protect you if I don’t know what’s happening.’

I nodded, a lump forming in my throat. ‘I get it. But Tony is just a friend. Nothing more.’

Lorenzo gave a slow nod, still gazing at me with keen intention. ‘Si, but you have to promise you’ll be honest. You cannot have anyone else walk into this house without my permission. What if he’d been under duress from our enemies? Or worse still if they’d have muscled in after him to get to you? The people after me are ruthless, and I can’t have you underplaying that fact and putting us all in danger.’

‘I didn’t ask for this,’ I whispered.

‘Neither did I,’ Lorenzo shot back.

Silence fell into a shattered cavern of trust that had eroded before us.

How had we gone from making incandescent love all night to this tense, ugly standoff? It was like we’d been flung into a different reality, where faith was an illusion and every interaction was a battle. But there was no denying the truth of our situation. I was no one’s fool and understood why he was so protective.

I took a deep breath and glanced at Lorenzo, trying to find some semblance of the man I had lost myself in ecstasy to.

He sliced his eyes from me and nodded to Mauri, who swivelled and walked out of the bar, presumably to fetch the car.

‘Let’s go, Mia.’

I gave Lorenzo a long glare, drained the last of my wine and rose, nabbing my bag.

While I did, he prowled to the bar and paid my tab.

I tagged his generous green note tip to Spencer before he tracked back to me, gesturing the way out. ‘After you.’

The heat of his freakin’ sexy body radiated through me as we wound our way out of the bar.

He pushed the swing door open, leading me with a gentle touch of my arm towards a sleek black car idling at the curb.

I got in with a sigh and was immediately enveloped in leather, cologne, and the essence of the cheroot he smoked.

Damn, but it smelt like coming home.

He slid beside me, nodded to Mauri, and we pulled away.

We made a quick stop at my apartment to pick up my discarded bags.

Lorenzo accompanied me inside, and like earlier, the place was deserted, with no sign of Linda.

I grabbed my things and locked up again, easing back into the waiting limousine sedan.

Mauri drove off, and we went back to Lorenzo’s house in silence.

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