Page 281 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“You have nothing!” I screech, hurling my hand at his smug expression.

He catches my hand in mid-air…fucking again! I really need to work on my timing.

“Wrong,” he grunts. “I haveyou, Marchella.”

“You’re no better than Frankie or my father!”

And with that, he backs away with a grim expression on his face, smoothing down the front of his t-shirt. But he doesn’t say another word. I drag my eyes away from his bulging biceps. The fabric stretches tight over his broad chest, and I can see his pecs ripple as he moves toward the door. I swallow hard.

He kidnapped me and pretty much threatened death and yet, here I am, admiring his ripped muscles?!

Jesus, I really am a headcase.

Roman pulls open the door and moves aside as Frankie pitches forward onto the floor at his feet. His face is bruised and bloody, and the front of his shirt is stained bright red. A loud groan escapes his lips as he moves into a fetal position, clutching his midsection.

“Frankie!” I scream, adrenaline flooding my veins with an energy that I was certain had been zapped from my body. But that fight-or-flight instinct kicks in and I dart over to him, collapsing on the floor and covering his body with mine. My gut twists at the sight of all the blood, but I hold him tight and somehow manage to hold myself together.

“What did they do to you?” I weep, my face pressed against his arm.

One of Roman’s guys yanks me away from Frankie and shoves me back onto the couch. I land with a gasp, twisting around toward Roman. A glimmer of fury in his expression morphs into a raging inferno, and he grabs the guy by the jacket and slams him against the wall. The pictures hanging on either side of him crash to the floor, shattering on the hardwood.

“Don’t you fucking lay a hand on her unless I tell you to!” he roars, letting go of the guy and then slamming his head against the wall a second time, I guess to make sure he really drove his point home.

Well, that was somewhat chivalrous in a sick sort of way.

The guy groans, rubbing the back of his head. He mutters an apology and backs away as the other guy with him stands still with a stoic expression on his worn face.

Smart. I’d stay still, too.

Roman kneels down next to Frankie who is still crying into the floorboards. He pulls off his baseball cap and fists his hair, yanking his head off the floor. “Frankie,” he says in a low, menacing growl. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“Yes,” he wails, still holding his midsection. “And I’m s-sorry, Roman!”

“Sorry for what, exactly? For stealing from me? For fucking me over? Or for getting caught? Which is it, Frankie?”

“For all of it!” he groans. “I needed the money and it wasn’t coming fast enough. So when Sal came to me with the job, I figured it could help. I didn’t know we were gonna hit your stash.”

Roman punches him in the jaw, and I yelp.

“Stop that! Can’t you see he’s already hurting?” I scream.

But he just ignores me, pulling Frankie’s head closer to his mouth. “You’re a fucking liar! Your friend Sal sold you out. He told me the job was your fucking idea!” A vein in his neck twitches. “You knew exactly what you were doing, who you were doing it to, and you were banking on me not finding out, you cocksucker.” He lets go of Frankie’s hair and his head drops to the floor like a rock. “Did you really think I was gonna let it go? I’m not my father. I do thingsmyway! I’m not gonna run you outta Manhattan. I’m gonna run you into the core of the fucking planet!”

I cover my mouth with my hand, tears streaming down my face. I have to do something! I can’t just sit here while they kill him! “Please don’t hurt him!” I plead. “Give him a chance to make this right. You said you would. He’s not a bad person. He was just desperate to do something to help us.” I turn my eyes to Roman. “Don’t you understand that? Haven’t you ever felt that before, that you just need a chance to prove yourself?”

Roman walks over to the couch, falling to his knees in front of me. He cups my face with his rough hands, bringing it close to his own, searing my insides with those molten eyes. “Don’t challenge me,” he rasps. “Or my decisions. Otherwise, you will be punished.”

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to protect my brother from you,” I say, my voice quivering. “He did a stupid thing, but he doesn’t deserve to die.”

The electricity sizzling between us is so intense, my nerves are on the brink of short-circuiting, maybe for good.

But still I hold my ground. Frankie is an idiot. He knows better, yes, but look at the role model he had! It’s up to me to help him out of this mess.

IfRoman will let me.

“Okay, then.” His voice is rough and gravelly and I find myself longing for his strong hands on my prickled skin.

“Okay, then…what?” I ask, my mind glitching as I stare into his stormy gaze.

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