Page 291 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

Marchella looks over to me, a bright smile on her face. “I can’t believe you did this. How did you…oh my God, where did you even find her?”

I shrug. “It’s like I said before. You didn’t do anything to deserve this, Marchella. You shouldn’t be the one to suffer. And this dog obviously meant something to you. So I went back to Inwood.”

“You went to Inwood,” she repeats to herself, almost disbelievingly. “At this hour? And you found her.” Marchella shakes her head, whispering. “I figured she’d be gone forever…”

“It doesn’t matter.” I point to the bags on the floor. “I got you stuff you’ll need for her. I think your first stop should be the bath, though. She fucking stinks.”

With eyes that shine a whole lot brighter than they did when I left her a few hours ago, she holds the puppy in the air and spins her around, talking to her in a baby voice. Marchella doesn’t seem to mind the smell either.

I fold my arms over my chest. “So I guess you’re a dog person.”

She lifts an eyebrow at me. “And just like that, we get personal? This isn’t a sweet reunion, Roman.”

“I was just trying to make conversation. Look, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. Hell, we don’t need to speak for the next week. But don’t mistake my questions for congeniality. I’m not looking for a friend here. I’m looking for my product. And you being here is gonna get it for me.”

“Wow, you’re a real charmer. I guess some things never change,” she says sarcastically, continuing to dance around with the dog. “You must need a stick to fight off all the ladies, huh?”

I push myself off the wall, my stomach grumbling. “Like I said before, this ain’t social, Marchella.”

“You know, it would be a lot easier for me to figure out how to deal with you if you weren’t so inconsistent.”

I pad into the kitchen, swallowing a yawn as I pull open the refrigerator.

Almost completely empty.

Dante.

I slam it closed and turn to look at Marchella. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She nestles the puppy against her shoulder and walks toward me. “Well, let’s see. You purposely avoid telling me who you are, then you stalk me, kiss me like I’ve never been kissed in my life, drug me, and kidnap me. Then you have my brother beaten to a pulp, threaten us both with extreme torture before death.”

The corners of my lips curl upward and I let out a chuckle. “Like you’ve never been kissed by in your life, huh?”

She rolls her eyes, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Thatwouldbe what you caught. I should have known,” she mutters.

“No, no, keep going. I wanna hear the rest. Don’t leave me hanging.”

“You basically hired me so I’ll go with you to that event, in essence paying me to sit tight so that my brother stays on task to get your money back. Then you rescued this puppy because you knew she meant something to me.” She shakes her head. “Completely inconsistent.”

“Well, I’m not a total dickhead, much as you’d like to believe otherwise,” I say. “Besides, it gets cold at night. The puppy should be inside. Christ only knows what she sees, or just barely escapes, when she’s creeping around Inwood at night.”

Marchella narrows her eyes, the blue much darker than it was only a few minutes ago. More turbulent, like a violent wave that’s about to consume everything in its path. “I came here hating you with every fiber of my being.”

“And so what now? Did I score any points?” I flash a half-smirk.

“Not enough to make a difference,” Marchella snips. “I just wanted to point out that your behavior for a mafia thug is bizarre as hell.”

“So I basically risked my life going into your neighborhood for nothing? Not even a fucking ‘thank-you’?”

She recoils, her eyes now wide. I guess the thought didn’t occur to her. Then her expression is eclipsed by the pent-up anger at her situation. “Let me tell you something, Roman. If you want me to kiss your ass because you did a couple of somewhat decent things after shooting me up with a drug that could have killed me, as well as making me your captive for the foreseeable future, you’re crazier than I thought!”

I grit my teeth, my hands balled into fists at my sides. Of course, she’s right. I did some pretty shitty things today, like stealing her freedom. Did I really think that finding the puppy would make her forget that I’m a vicious and somewhat unhinged killer who slapped a target on her beloved brother’s back?

Still, a little gratitude wouldn’t hurt. I did risk my lifeandmy car.

That’s the heated side of me, the irrational side that tries to justify all of the bad.

The side that doesn’t give a damn about anything but being close to her.

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