Page 150 of Mafia and Gold Digger

I just came here today to enjoy seeing the beautiful dresses and touching the sumptuous fabrics.Window shopping—and that’s enough for me right now, thank God. And I really feel like I’ve truly turned a corner.

With one last look and a smile, I hurry toward the exit.

One foot in front of the other.

To get on with the rest of my life.

Until a large hand with red talons clamps down on my shoulder. And a voice shrieks in my ear. “I’d recognize those emerald green eyes anywhere. You’re the girl who stole those two dresses from me a few months ago…!”

CHAPTERFORTY-FIVE

SAINT

My jaw is sore from the blow I got there. I’m wound tight, and the job tonight only cranked it higher. It takes way longer than expected, and it’s nearly three in the morning when I get back to the mansion. I don’t expect anyone to be up, but some part of me wants to have Emerald sitting up in the bed and waiting for me.

Dropping my jacket on the entry table, I make my way quietly up the stairs. A hand drags down my tired face before I work the tension out of my neck.

There’s a lot that needs to be said between Emerald and me. A lot of which I’m going to struggle to say. But the thought of her just being here, of being in our bed, eases some of the tightness in my muscles.

I push open the bedroom door, taking care to be quiet.

But I freeze.

Because she’s not here.

I turn on my heel to that damn spare room she’s been spending so much time in. But it’s empty.

My heart pounds in my chest as I make my way down the hall to Milena’s room.

I’m about to knock, but I see the door is very slightly ajar. And through the gap, I can see it’s empty.

Spinning around, I check Jaspar and Giulietta’s rooms. Empty.

The side of my fist slams into the doorframe. “Goddammit!”

I storm back to our bedroom, going through the room again and again, searching frantically for any sign of where she’s gone off to.

Of all the things to do, this might take the cake. Because there’s still a goddamn target on her back...

My finger jams into the screen of my phone as I dial her cell phone. “C’mon. C’mon. Pick up, Em.” It rings six times before her voicemail clicks in. I redial. Again and again.

“Fuck!” The phone smashes into the bathroom door as I hurl it from my hand.

I inhale sharply, trying to get a hold of myself. This isn’t me. This is some…some beast Emerald has created. Some beast so addicted to her that he can’t bear the thought of being without her. But she’s done this, and now she’s gone.

Once more in the wind.

Without me.

My chest heaves as I take in the room. Eyes scanning for whatever I can find to help me.

Iwillfind her.

And she better hope that when I do, I’m thinking more rationally than I am right fucking now.

And she better hope that I find her before anyone else does...

I slump down on the edge of the bed. Why? Why did she leave? Was it so hard for her to see how hard I was trying when I talked to her during that chess game? I’d thought… I shake my head. That was the problem, wasn’t it? I wasn’t thinking. Not really.

---