Page 46 of Enzo's Vow
I curled my fingers into a fist. How dare she intrude the other night. Nephew or not, Franco Calafiore deserved a bullet. I’d have killed him if not for Carina… still contemplated the idea. The lowlife braved the nerve to attack my woman, to mark her skin. Franco underestimated me, acting as though his dark world gave him the upper hand. I hadn’t lived his life, but I’d seen and done enough to protect the ones I cared about. Of course, he’d learned this the hard way once I’d bound him to a chair in my garage.
“Great. I’ll tell the board. See you soon.”
“Bye, Sergio.” I ended the call and tapped at the keyboard, organizing the jet for mine and Gemma’s departure.
A knock sounded at the door. I looked up to see Lucio leaning against the doorframe, that familiar grin already spreadingacross his face. It took a second for the coiled tension in my shoulders to ease. “Lucio,” I managed, running a hand over my face. “When did you get back?”
He pushed off the frame. “About thirty minutes ago. Didn’t you get my text?”
I snatched my phone and swiped it open. His message was typical Lucio. “An eye emoji, the letter U, and an arrow pointing right.” I looked up, frowning. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He shrugged, that classicisn’t-it-obvious?expression firmly in place. “Eye. You. Soon.See you soon. Honestly,fratello, sometimes I wonder about you.” Lucio crossed the room, his grin fading, steps slow as he neared my desk. “Oh, no. What happened?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, the rasp of stubble on my palm a reminder to shave. “Don’t ask.”
He wiggled his tie free and sank into the seat across my desk. His hazel eyes, the same eyes as our mother’s, searched my face for answers. “I’m gone for three days and you look like someone died. What happened? Did Carina do something?”
He’d learn what happened sooner or later. I shut my laptop, the soft click seeming to finalize my decision, and told him everything.
Lucio sputtered, raking a hand through his pristine brown hair. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He stared down at his lap, his strong jaw flexing. “I shouldn’t have left. I should have come to that godforsaken party.How is she?”
The image of Gemma—eyes red-rimmed, a tremor rippling through her—punched me in the gut. Thank God I’d heard her whimpers when passing her door and shook her awake from her nightmare. Relief swamped me when she asked me to stay. Her tiles had been my bed these last few nights. “Not good.”
Lucio interlocked his fingers, cracking his knuckles. “How’d you get Franco back to our place on your own?”
So like Lucio to ask for specifics when he missed out on the action. “I returned to the party, held Franco at gunpoint and used him as a hostage to leave. Our guards waited in the backseat and kept him in line on the drive back.” I detailed to Lucio what had occurred back at the house. When Franco begged for mercy, I heard him out. Big mistake on his part. He justified his behavior and tried reasoning with me—as if I operated on the same warped logic. The pathetic low-life presumed I viewed Gemma as a mere pawn in my mother’s game and didn’t value her. In his world, a woman gained through force for revenge… well, she wouldn’t be respected, would she? He assumed I didn’t care and wouldn’t mind sharing the goods.
Lucio chuckled and flicked a dark lock from his eyes. “I’m not surprised. You’ve been brutal since we were kids. Some things never change, Enzo.”
Brutal or a more sinister penchant. Would Gemma see it eventually? The monster lurking beneath the surface? The way her eyes crinkled at the corners when she smiled, a genuine warmth capable of melting ice. What if my darkness tainted her light? I swallowed, not even wanting to comprehend the notion.
“So?” My brother shrugged, his brows raised in question. “What did you do with Franco in the end?”
I typed away, finalizing instructions for the staff in Lombardy. “The guards dumped him. He’s probably at a hospital… or maybe a dentist.” I swiveled in my chair, biting my inner cheek. “Either way, he learned his lesson. No one touches what’s mine.”
Lucio’s brows bounced in surprise. The dimples in his cheeks indented with his smile. “Yours?”
Had I stuttered? “Gemma and Iarelegally married.”
My brother raised his palms in defense, squeezing his lips together to stamp down his humor.
“What?” My back snapped straight, and I stared daggers. “Why the look?”
“I don’t have a look… I’m just thinking, you’re… softer around her.” He nodded his assurance when his gaze honed in on the twitch beneath my eye. “Even if you don’t realize it, she’s grounding you. Maybe you’ve needed this all along, someone to pull you back from the edge.”
Pull me back? Quite the opposite. With Gemma, it felt as if I free-fell straight off a cliff. I ignored the bomb Lucio just dropped, unwilling to face what had been eating at me for weeks.
He shot me a pointed stare. “Look, all fluffy stuff aside, I’m just glad you found her in time.”
Not fast enough. Here I’d been so paranoid over the De Lucas, I let my guard down when entering into Calafiore territory. Now the anguish in her eyes and her broken sobs would forever haunt me. “She’s not like others, Lucio. She’s pure, innocent, and yet in the same breath, fierce and determined. I’ve never met anyone like her.”
Lucio reclined back in his chair, not bothering to hide his full-blown grin this time. “Youlikeher.”
I scoffed. First, Carina, now my brother. “Why does everyone say I like her?”
He rumbled a low chuckle. “Because we aren’t blind. And frankly, the air crackles with so much unacknowledged longing when you’re near her, I’m half expecting small woodland creatures to show up and start helping you braid her hair.”
“Noticing certain aspects about a person means I’m perceptive. Nothing more—are you daft,cavalo?”I reopened my laptop, determined to play busy and throw Lucio a hint.
