Page 76 of Home Team Advantage
You’d be surprised what I’m capable of, Anna thought.
And just like that, all the bliss popped like a balloon that had risen too high. Because she was, truly, not what she appeared to be. Matt might have decided to stay in Pine Ridge, but she would have to leave eventually, when her service to Mrs. Campbell was completed. She had to keep moving. Had to keep living this life she had created for herself.
But it was a half-life. Yes, she was alive. Yes, she was providing care and service to others. But that was survival, not happiness. She couldn’t have that, unless …
She looked at Matt. At his coppery-bronze hair, mussed and windblown, shining in the silvery moonlight and the golden light of the lanterns. At his softly glowing gray eyes in his beautiful face. His broad shoulders and his gorgeous physique, lean and muscular and capable of making her body sing arias in their entirety.
“I can’t do this,” she whispered.
“Can’t do what?”
“This. With you.”
She began to close the containers of food and shove them back into the baskets. His hands stopped her, wrapping around her wrists with a gentle but firm grip.
“Why not?”
Anna felt as if she were being torn in two. Self-preservation warred with desire.
“Tell me, Anna,” he commanded softly. “Tell me why we can’t do this.”
He said we, not you. Dare she tell him the truth? Wouldn’t she want to know the reason he chose to walk away if their positions were reversed?
“I’m not … I’m not who you think I am.”
His lips curled into a gentle smile. “I know exactly who you are.”
“No, you really don’t.”
Anna pulled away, and this time, he let her. She stood up and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself. She needed space between them if she was going to tell him this. Thankfully, Matt remained where he was, his eyes following her like a hawk.
“The truth might put you in danger.”
Another smile, this one more along the lines of a smirk. “Did you miss the part when I told you I was in a highly classified division of special forces?”
Right. She took a deep breath. “My name isn’t Anna Black. It’s Giovanna Sofia Francesca Bianchi.”
Except for a slight raise of a brow, his expression didn’t change. Clearly, the name meant nothing to him. She supposed that was a good thing, but it made explaining things more difficult.
“My father was the don of the Bianchi family in Chicago. And by family, I mean the mob. Mafia. La Mala.”
The brow raised a little higher, but his eyes were more curious than judgmental.
“My father inherited the position from his father. At one time, we were a very powerful family, but my father grew overconfident and complacent, and another family began to chip away at his hold on the city, until they held most of the cards. In a last-ditch effort to retain some of his empire, my father proposed a marriage to unite the families. His only daughter to their oldest son. They agreed, and I was suddenly engaged. I didn’t even know about it until I was shoved in a limo and taken to a bridal salon to be fitted for my wedding dress.”
“I can see where you might have a problem with that,” Matt murmured.
“Oh, I definitely had a problem with that, but I was also the daughter of a Mafia don. I had no more say in my life than my mother did. Not what I wore, not where I went to school, not what I did or who my friends were. My entire life was decided for me.”
She was babbling on, sharing too much information, but once she started, she found she couldn’t stop.
“My brother didn’t have much control over his life either, but in a different way. He was the heir apparent, destined to take my father’s place someday, and so he was trained and given privileges reserved for only the most trusted members of the family.
“The thing was, my brother didn’t want to become the next don any more than I wanted to be some prince’s bride. Unlike my father, my brother had a clear vision of what was happening. He could see things crumbling down around us. He knew that my wedding was nothing more than throwing a sacrificial virgin into a volcano that was already erupting. So, he did the only thing he could do to save the two of us. He started a war.”
She paused, giving that a moment to sink in. Matt continued to watch her pace back and forth, back and forth. His brows were lower now, as if he was concerned, but not shaken. She kept going.
“He’s smart, my brother. He fired the first shot, so to speak, and then sat back, knowing my father would be blamed and wouldn’t be able to stop the blowback that was certain to come our way.
