Page 7 of Marcello
I stepped out of the office and headed for the stairs. I was stopped by Naldo and Mazzi. “That won’t do,” Mazzi said as he gestured to my clothing.
I glanced down. “This is not the first time, nor will it be the last time, that you have seen me covered in blood. We are vampires. Well, you are mated to one. You know that blood is very much a part of our lives.”
Mazzi sighed. “Sì. Perhaps not the very first meeting though? First impressions are lasting.”
I didn’t know what exactly he was getting on about, but I offered a smile before I started up the stairs. I heard them behind me, which wasn’t necessarily unusual, just unexpected. Once we reached the landing, there was a third set of footsteps, and I turned to find Vincent. I raised an eyebrow at all of them.
“I’m getting cleaned up. What?”
“It was for the best. Just know that. Our family all loves you, and we want the best for you,” Vincent said.
I was confused. Until I opened the door to my room. The scent that I had experienced as a phantom scent every so often in the past several months hit me like I’d walked into a wall. Then I felt a bundle plow into me. Instinctively, I looked down into blue eyes that I had only ever seen from a distance before now.
“Mio amato.” Instinctively, I pulled Abel closer to me. I closed my eyes, experiencing the feeling of my beloved in my arms for the first time. The only time, because he did not belong in my world. “Cos’hai fatto?”I asked the others.
“What we needed to do,” Vincent said. “We will see you in a week.”
Abel and I were pushed into my room, and then the door was shut behind us. I looked down at my sweet angel and felt my heart break. What had they done to him? How? Why?
“Mio amato,mi dispiace tanto,”I told him.
Abel looked up at me with sad eyes. “I don’t understand what you just said. But I know you’re my mate and that I’m not in Montana anymore. Where are we?”
Right. English. “I said I was so very sorry, my beloved. I did not know they were going to bring you here.”
“Where is here?” Abel looked back to the room. “It’s a very nice room, and I could look outside, but the balcony door wouldn’t open. Neither would this one.”
“We are at the villa in Naples, Italy.”
Abel’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously?” He pulled from my arms and glared. That was what I would expect from someone who had been taken halfway around the world and away from their home.
“I will make it right.” I held out my hands, hoping to calm my beloved as much as I could. “I will get you back to Montana, and hopefully, in time, you will forget that this ever happened.” I turned to open the door and found it unmovable. Mazzi. I didn’t even need to question it. I already knew that it would be pointless to try and open the door because it was closed magically.
“You’re my mate though. Are you going to move to Montana? What is it that you do? And how did they know who I was? Or even where to find me?”
“I am Marcello Grassi.” Abel’s face paled, and he took several steps backward. He knew who I was. I nodded. “I see you know who I am.”
“You’re a…you…” He glanced around, and I could tell he was starting to panic.
I held up my hands again. “I would never hurt you,” I told him. “I can’t. You are my beloved, and it would pain me greatly to hurt you.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “This is why I did not approach you when I scented you when I was in Montana last. I knew then that you and I could never be together. That you would not fit into my world. It is too ugly, and you deserve an alpha that…”
“Isn’t a mobster?” Abel said quietly.
I nodded. My beloved was here, and he was backing away from me. I didn’t blame him because I wasn’t a good person. My fangs ached though, and my chest hurt as Abel put more distance between us. I slowly slid down the door until I was sitting on the floor. “I…I never wanted you brought here,” I said. “Your response to my name alone is more than enough reason for me to stay away.”
“You kill people.”
I nodded. “It is what I do,mio angelo.”
“You’re a bad guy. Master Ambrosius even said that your boss is not to be trusted. That you kill people. And we all needed to stay away from you when you were on the mountain.”
I snorted. I had three enforcers on me while I was allowed on Treasure Ridge. I couldn’t even go to the bathroom without one in the room with me and the other two waiting outside.
“What you say is true. We kill people. It is what our family does. We eliminate those that cross us in some way. Yes, that includes killing them. But you, I could never harm. You could cause me the most intense pain, and I could never hurt you.” I sighed again. “I had come to terms with living half of a life, one never being fulfilled, because I knew I could never allow you to be part of my world. It is ugly, Abel. And you have already seen enough ugly in the world.”
Abel was sitting across the room now by the bathroom door. “Why would the fates pair us?”
“I cannot answer that,mio angelo.”
