I stormed down the hall, searching for Marco. Since Ashlyn was stashed in his bedroom, I assumed he’d be in his other favorite room in the house: the kitchen.
Her muffled sobs followed me as I raced down the stairs, taking them two at a time in my haste to escape the sound of her pain. I couldn’t do anything to make it go away. She’d made it clear that my presence only made it worse for her.
Impotent fury pounded through my veins, and I knew there was one way I could channel it. I could beat the shit out of Marco.
He was the one who’d kidnapped her. He was the one who’d frightened her.
Ashlyn was gentle, fragile. She needed to be handled with care, shielded and protected. And he’d been just as brutally blunt with her as he was with everyone else.
When I raged into the kitchen, Marco turned away from the sandwich he’d been making. He didn’t appear remotely surprised when I swung at him, and he didn’t flinch away. My fist connected squarely with his jaw. Familiar pain cut into my knuckles, but it was nothing. I was used to it.
What I wasn’t used to was punching my best friend. We’d fought in the past—like brothers do—but I’d never felt this searing anger toward him before.
I pulled my next punch, but my other hand fisted in his shirt. I yanked him toward me so I could snarl in his face.
His black eyes stared at me, implacable as ever.
“Do you feel better now?” he asked coolly, not making a move to retaliate or defend himself. “Does punching me make you feel like the good guy here?”
“Fuck you,” I growled. I wasn’t used to cussing at him, either. Not in anger.
He shrugged. “I’ll give you one more shot, if it’ll help you calm down and be reasonable. You’re acting like a pissy teenager. I need you to snap out of that shit and face this like a man.”
I dropped my fist and released him, shoving him away with another curse. It didn’t feel right to hit him, especially when he wasn’t fighting back.
“You scared her,” I accused, my voice still rough with residual ire. “You made her cry.”
“She needed to know the reality of the situation. Would you prefer she hate you for kidnapping her? She has to understand the danger she faces if she’s not with us.”
“I’m not the one who kidnapped her,” I flung back. “You made that decision on your own.”
His dark brows rose to his close-cropped black hair. “And if I’d told you that your father’s enemies were watching her? What would you have done?”
I ran a hand through my hair. “I would have gone back to her,” I hedged, unwilling to admit that I would’ve done anything to keep her safe, including taking her away from Harvard.
Marco crossed his arms over his chest. “You would’ve done the same thing I did. I made the choice so you didn’t have to. Now, you don’t have to feel guilty about it. She’ll come around and forgive you. I’m the bad guy here, remember?” His lips twisted slightly on the last part, but the expression was gone so quickly, I might have imagined it.
I finally shook my head, my rage draining out of me. “You did what you had to do. You did what I would’ve done, even if I don’t like it. I didn’t know you had people watching her. If you hadn’t done that… If you hadn’t known and gotten to her in time…” I couldn’t bring myself to vocalize the horrors she might have endured. Because of me.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “I never should’ve touched her. I should’ve stayed away.”
“Yes, you probably should have. But you shouldn’t have run away from New York in the first place. That was a shitty thing to do, Joseph.”
“I know.” I was surprised he hadn’t punched me for that transgression. I’d left without a word and covered my tracks. I could’ve been dead, for all Marco knew. I’d left my closest friend in the world hanging on to hope that I’d somehow survived the war brewing within our family. When all along, I’d been playing the part of humble bartender while I pretended Ashlyn’s safe, simple life could be mine, too.
I’d been a complete fucking idiot, deluding myself into thinking that was a remote possibility. I’d never be free from my violent world.
“I’ll never deserve her,” I said, not realizing I spoke the words aloud.
“Stop that shit right now,” Marco commanded. “I’m done with this lovesick drama. You’re not living in a fucking fairytale, Joseph. There are no white knights and evil villains. You don’t have to be one or the other. This is the real world. It’s ugly and complicated, and it’s time you faced that reality and stopped trying to run away or deny it. You’re a hard man in a hard world. Start acting like it.”
“You mean like you act?” I shot back. “Drugging innocent women and stealing them in the night before scaring them into cooperating? I don’t want to be that kind of man, Marco. You know me better than that.”
He barely flinched as I flung the accusations at him, but that was enough to let me know I’d cut him deeply.
“And I guess you know me so well, then, if that’s what you think of me.”
I held my glare for a few seconds, but I dropped my aggression on a sigh. “Sorry, Marco. That was shitty of me. I know you’re not a bad person. I know you did what you had to do to keep Ashlyn safe. I just can’t stand seeing her cry. It’s fucking me up. She hates me now. She wouldn’t even look at me.”
He clapped me on the shoulder, a comforting gesture. My cruelty was easily forgiven.
“She doesn’t hate you. She’s just upset. I saw the way she looked at you. Believe me, she’s not capable of hating you. Give her some time, and she’ll come around. She just needs some space to process everything and accept the situation. She must be a smart girl; she goes to Harvard. It won’t take her long to figure out that we really are trying to protect her, not hurt her.”
All I could do was hope he was right about that. The thought of Ashlyn flinching away from my touch was enough to sour my stomach. It’d felt fundamentally wrong for her to shy away from my hand, to be frightened of me. I’d do everything in my power to fix this. But for now, Marco was right. She needed space and a little time to rest and process her situation.
“I should go see my father,” I said. “He needs to know that Ashlyn is here.” I didn’t want to hide anything from Dad. Even though I’d tried to run away, he still loved me. He’d help me protect Ashlyn if I told him how important she was to me.
“Yes, you should,” Marco agreed. “And it’ll give Ashlyn some breathing room if you’re gone. Don’t worry,” he added before I could voice my concerns. “I won’t scare her again. I don’t like seeing her cry, either.”
I nodded. Marco might terrify most people, but I knew him better than that. He was a good man, and he’d never hurt a woman, especially one as innocent and delicate as Ashlyn.
“Did you get her to write the messages?” he prompted.
“Yeah. But I left the notepad in the bedroom. Maybe wait a while before you go get it. You’re right about her needing space.”
“Okay, but not too long. We need to send those emails before anyone gets concerned. Her roommate has already texted her phone to check on her. I couldn’t unlock the damn thing to answer. We’ll need to get her passcode. Did you get her username and password for her email account?”
My lips curved as I recalled the information. Her name was as beautiful as she was, and her password was adorable. “Login is Abmeyers. Her password is Number1unicorn!”
The corners of Marco’s mouth twitched. Coming from him, that was like a delighted laugh. “Cute,” he commented.
Ashlyn’s bedroom in her apartment at Harvard had been decorated in pastel colors, something between adult sophistication and childish whimsy. I’d known she possessed a girly streak, but the fact that her password was about a magical creature only made her that much more enchanting. Her innocence was something I treasured, something pure that I didn’t possess. It was one of the reasons why I wanted to possess her.
“I should get going,” I said. “I’m supposed to have dinner with my dad at the restaurant, anyway. I’ll fill him in on the threat to Ashlyn.” My levity melted at the thought of her being threatened. “Maybe he’ll agree that it’s finally time to make a move against these fuckers.”
So far, we’d mostly been engaging in something like a Cold War with my father’s rivals. There were moves and countermoves, veiled threats and insults. But outright violence had yet to break out.
“I don’t think you should do that,” Marco warned. “You can tell him she’s here, but don’t tell him she’s being threatened. Things will get bloody fast, and that could put her in more danger. They were watching her in Cambridge, but if we make a move against them now, they’ll know that she’s the cause. It’ll put a target on her back. They’ll know she’s our weak spot.”
My stomach turned. “Right,” I agreed. “I’ll keep this between us, but I’ll tell Dad that Ashlyn is taking time off from school to stay here with me.”
My father wouldn’t think it odd that my girlfriend was staying with me at Marco’s house. I’d spent enough time here in my life that it wasn’t at all out of the ordinary.
“I’ll see you later tonight. Take care of her while I’m gone.”
“I won’t keep the pretty princess locked up alone in her tower, don’t worry.”
I rolled my eyes at him. I was getting tired of the fairytale jibes.
“I’ll make dinner for her,” he amended when he could tell I wasn’t amused. “And I promise I won’t scare her again.”
“Thank you.” Marco really was good to me, even better than a brother. I knew he’d keep Ashlyn safe and as happy as possible in my absence.
My gut tightened with anxiety when I stepped into the back room at Pisolino—my family’s restaurant in Manhattan. I’d come to see my father, but Gabriel Costa’s deep brown eyes fixed on me, his mouth curving in a cold smile that tugged at the deep scar on his upper lip.
Apparently, even enemies could come together over bucatini all’Amatriciana.
The room was thick with tension. Marco’s father, Leo De Luca, sat to Dad’s right, as always. And Gabriel, the upstart capo who dared to challenge my father, sat at the opposite end of the table.
Dad had been named by Victor Lombardi as his chosen successor, but Gabriel wanted to be the boss, once the old man passed.
“Joseph.” My father’s voice lacked the usual warmth he showed me. “Come sit with us. We’ll get you a plate.”
I tried to remain as nonchalant as possible when I sat to Dad’s left. I might not like my violent lifestyle, but the threat to my father rankled. Despite everything, I loved him, and I would die before I let Gabriel Costa hurt him.
“It’s always good to see your son, Dominic,” Gabriel said to my father. “Family is so important.” His dark eyes fixed on me. “It was a shock when you disappeared, Joseph. We were all worried about you.”
My father had almost sent men to kill Gabriel while I was hiding out in Cambridge. He’d suspected that his rival had murdered me, and he’d been ready to go to war by the time Marco dragged me back to New York.
“Yes, I’m very happy to have Joseph back where he belongs,” Dad said coolly.
Shit. What I had to say wasn’t going to go over well with him, but it was actually good that Gabriel was here to hear it. If his people had been thinking about hurting Ashlyn to get to me, I wanted him to know that I had her safely tucked away at Marco’s estate, out of their reach.
“Yes, I’m glad to be back.” I turned my gaze on my father, but I spoke for Gabriel’s benefit. “I don’t think I told you about the girl I met in Cambridge, Dad. Her name is Ashlyn. We missed each other, and I was so worried about her being alone and sad at Harvard.” I emphasized worried. Dad would get what I was saying. “She’s decided to take some time off school to be with me, so she’ll be staying at Marco’s place for a while. I hope you don’t mind if I stay there instead of at home.”
I was essentially telling him I wouldn’t be in the city to help him with his business for a while, but Dad was sharp enough that he picked up on the veiled significance of my words. Even if I wasn’t telling him outright that Ashlyn had been under threat, he could appreciate my caution in bringing her to the safety of the De Luca estate.
“That’s great, son,” he said with a bland smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I hope I can meet her soon.”
“I’d like that,” I lied. I didn’t want Ashlyn anywhere near my mafia family, even my blood relatives.
I’d keep her safely guarded on the estate, with Marco and me. No one would be able to touch her while she was under our protection, especially not Gabriel Costa.