Matteo was grateful for that, knew that his organization would grow stronger because of it.
It just wasn’t of particular importance to him at this moment.
Grace was, and he knew she always would be, the priority in his life.
He just had no idea whether or not he could ever hope to persuade her to feel the same way about him.
Yes, they’d had several moments together, scorching-hot moments Matteo would never forget, but that didn’t mean Grace could or would ever—
“I’m ready to leave now, if you are.”
Matteo blinked as he focused on Grace. He’d been so lost in the turmoil of his own thoughts, he hadn’t even realized she and Natalia had stopped talking and Grace was now standing in front of him and looking at him expectantly.
“I’m more than ready to leave.” He placed the empty whisky glass down on the coffee table before straightening.
“Hi, Matteo.” Natalia finally acknowledged his presence as she stood beside her cousin, their arms still linked.
He gave her a rueful smile. “I see you’ve been making poor Killian’s life difficult, as usual.”
“Old Killjoy?” She glanced at the stiff-faced bodyguard. “He doesn’t believe in having fun, is all.”
The man standing near the door didn’t so much as glance in Natalia’s direction. A snub, Matteo noted curiously, that caused Natalia’s eyes to darken, but with what looked like pain rather than anger.
Interesting.
Did Leon know Natalia was in love with her bodyguard?
Did Natalia know she was in love with her bodyguard?
Not Matteo’s problem, thank God. What a fucking disaster marriage between him and Natalia would have been when she was in love with Killian and Matteo was in love with Grace. He doubted he would ever get to the point of wanting to kill Natalia as Gio Brunelli had his wife, but it could never have been a happy marriage when they were both in love with other people.
Now all he had to do was convince Grace he was worth loving.
All?
Chapter Seventeen
“Did you mean it?”
Matteo stared across the sitting room of Grace’s apartment to where she stood looking out the window. It was dark outside, but he had no doubt she could see Luca and Stefano sitting in the parked SUV after driving the two of them to Grace’s apartment.
Her cat, Mr. Darcy, had once again taken one look at Matteo and walked away with his nose and tail in the air.
Matteo sat forward in the chair, forearms resting on his knees. “Which part? That I won’t marry Natalia? Or that I’m in love with you?”
Grace continued to look down onto the street. “Both.”
“One is a reflection of the other.”
She did glance back at him then. “So if you hadn’t fallen in love with me, you would have married Natalia?”
“Yes.”
“Do you love her?”
“We’ve only met a couple of times, so I don’t really know her.”
“Why would you marry someone you don’t love?”
So Matteo told her of finding the man who had murdered his parents, and the nine years of emotional blackmail that followed, with the threat of taking Bella from him too if he didn’t do as instructed. Of how marrying Natalia would have confirmed his rightful place with the other famiglia.
Grace shook her head. “You’ve already given up nine years of your life to ensure Bella had the freedom to be able to live her life in whatever way she chose, and you were willing to give up the rest of your life to a loveless marriage to ensure your Mafia empire?”
“Yes.”
“Natalia would have made your life hell in the same way she does Killjoy, you do know that?” Grace murmured with obvious affection for her cousin. “Uncle Leon has spoilt her from the moment she was born.”
“I believe his name is Killian, not Killjoy,” Matteo drawled.
Grace chuckled. “Exactly. I love Natalia dearly, but she is a total brat.”
“Can we not talk about her anymore?” Matteo scowled. “I don’t… I want to talk about the two of us.”
“You said this man Ricci is dead?”
He winced. “Yes.”
“By your hand?”
“On my instruction,” he admitted, and waited for the disgust he knew Grace must feel at once again being privy to knowledge of the world she had wanted no part of for the past five years. A world she had hated so much, it was unlikely she would want to step back into it at his side.
“Good.”
Matteo reared back in surprise at Grace’s satisfied response. “Good?”
She nodded. “If he was still alive, I might have been tempted to ask my uncle to dispose of him.”
Matteo’s throat moved as he swallowed. “Grace…?”
She smiled at him. “I might have been running from my past for the last five years, but at heart, I’m still a Brunelli, and no one hurts the people we love.”
Matteo felt himself go pale. “Do you love me?”
“I do,” she stated without hesitation.
Matteo’s heart felt as if it were about to leap out of his chest. “Even if that love means being dragged back into the world you’ve wanted no part of for five years?”
She chuckled softly. “Come here.” She held out her hand in invitation.
He stood up to walk slowly toward her, inwardly praying that he hadn’t misheard, and that Grace really had said she loved him.
Her fingers curled about his as she drew him to her side before turning to once again look down to the road. “Do you see the second black SUV parked farther down the street from the one where your two bodyguards are sitting watching this building?”
He did see it. He also gauged there were two men seated inside the vehicle. Nor did he believe their presence was a coincidence. He moved to take his cell phone from the breast pocket of his jacket so he could call Stefano.
Grace placed her hand over his before he could
