“You’re loyal and kind, your heart far too welcoming. Rosana is free-spirited and naïve. All of that is okay. I could never be with a woman like Rosana, it would be far too hard to protect her delicate nature from my world.”
“But someone like me is easy to tear apart? Easy to treat like shit and walk away?” I hiss.
Massimo squeezes my hand tighter when I try to take my fingers from his grip. “Do not put words in my mouth, dolcezza,” he growls. “You are strong, you are aware of this world and you are someone who can stand up and survive where a woman like her would assuredly crumble, no?”
“Yes,” I grind out.
He tugs my hand closer to his, my body forced to lean over the table a bit more. His eyes focus on mine and my heart hammers against my chest at the sight of him.
I want him to kiss me, to touch every part of my body, to remind me who owns me. I want it more than I want anything else right now, even though I’m angry with him.
“Made for me, Pippa. And when I get out, you will be right there, stronger than ever waiting for me.”
“You know that I will,” I say as my anger ebbs from my body. “And when you’re out, we’ll start our family and we will be happier than ever.”
“Telling yourself that or me?” he asks.
Lifting my eyes to his, I press my lips together before I turn them up into a small smile. “Both of us.”
The guards call out a warning that our time here is about to end. Standing, Massimo releases my hand. I rise to my feet as well, stepping away from the chair and positioning myself directly in front of him.
Massimo takes my hands in his, dipping his chin, he touches his lips to mine in a chaste kiss, but still sends a thrill throughout my entire body. He rests his forehead against mine, his eyes closed as he just breathes.
“Come see me again next month?” he asks.
My heart thumps against my chest, my lips turn up into a bright smile. I can’t believe he wants me to come back. I feel like a giddy schoolgirl.
“I’ll be here,” I eagerly reply.
“I’ll call you. Avoiding you because I feel like a failure as a man and a husband does nothing for us but cause pain.”
My thumping heart cracks from his words. “You could never be a failure, not to me, Massimo.”
“I hope you still feel that way in five, ten, twenty years, dolcezza.”
Without another word, he takes a step back from me, the guards calling the inmates back in. I watch his retreating form as he makes his way into the lineup.
Each man gets searched, but I can’t watch Massimo go through that, he wouldn’t want me to. Instead, I turn away and I make my way out of the prison.
“Beautiful young woman like you, throwing your life away for some deadbeat gangster? Sad really,” a voice calls out as soon as I step away from the prison doors and into the sunshine.
Turning to look at the man behind the voice, I’m not surprised to see the cocky look he’s wearing on his face. Arching a brow, I refuse to speak to him. He wants some kind of reaction from me, but I have zero desire to give him one.
“Sexy, young, beautiful. Sad that you’ve been tangled up with a guy like that. Why don’t you get yourself a real man, one that can protect you?”
Biting the inside of my cheek, my heart races at his words. Protect me? They sound like a threat, or maybe I’ve been around too many of those gangsters he’s talking about.
“You assume that I cannot protect myself,” I say, squaring my shoulders.
He chuckles, pushing off of the wall, but thankfully makes no move closer toward me. He tilts his head to the side, his eyes roaming over my body. Then his lips twitch before they curve up into a smile, a slithering snake-like smile.
“I think you would certainly put up a fight and that would be glorious. But no, you can’t protect yourself. You want someone to show you what a real man can offer you, just let me know. I assume you’ll be back?”
Smirking, my eyes skirt up and down his body. He’s fit but holding on to about fifteen pounds more than necessary. He’s handsome, in a clean-cut kind of way, but he’s not Massimo. His eyes do not hold that guarded vulnerability, in fact, they hold nothing except anger and resentment.
“Yes, I’ll be back to see my husband.”
Without another word, I walk away from him. Whoever he is, his agenda is more than showing me a real man. He gave off something very ugly and I want no part of it. Absolutely none of it.
MASSIMO
Another week passes, but instead of being able to look and talk to my wife, I have to meet with Gavino. He sits across the table from me, his gaze flicking behind me, then landing on mine.
“You got a cop shooting daggers,” he rumbles.
I nod my head once. “Yeah, he’s said some things about Pippa. She told me that he approached her after she and I had a visit last week.”
“He a problem?”
I shrug my shoulder. “Possibly. Not sure, maybe you check him out, double check.”
“It’s done. If Pippa is in danger, I’ll put a man on her.”
I dip my chin, still pissed off that he doesn’t have a permanent guard on her, but I don’t have a fucking choice in the matter, not right now at least. Gavino shifts his gaze back to meet my own.
“You know anyone in there named Mazza?”
I smirk, knowing exactly what he’s asking me. “A favor?”
“Possibly.”
“You take care of that bitch of an aunt for me?” I ask.
Gavino leans back in his seat, his
