“Really?” she asked, stirring the pot of whatever she had cooking before she turned her attention back to me once again. “So him looking like he wants to spread you out on the counter and eat you for lunch is just a coincidence? I know that look, Sadie Anne.”
Groaning, I dropped my head to the counter, confident that Ivory kept her kitchen disinfected and spotless. “It doesn’t matter how he looks at me. It won’t last, and we both know why. Stop trying to set me up with a Bellandi man so you can feel better about having a new family. I’m happy for you, even if I think Matteo needs a kick to the nuts.”
“That’s not what this is,” she said, dropping her wooden spoon onto the little spoon holder next to the stove. I needed to kiss whoever invented those things, not Lorenzo Vescovi. “Enzo is complicated, but he’s a good man. He would be good for you.”
“We thought that about Patrick, too, and we saw how that turned out,” I mumbled. “A passive aggressive booty badger who liked to get his rocks off with strange women in my apartment when I went out without him.”
“How did he get in?” Ivory asked, furrowing her brow at me.
“He knew where I kept my hide-a-key for when I stumbled home, too drunk to remember where I’d left my keys. He wanted me to come home so he could get some drunk sex before I crossed the line to sloppy, but I guess he called a hook up when I said no.”
“Was the hide-a-key still there when Murphy’s man came in?” Scar asked, stepping in from the doorway to the living room.
“Fuck no! I got rid of that thing when I found Patrick in my place and dumped his ass. He doesn’t want to admit it’s over, and I’m not giving him the chance to let himself in ever again.” I rolled my eyes, because sometimes it really seemed like the Bellandi men assumed having a vagina made us stupid.
“Is there any chance he has connections to Murphy’s men?” Scar asked, glancing between us before turning to where Enzo, Matteo, and Ryker lurked at the other side of the kitchen.
“None. He’s a dick and apparently has a serious lack of boundaries, but he’s not a criminal. He’s a pest. That’s all.”
Matteo turned his attention to Ryker. “Call Campbell and set up surveillance,” he said, summoning the Bellandi private investigator. “I want eyes on him just to be safe.”
“Stop it!” I argued. “There’s a difference between claiming you’re protecting me from your shit and getting involved in my conflict with my ex-boyfriend.”
“Not if they might be one and the same,” Enzo growled, crossing his arms over his chest. His hazel eyes were dark as he stared at me. “It sounds like he’s a security threat.”
“You’re being paranoid,” I argued, turning away from him.
“Better I be paranoid than you be dead,” he said, approaching the island and slamming a handgun down onto the surface. “One bullet, Carina,” he growled, reaching up with his right hand and touching his thumb to the center of my forehead. “Meant to go right between your fucking eyes while Ivory watched and they made her record it. If you don’t give a shit about your own life, maybe you care about hers." His words struck me exactly where he wanted to, making me flinch back from the force as they slammed into me.
Matteo’s brow furrowed as he turned his attention to Enzo, staring at the back of his head before his eyes connected with mine briefly. Ivory and Luna and my family were the only tools someone could use against me. The only threat that could work to keep me in line. It didn’t change the fact that Patrick wasn’t a criminal or capable of the things they accused him of, but when it came down to it, I couldn’t risk that I might be wrong.
Not when lives hung in the balance.
“Fine,” I agreed. “Look into him, but beyond that my dating life is none of your business.”
His nostrils flared, his face close to mine as he moved in on me. Those deep hazel eyes held mine, as if he could compel me to take back the words. A sinister smirk tilted his lips up, contrasting with the rage etched into the lines of his face. “Whatever you say, Baby Girl,” he whispered, shoving off the counter and tucking the gun into the back of his jeans.
He snatched Smaug off my shoulder, the poor lizard looking traumatized as the man cradled the small reptile in his giant hands and ran his left index finger over his tiny head gently before returning him to his tank. The cold fury in Enzo’s eyes never faded as he took a seat at the island next to me in silence and Ivory prattled on in an attempt to lighten the mood.
My finger tapped against my thigh as I bit my lip to suppress the urge to scream. Even in a kidnapping attempt, it was never about me. Just a means to an end to get to Ivory.
That shouldn’t have stung.
But it did.
Music blasted over the speakers. The sound pulsed through my strained muscles with the need to move despite that familiar fatigue that came from a hard workout. I'd never been one of those trainers who sat back and watched. I always had to be in on the action and moving. After the scene at the Bellandi Estate, I’d worked my body even harder than normal to get rid of the lingering rage in my body.
I moved through the room, locking up supply closets and back doors after the last of the evening rush filtered out through the front entrance. Enzo's gaze felt heavy on me as I worked, but
