“I have to go to work for a few hours. You need to stay home.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Until this blows over, I won’t have you in harm’s way. You’re marked. I won’t lose you.”
Isabella could argue, but he was right. She nodded her agreement.
He kissed her, softly and thoroughly. She reopened her eyes as he pulled away. It was time for him to get ready for work, and that meant hours of worry, wondering if he’d come home. She wished they could be on their honeymoon again, an endless fantasy where they never had to return to reality.
Isabella was in the kitchen making oatmeal on the stove when Klaus came down the stairs in one of his custom suits. Her body continued to react every time she saw those broad shoulders and that powerful frame in a suit. She still remembered the first day she met him at her family home. At the time, she’d wanted to hate him, but deep down, she’d been lovesick after just one look.
His cell phone rang and he answered.
“Really? That’s good. We can use that to our advantage. Don’t let anyone else know, understand?” He pocketed his phone, but his face was stoic.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Klaus tapped his fingers on the counter. “Your father thinks you’re dead.”
“What do you mean?”
“Renzo did some digging. They’re saying I fucked up. That you’re dead because I couldn’t protect you.”
She didn’t need another single detail. Her father was so easy to read. He wanted Klaus humiliated. Wanted the entire underworld to point fingers because he couldn’t protect his own wife. Meanwhile, it was her own father who’d planned her death. Planned this entire outcome.
The mix of rage and betrayal waged war in her heart and mind. She wanted her father dead, but then she thought of her mother and brothers. How could she live with herself? Then again, her father was a heartless bastard and didn’t deserve a family. He’d single-handedly ruined her life, making sure to tear down her self-esteem every chance he got.
He thought she was dead. Thought his plan worked since none of his men returned alive to say otherwise. Did he sleep well? Did he have regrets? Or was her death just another day in the life of a mafia kingpin?
“He got what he wanted,” she said. Isabella hadn’t realized how much of a trance she’d slipped into until she smelled her oatmeal burning. She snapped back to the present and turned off the stove. Her breakfast was ruined, but her appetite had already disappeared.
“We’ll use this to our advantage. Don’t use the phone. Don’t even go near the windows. I want everyone to believe you’re dead.”
“What are you going to do?”
“He wants to rub this in my face, to try to make me feel like a pussy for not saving my own wife. He won’t be able to resist a face-to-face.”
“Klaus, I don’t want you hurt. He’s crazy. If he’d kill his own flesh and blood, imagine what he’d do to his enemy.”
He scoffed. “Baby, I’m not afraid of your father. I’m afraid of myself. What I’m capable of.”
She gently grabbed his black silk tie, smoothing her fingertips down the length. “You’re the mafia monster,” she whispered.
“So they say.”
“But you’d never hurt me…”
“Never. Bella, I’ll be coming home. When I do, I want you naked on this counter. We should be focusing on making babies, not staying alive.”
“You’re right. I want a life with you, the whole white picket fence. Will that ever be possible?”
Just envisioning little dark-haired children running around the house made her heart swell. She wanted everything she’d never had—love, family, security, traditions, and happiness.
“I’ll keep fucking you until you’re ripe with my child. Then we’ll start again. I can’t wait to see your body grow.” He slipped his hand along the swell of her stomach, then cupped her pussy. She gasped, dropping her weight into his hand.
He chuckled.
“Please, Klaus.”
“Tonight, I’ll give you what you want.” He kissed her temple. “I won’t be long.”
She felt the hard ridge of his cock in her palm. He felt so good pressed tight to his slacks, and she knew exactly how he could make her body thrum.
“I’ll be waiting for you.”
He kissed her one more time, backing away. “If I don’t leave now, I’ll never get out of here.”
Isabella had a bad feeling and almost begged him to stay home. But they couldn’t avoid their problems. If they didn’t face them today, they’d be waiting for them tomorrow.
“Are you protected?”
“You have to ask?” He opened both flaps of his suit jacket to show he was fully strapped with weapons. Seeing him draped in firepower only served to turn her on more. That wasn’t her intention.
“Be safe, Klaus.”
She watched him leave. After what happened yesterday, maybe she should be terrified to be alone again. But she trusted Klaus. He’d have this house with more security than Fort Knox. And she was used to drama and gunfire since she was a child. It didn’t faze her like it would most people. If it wasn’t for their warring families or the contract on her head, they’d be a perfect match.
Isabella opened the top left drawer in the kitchen and looked at the handgun without touching it. She’d found several hiding places in the house from when she first moved in. It was the same way in her old family home.
Although she wasn’t uncomfortable with guns, she’d never fired one herself. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to pull the trigger. Klaus had a long kill list. Isabella wondered if those deaths haunted him some nights or if he was truly as cold-blooded as the stories told.
Chapter Nine
Klaus had expected taking out her father would be difficult. But Carmello Lastra clearly had a death wish. Renzo climbed into the passenger
