Page 21 of Possessive

I worked my jaw back and forth, but couldn't summon the words to deny the accusation. Finally, I released the arms and placed my hands on my thighs.

"She was a fucking kid," I said softly. "What kind of monster hands a kid over to another monster? What debt did DiMarco have that he'd pay for it with an eighteen-year-old girl?"

"Is it because she was eighteen, or because she was Mina?" Gianni asked. "I heard you tell her she was always beautiful." He blinked a couple of times. "Is this why you don't let anyone in? You have a thing for her. For a long time by the sound of it."

"You're stepping very close to dangerous territory," I warned. I usually didn't allow anyone around me to speculate on my personal life, especially not to my face.

Gianni scoffed as only he could. "You're not going to have me killed because I figured out you have a crush. I don't blame you. I have a bit of a crush on her myself. I want to protect her from all the shit in this world. All the bad people who might want to hurt her."

"We are the bad people," I pointed out. "We're exactly the ones she should be protected from."

"Are you going to let her go?" He cocked his head, but he already knew the answer. He was nothing if not intuitive and he knew me better than most people. Sometimes it worried me that I'd let him get too close. Other times, having someone see through my stony façade was a relief.

"No," I said firmly. "She's not…well enough to leave here. Oliver Ryan was adamant about that."

"And when she is?" Gianni pressed. "In a week, or a month, or a year, when she's well enough to walk out the front door, are you going to let her?"

I averted my eyes. "No." It was as simple as that.

"Because?" He shot back. "Because you've already decided she's yours. Now you have her here, you want to keep her here."

"She's mine." I looked back at him, my jaw firmly set. "I'll make sure she knows that."

"And if I want her too?" His jaw was just as firm.

Gianni with his mind made up was insurmountable. He rarely needed to be so rigid, but when he was, nothing, and no one was moving him. Not a single millimetre.

I was just as stubborn, but I could have someone killed if they tried to get in my way.

"That's a conversation for the future," I said. I didn't bother to threaten him. If Mina wanted both of us, I wouldn't deny her. I didn't let myself think about what would happen if she didn't want either of us. She had too much healing to do to contemplate any of these possibilities yet. Healing we'd help her through.

"I'm going to have to find out what kind of music she likes," he mused, the tension leaving the conversation. "She didn't seem to be a fan of Wolf Venom."

"Then she has good taste," I said. My brother's band was not music I enjoyed. Another advantage when he quit and rejoined the family, was that I wouldn't have to hear any more of it.

"She might prefer Blazing Violet or Ice Blue Roses," Gianni mused.

I grimaced. Blazing Violet was at least as loud as Wolf Venom. According to the twins, both bands would be touring together soon. Along with Abbie Hart. She seemed to hold some influence over my brother. I made a note to have the twins bring her to me for a little chat.

"You should try listening to something that was released more recently than twenty years ago," Gianni said.

"I'd rather read books," I said bluntly. "Books aren't loud."

"Audiobooks can be loud," he pointed out.

"Have you ever known me to listen to an audiobook?" I asked.

He rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "Now I think about it, no I haven't."

"Because I don't," I said.

"Is this one of those 'audiobooks aren't real books' things?" he asked.

"No, it's one of those 'I prefer quiet,' things," I said. I couldn't concentrate on voices reading out loud to me. My mind wandered too much. Maybe if I had fewer thoughts fighting it out in my head to be noticed, I could focus on something like that. Right now, only reading a physical book shut out the noise. For the most part.

"Yeah, I guess you do," he said. "You tend to leave the room when the screaming starts." He wasn't accusing, just stating a fact. When the people he was slicing into started to shriek, I made myself scarce.

"I have better things to do than listen to you torture people." He was right though, I did leave the room before the noise became too much. One of the benefits to being the boss was that I didn't have to subject myself to things I didn't want to be subjected to. That included ear piercing sounds that gave me a headache.