Page 16 of Heart's Temptation
“Nicolette, why are you crying?” His gentle, soothing voice transported me back to when he’d found me at school in the girl's bathroom after a beatdown from my father.
I hadn’t wanted him to know and came up with a lame excuse he didn’t buy. When he reached out to grasp me and tug me to him, I’d cried out in pain. He’d quickly pushed my sleeve up my arm to see the handprint-shaped bruises on my skin.
Instantly the soothing Daddy tone he used with me when I was upset vanished and replaced with a hard tone from a man who wouldn’t blink an eye at destroying whoever hurt me.
But that wasn’t what scared me—it was him telling Giovanni that scared me. Gio would destroy whoever hurt me and I didn’t think I could live with the guilt of knowing I was responsible for my father's death, even if he was awful.
“Please don’t tell him,” I begged.
He’d known exactly who I was referring to.
“Marko, what the hell are you doing in there?” Gio’s voice came from the hallway outside the bathroom.
“Tell him, tesorina.”
Before I could beg some more, Gio entered the bathroom, exuding his presence and swallowing up what was left of the vital oxygen.
“What’s going on?” he’d asked darkly.
I’d tugged my sleeve down when Marko let go of my arm.
“Nicolette has something to show you. Don’t you, tesorina?”
There was no way he was going to let me keep my secret. Without saying a word, I’d pulled up one sleeve and the other. There were other places, but there was no way I was going to show them, overwhelmed as I was by the anger in Marko’s eyes and the disgust in Gio’s. That my father marked me this way was embarrassing, and I wouldn’t blame them if they walked away and found an actual mob princess instead of the daughter of a low-level mob soldier.
“Where else?” Gio’s voice was such a low growl I wasn’t sure what I’d just heard had come from him.
“Where else?” he said louder.
I couldn't answer him with words. Instead, I turned around and lifted the back of my shirt, glad he couldn’t see the tears that cascaded like a waterfall. The humiliation I felt was so consuming that all I wanted to do was go somewhere safe and hide under a blanket forever.
“Nicolette,” Gio said gently. He lowered my shirt and pivoted me around. “He won’t ever touch you again. I promise.”
I’m pulled from my memories when I hear, “I promise, Nicolette.”
“Huh? What did you say, Marko?”
He leaned down in front of me and handed me a tissue.
I quickly wiped away my tears.
“I said, things will work out, I promise. Now, time for you to get in the shower while I pack our bags.”
“I’m not going.” I pouted. We both knew that wasn’t true, but I had to say it to show I wasn’t on board with Gio’s plan.
Marko stood and pulled me to my feet. “Go. Get ready,” he demanded, turning me toward the ensuite door, and delivering a resounding smack on my ass that was so unexpected I cried out from the surprise. A stinging flame quickly morphed to delicious wave of heat that set my clit throbbing.
Only then did I realize that Marko no longer had the vanilla cookie scent I associated with home. It had been replaced with an intoxicating combination of musk, cayenne, and dark chocolate. Yet another change indicating that both of them had become hardened mafia men. I was questioning the wisdom in choosing to bring Gio and Marko back into my life.
CHAPTER FIVE
Marko
I offered to drive back and received my answer when my best friend climbed into the driver's seat, leaving me to choose between the passenger seat, or in the back with Niki.
“Sit in the front, Marko. We have logistics to discuss.”
Since arriving back from the studio, Gio hadn’t directly communicated with Niki. He used me to speak with her indirectly. Without being aware of it—at least that was what I assumed—Gio had placed us right back into our roles from when we were kids, with me keeping the peace between them, well, between all of us really.