Page 97 of Righteous Deceit

He shakes his head and looks out the window. “You can’t put a price on perfection, Sia.”

I sit quietly for a beat, soaking in his words. “This was the first thing I bought when I was promoted to consigliera. It was the first thing that ever felt like it wasmine.I’m protective.”

Diego looks over at me. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

He shrugs. “Sia, I have no intention of taking away things that are important to you. You have boundaries, and I’ll respect each and every one of them.”

My throat feels dry. I’ve never had anyone respect my boundaries. Salvatore and I don’t even tend to honor one another’s barriers. We bulldoze our way into each other’s business with little finesse and even less care factor. It’s all we’ve known. His life is my life, and vice versa. Diego’s consideration of my feelings is brand-new territory.

“Thank you.”

He leans his head back against the leather headrest. “You don’t thank people for the baseline of decency, Sia. At a bare fucking minimum, everyone should respect you, and if they don’t, they’re soon going to learn that your husband isn’t afraid of blood when teaching them manners their family should’ve instilled into them when they were learning to fucking walk.”

I blink, taking my eyes off the road for the briefest of seconds to look at the man who I have no doubt still despises me a little for forcing him into this mess but just threatened to make anyone who chose to disrespect me bleed.

He’s a little unhinged, and I’m a lot turned on.

I clear my throat and focus back on the road.

Diego remains quiet for the rest of the distance. Who would’ve ever imagined that Charles forcing me into the hunt all those years ago would have led me to this moment? Me falling for a stranger in the woods.

My heart speeds up.

Falling for.

I hadn’t even considered my feelings for Diego.

I know I told Salvatore I loved him. But that was a bald-faced lie. A fragment of deceit forged in a split second of desperation to save one friend’s heartbreak and to protect a man I knew very little about. I never considered my lie would morph into some twisted form of reality. I’m falling for a man who can never knowallof me, a man who might always hate me, even on the days he threatens bloodshed to protect me.

“Good morning, Miss Bianchi.”

I smile at Francesco when I pull up to Salvatore’s mansion.

“Greco.”

“Sorry?” Francesco leans into the car.

Diego doesn’t even turn his head to look at him. “Her name is no longer Bianchi. It’s AlessiaGreco. Mrs. Greco.”

I roll my lips to hide my smile.

“Of course.” Francesco winks at me. “Good morning, Mrs. Greco.”

“Good morning, Francesco.”

“You’re the last to arrive. I’ll buzz ahead and let them know you’re here.”

“Purposely on time,” I argue jovially.

Cars line my brother’s long driveway, and I travel past them, taking a forceful breath and cracking my neck one way and then the other. Pulling into my designated spot to the right of Salvatore’s home, I cut the engine and sit.

Eyes closed, I breathe through my nose, filling my lungs and expanding my stomach. I hold it and then exhale slowly through my lips. Opening my eyes, I check my appearance, running my tongue along my teeth to remove the possibility of any lipstick stains. Nothing would irk me more than giving one of Salvatore’s minions an excuse to interrupt me with something so trivial in a meeting with new associates.

I wish we could kill them all. I know Salvatore would. But our outfit isn’t big enough. We need all the manpower we can get, even if it is at the cost of my sanity from time to time. Their disrespect costs me nothing but irritation. I don’t take it to heart. If I did, I would’ve given up years ago. Thick skin is the only way I’ve survived the past decade. I would never let the archaic thought process of a man who hasn’t been able to see his dick in twenty years destroy everything my brother and I have worked to protect and build. Still, I push parts of myself down every time I come face-to-face with these fuckers. Alessia fucking Bianchi is prey to no man’s need for importance, and that’s who I am when I fold out of my car and move toward the front door.

Diego walks a step behind me. He kept his silence the entire time I morphed into the woman Chicago needs. I pause at the threshold of the door to wait for him. He reads my cues effortlessly, stepping up beside me. I grab his hand and walk into the mansion.