The Mafia Boss Who Captivated Me
76

Kristin gives Kat a faint smile. Dante's wife, with her confidence and kindness, is impossible not to trust.

Still, my sister looks at me for reassurance. "You're safe here, I promise. And I'll be right here with you. Okay?" "Okay," she says, nodding and blinking back tears.

"We'll fix you up in the guest room that's just down the hall from Joey's room. And Max, where will you be staying?" Kat arches an eyebrow at me, and the mischievous glint in her eyes has me biting back a grin. I need all the help I can get and having her on my side is more than I could've hoped for.

Dante scoffs, glaring at his wife. "He'll be in the guest room on the other side of the house."

"Dante," Joey huffs.

Dante snorts. "He's not staying in your room,"

Lorenzo puts a hand on his younger brother's shoulder and keeps his voice low. "Maybe we should let Joey decide?"

"Since when are you on her side on this?" Dante asks with a frown.

"Since I have better things to do with my time than police our adult sister," Lorenzo replies with a sigh. "Joey's a grown woman now, whether we want to admit that or not. Hasn't she proven that she's capable of behaving like an adult?" "Thank you, Lorenzo," Joey says, giving her oldest brother a genuine smile. "It's nice to have one of you believe in me."

Dante rolls his eyes and puts his arm around her shoulder. "You know that I know you're capable, Joey. Of course I believe in you."

"Then you don't believe in Max? Is that it?"

Shaking his head, he releases a heavy sigh. "It's not that straightforward."

"Nothing worth having is," she counters.

Fuck, I wish they would all get the hell out and let me talk to her alone. I have no intentions of sleeping in her room with her, but that doesn't mean I won't be spending plenty of time in there with her. The Moretti siblings could go on arguing all night about this. I cough loudly, and they turn their attention back to me. "Can I have a minute with my girl?"

Lorenzo and Dante look at each other, but Kat ushers everyone out of the room, speaking over their protests with instructions that I need to rest. Shooting me a knowing look over her shoulder, she mouths for me to be careful and closes the door behind her, leaving Joey and me alone.

My girl props her hip on the edge of the bed beside me, her fingers still laced through mine.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Kristin, baby girl. I was going to as soon as I figured out what was going on. It just never seemed like the right time."

"When she told me... and I thought..." A tear runs down her cheek, and she swats it away.

"I know, baby." Lifting my heavy arms, I wrap them around her, pulling her close and holding on tight. I've been desperate to touch her for so long that I'm still not entirely sure this moment isn't a figment of my imagination, but her familiar scent and the hot tears soaking my chest assure me this is real.

She nuzzles my chest. "I thought I'd lost you, Max ..."

"I'm right here."

"You almost died," she whispers, lifting her head and looking at me with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'd never die on you."

"You ever even attempt to get yourself kidnapped again and you'll wish you were dead, DiMarco," she says, faking a scowl.

"I promise never to even think about it."

She sits up, her dark eyes locked on my face. "I hate that you weren't honest with me."

"I know."

"If you had been..." She wipes away another tear.

I cup her face in my hands. The fact that she even thought me capable of something like that burns me from the inside. Doesn't she, of all people, know me better than that? But I can't fight with her right now. I can feel nothing but grateful that she's here with me. "I hate that you thought I'd betray you like that, Joey. The fact you could believe me capable of hurting you that way is worse than a knife to the stomach. I regret every single second that you spent hating me." "I never hated you, Max."

"No?"

"No. I can't."

"Not even when you thought...?"

Joey shakes her head. "Not even then."

I brush my fingertips over her cheek. God, I want to take her to bed and stay there with her for the rest of my goddamn life. "Are we okay?"

"I guess," she whispers.

That's not exactly the emphatic yes I hoped for, but it will have to do for now. "I need to talk to Dante and Lorenzo."

"Do it tomorrow. Rest today. There's a room ready for you upstairs."

"The one on the other side of the house from you?"

"Well, we did make that one up for you. It was supposed to be for you and Kristin, so I wanted it as far away from me as possible."

"I'm sorry, baby."

"I know."

The fact that she was still willing to have me here, both of us, well, that reminds me how fucking incredible this girl right here is. "You were going to let me stay here? Me and Kristin?"

"Yes. Although I guess you won't want to share a room with your kid sister?" She laughs softly, and the sound makes my heart beat faster.

I brush my fingertips over her cheek. I'd much rather share one with her, but how do I tell her that I can't, maybe not ever? How the hell do I trust myself around the one person it would kill me to hurt?

Her eyes darken as the skin on her neck turns pink. "I guess you could stay in my room," she whispers seductively.

A ball of emotion lodges in my throat. I want nothing more than to stay in her room with her. Go to sleep next to her soft, warm body and wake up with her in my arms. Fuck her every single night and every single morning for the rest of my goddamn life.

"I need to talk to your brothers, baby," I say, struggling to sit up.

She steps back, frowning at me while she chews on her lip. "Kat told you to rest."

"She stitched me back up. I'm good. Besides, I'm going to shuffle down the hallway and then sit in their office. Nothing heavy. I promise."

"Please don't get into anything now, Max," Joey pleads. I take her hand and pull her back to me, brushing my bandaged fingers through her hair. "I only just got you back," she whispers.

I press my lips close to her ear, and she shivers in my arms. "Baby girl, I promise you I'm not going anywhere, okay? But I need to speak to your brothers. I have to do this right."

stares into my eyes, and even though I know she wants to fight me on this, her shoulders drop in defeat. "Fine. I'll wait for you in the den."

"Good girl." I don't miss the way her breath catches at those words, and my cock throbs. Thoughts of her kept me sane while I was tied up and tortured, and I'm fucking desperate to feel her again. To taste her. To claim every single inch of her as my own. But I need to make things right first.

When I reach Dante and Lorenzo's study, there's a guard outside the door as usual. I wonder if he's been given orders to keep me out, but he nods a greeting and opens the door for me, which I take to mean that the Moretti brothers didn't keep me alive just so they could kill me themselves.

"Max," Dante says with a nod.

"Take a seat." Lorenzo indicates the chair opposite them, but I remain standing for now.

"We've been thinking about who might have taken you and why-" Dante begins, but I cut him off.

"Before we get into any of that, I need to ask you both something."

They stare at me, and I suddenly realize what it must feel like to be on this side of the desk for a change-metaphorically speaking.

"I want your permission to date your sister," I say, my hands stuffed into the pockets of my bloodstained sweatpants.

Dante's eyes narrow. "And if we say no?"

I shrug. "I guess it doesn't change the outcome. I'm going to date her anyway, but I'd prefer to do it with your blessing."

"You swore, Max. Joey was off-limits."

"That was a long time ago. We were kids making stupid promises to each other. I get that I should've told you first, but it all kind of happened so fast. I tried to fight it, but I couldn't. Still, I want to do this right. You two are my family," I say, choking up on the last word.

"A family you were prepared to walk away from? Because you knew what would happen if you fucked around with Joey." Dante says, his tone cold and detached.

"I would never ask either of you to choose between me and Anya or Kat. Never. But if you make me choose, I will choose her. Every single fucking time." I step forward and place my palms flat on their desk. "I know you're worried that I might hurt her-" I stop to swallow the words that get stuck in my throat. "But I never would. I'll never drink when I'm with her. Never take so much as an aspirin if she's staying in my bed. I don't know if-"

Lorenzo holds up a hand. "You can't seriously think our problem with you dating our sister has anything to do with the Delgado girl?"

I blink at him.

"That was twelve fucking years ago, compagno," Dante adds.

"I fucking killed her," I remind them. "And I still don't remember a goddamn thing."

"You were drunk and on drugs. You weren't thinking straight," Lorenzo says, his brow furrowed in a scowl.

"I still did it. If I ever hurt Joey like that-" I drop into one of the chairs in front of their desk and scrub a hand over my face.

Dante leans forward in his seat. "We don't want you to date our sister because it's messy, Max. If you and she ..." He shakes his head. If Joey and I don't work out, it would put us all in an untenable position. "It has nothing to do with what happened with that girl."

"But it should! You should want me to stay away from her because you know what I'm capable of. The things I've done. I want to stay away from her because of them." I drop my head into my hands. "But I can't."

Dante clears his throat. "So, you date our sister, but you never spend the night together? How the fuck does that even work, Max? She'll never go for it."

"As long as I don't fall asleep-"

"Now you're going to stop sleeping?" Dante snaps.

"No," I bark. I don't know the answers. All I know is that I can't live without her. And I can't hurt her. "I'll figure something out. Maybe I could get some therapy or something?"

Lorenzo snorts. "Therapy?"

"Yes. Therapy," I repeat. "To figure out what happened. Because if I could just remember..." I shake my head.

"You need to stop fucking torturing yourself, Max," Dante says with a sigh. "You were both so wasted, you didn't know what you were doing. She was into some kinky shit like you, and it went too far because you were both too fucked up to stop it. That's all."

I stare at him. I wish it was as easy for me to explain away, but not being able to remember what happened that night haunts my every waking moment. I've killed plenty of people-my body count is higher than both Moretti brothers' combined-but I remember them all. I watched the light go out of their eyes every single time.

Except for her.

I took her life and don't even remember doing it. How the hell am I supposed to sleep next to the most precious person in the entire world and not worry that one morning I might wake up and replace her lifeless face on the pillow next to me? Lorenzo cuts off my internal argument. "You should tell her."

"I should what?"

"Tell her. She deserves to know," Lorenzo replies with a shrug.

"You didn't think that earlier," I remind him.

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"I didn't realize it still ate you up this much."

"And if it didn't eat me up? If I could just forget about the fact that I murdered an innocent girl while we were having sex, that would be okay? I wouldn't have to tell her then?" I snap.

"If you're making decisions about Joey's life-about the kind of life she'll have if she chooses you, then she deserves to know before she falls for you any more than she already has." Dante nods solemnly, siding with his brother. "He's right, Max."

"What if she hates me?"

"She won't," Lorenzo fires back.

"She deserves the truth, compagno. All of it," Dante says.

"How else are you going to explain the fact that you're not sleeping in her room tonight if you don't?" Lorenzo asks.

"I'll tell her I'm tired, or ..."

Dante shakes his head. "You'll break her fucking heart. If you're going to ask to date our sister, Max, then you will tell her the fucking truth."

I slump in my chair. I know they're right, but what if it costs me everything? What if it costs me her?

A soft knock at the door snatches all our attention.

"Come in," Dante shouts.

My entire world walks into the room, and the soft smile on her face makes me want to cut my tongue out of my mouth so we don't have to have this conversation. "It's getting kind of late, and Kat says Max should rest. We can talk about everything that happened tomorrow, right?"

Dante and Lorenzo voice their agreement.

"Good. You can stay in my room," she says to me, her eyes shining with a happiness that I worried I'd never see again. Fuck, can't I just have one more day when she still looks at me like that?

Lorenzo clears his throat. "Shall we give you the room?"

"No, stay." They know everything anyway. At least if they're here, I won't back out when I see the look of horror on her face. I'll have no choice but to tell her the whole ugly truth.

"Is something wrong?" Joey asks from where she stands beside me.

"Take a seat," Dante replies.

"Why? What is it?" she asks, an angry edge creeping into her voice. "You don't get to keep Max and me-"

"It's not that, Joey," I interrupt before she starts berating her brothers. "Sit down."

"You're freaking me out, Max." Her voice wobbles.

I take hold of her hand, curling my fingers around hers and tugging her down into the chair next to me. "I have to tell you about something I did."

"What-what did you do?"

"I killed someone, Joey."

Falling back in her chair, she starts to laugh, and I gape at her. "Max. You asshole."

"This is serious, Joey. Not just anyone. A girl."

Her laugh cuts off abruptly. "A girl? What girl?"

"Her name was Fiona. She was a ... friend of ours."

"Fiona?" She frowns.

"It was twelve years ago, Joey," Lorenzo adds.

"But why? What did she do?" Joey asks, her fingers still entwined in mine.

"She didn't do anything," I say quietly. "I don't even remember what happened. I woke up and she was dead in bed beside me."

Her face turns pale, and her nose wrinkles with horror and disgust while my heart threatens to burst through my fucking ribcage. "No." She shakes her head emphatically. "Fiona, right? The girl with those stupid pigtails?" "Yeah. Fiona Delgado."

"No," she says again, still shaking her head.

"Joey, I know-"

"No, Max. You didn't kill her."

"I did, Joey. I woke up and she was dead. With my handprints around her neck."

"No!" she shouts now, pulling her hand from mine as she looks to her brothers. "Those weren't Max's handprints." Her hand flies to her mouth and tremors wrack her body.

I lean forward, placing my hand on her back. "Joey, baby?"

"Those were his handprints," she whispers, her eyes wide as she looks first at her brothers, then at me. "Sal's."

Lorenzo and Dante lean forward. We stare at her.

"What are you talking about?" Dante asks softly.

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"He killed that girl. The night of your graduation party. I saw him."

"N-no," I stammer, shaking my head.

"He did. I saw him. I saw him and some other guy talking about getting rid of the body."

"You're sure it was Fiona? You were only ten, Joey," Dante says.

"I know what I saw, Dante!" Joey shrieks. "Dad promised me twenty bucks if I stayed out of the way of the party all night, so once you and your buddies were all too drunk to walk, I went to call in my debt. But when I got to his office, he was with some guy, and Fiona was dead on the floor. I recognized her pigtails. I knew it was her because I always hated her and the way she told me to get lost whenever I was talking to Max. But then she was dead..."

I lean forward, dropping my head into my hands. I feel like I'm about to throw up for at least the third time today. This is fucking unbelievable. For twelve long years, I've tortured myself with the memory of that morning. With the image of Fiona Delgado, naked and dead next to me. And I've wracked my brain almost every single day since then to piece together what happened because I don't remember a single second of it. I always put it down to being so wasted on brandy and cocaine that I blacked out. And I haven't touched either of them since. But of course I don't remember. Because I didn't fucking touch her.

"You're sure about this, Joey?" Lorenzo asks.

"I just freaking told you I am."

"What exactly did you hear Pop say?" Dante says.

"The other guy was asking what they were gonna do with her, and Dad said that he had the perfect plan for her. He called her a money-grubbing little whore, and I didn't know what it meant at the time, but I remember how angry he sounded. It gave me goosebumps all over my skin."

"Then what?"

"Then he saw me, and he was all sweet to me-the way he could be sometimes, you know? He said the silly girl in his office tried to hurt our family and that he was going to take care of it. He gave me my twenty bucks and told me to go back to bed."

"Why didn't you ever tell us, Joey?" Dante asks.

"I-I didn't really know what it meant, and it wasn't the first dead body I'd seen. He made me promise never to tell anyone and then... well, it wasn't the worst thing he ever did."

I dry heave, and Joey rubs my back.

Barely a day has passed when I haven't thought about her and tried to remember what I did. Especially since Joey. I've smoldered with the desperate need to know what I did to that girl, so I could make sure I never repeated the same mistake again.

"B-but she was in my bed." I stand up, my head spinning. "She was there with me.'

"Then he must have put her there because I assure you that she was dead when I walked out of his office."

"No." Running my hands through my hair, I shake my head. "No. He wouldn't- He let me think-"

"He would, Max," Lorenzo says, deadpan.

"B-but." I blink at him, searching his dark eyes for answers. He looks so much like Sal. I don't think I ever really noticed that before. "Did you know?"

He scowls. "No," he insists.

Of course he didn't. He hated his father. He would never cover for him like that.

"I'm sorry, Max. If I'd known that he made you... that he framed you ... I would have told you a long time ago." Joey's pain-filled voice makes my heart ache for her.

I squeeze her hand. "It's not on you, baby." I grind out the words as rage and sheer fucking relief course through my veins.

"I always knew there was something not right about the whole situation. The way you found her in bed that morning." Lorenzo says, appearing deep in thought.

I blink at him. "You did?"

"I've told you this many times, Maximo. But you would never listen."

"I can't..." I shake my head. Immediately after it happened, and on the handful of occasions we've discussed it since, he questioned the events that led to Fiona being in my bed, but I thought he was just trying to jog my memory or make me

feel better.

Dante stares at me. "This makes sense, Max. Fiona was never your type. She'd been hanging around you for months, and no matter how drunk you got, you never so much as brushed her arm."

"Yeah, but I was so drunk that night..." My head spins so fast I think I might pass out. Sal gave me the last glass of brandy I remember drinking that night.

"You didn't kill her, Max," Joey says. Leaning over in her chair, she wraps her arms around my neck and presses a soft kiss on my shoulder. "I'm sorry he made you believe you did."

"Then how the fuck did she end up in my bed?"

Nobody answers-I guess because the answer is so fucking obvious.

I alternate between hanging my head in my hands and looking at my best friends while Joey holds onto me like I'm in danger of floating away in the middle of this shitstorm. "Why would he do that?" I ask when I replace the words to speak. I was never anything but loyal to Salvatore Moretti. He had no reason to doubt me-to frame me for murder, if that's what happened.

"Because he was a sick, twisted fuck," Dante spits. "But we already knew that."

"I'm so sorry, Max," Joey says again. "If I'd just mentioned something. I hate that you carried this around for half your life."

"You have nothing to apologize for," I assure her.

Lorenzo pinches the bridge of his nose. "It's late and I need to check on Anya. We could spend the rest of our lives discussing the piece of shit that was our father, but nothing is going to change what he did now."

"I agree. I think we should all get some sleep," Dante suggests. He jerks his chin at me. "Is there any information about who took you that can't wait until morning?"

"No. It can wait." Sleep sounds like fucking heaven right now. Maybe when I wake up, I won't have spent the last twelve years driving myself crazy trying to remember something I didn't do. "But I should check on Kristin before I go to bed."

"I checked on her before I came in here," Joey says. "She's sleeping. I don't think you should disturb her. She hardly slept at all while you were gone."

"None of us did," Lorenzo adds, throwing his sister a concerned look.

Fuck, I should stop feeling sorry for myself and take better care of my girl. Should focus on the revelation that I'm not at risk of murdering her in her sleep after all, because as fucked up as this whole thing is, the fact that I can crawl into bed with her tonight-hell, every night-should be compensation enough for anything her father ever put me through.

"Shall we go to bed?" Even though the way she says the words is entirely innocent, my cock still twitches to life.

I stare at her. She makes the whole goddamn world make sense. "Yeah." I guess the past doesn't matter so much when my future is standing right here.