“The stalker beat up that guard and he was trained.”
“We began training at the age of two, Sasha; granted, it was in the form of playing at first, but we still had to learn the moves. We’ve trained just about every day of our lives since. You know that friend of Giovanni’s? The mixed martial arts fighter? He sparred with Giovanni, but Gee took it easy on him. Really easy. Giovanni’s reflexes are like lightning. He’s as strong as an ox, and when he hits you with power behind his punch or kick, you’re going down, and most likely, he’s broken something, your face or your arm, leg, ribs. If he hasn’t broken something, it’s because he was careful.”
Sasha closed her eyes and wished she could just disappear. Giovanni was in the air searching for her stalker. “He figured out that he’s the real target, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
Her stomach lurched. “You’re telling me how safe he is up there in that helicopter, but he’s really setting himself up to draw him out, isn’t he?” She waited, her heart pounding. Her mouth was dry. She knew. She wanted to punch Vittorio.
She pushed him hard, out of the way. It was the last thing he expected and he rocked back, giving her just enough room to squeak past him. He caught at the trench coat Stefano had put around her, and she let the coat fall from her shoulders. If she ran out onto the roof and waved her arms, the stalker would try to shoot her, and Giovanni might have his target without exposing himself to certain danger.
Vittorio caught her just before she managed to unlock the trapdoor leading to the roof. “What are you doing, crazy woman?”
“Let go.” She tried to kick him off her, but he had her in some kind of a hold that wrapped her up so tightly she was like a mummy.
“Does Giovanni realize what a little hellion he has?” Vittorio asked. “Sheesh, woman. Stop struggling. It isn’t like you’re going to get away and this is a rather … intimate hold for being with my future sister-in-law.”
That brought her up short. She was locked against him, and it wasn’t like she was wearing much in the way of clothes. She relaxed instantly, embarrassed that she’d put them both in such a weird position.
He pointed to the attic. Reluctantly, she went down the steps. He sat on the top one. “What exactly did you think you were going to do? Run out there and make yourself a target?”
She picked up the trench coat and wrapped it around her body. “Yes. Better me than Giovanni.”
“If you were my woman, I’d turn you over my knee and spank you until your ass was raw.” His voice was utterly calm, but it still sent a shiver down her spine because she had the feeling that calm, soothing Vittorio was capable of such a thing. “Are you insane? Do you think Giovanni would just let you get shot? He’d leap out of a helicopter to save your life. He’d do anything to save you. Men like Giovanni protect their women. He’s fine with you being whatever you want to be, and do whatever you want to do, but that ends when the cost could be your life.”
“Has it occurred to you that I feel the same way about him?” she hissed.
“No. Frankly, I don’t believe that.”
Again, he spoke so calmly that at first she didn’t understand what he said. And he meant it. He didn’t believe she felt the same way about Giovanni as he did her.
“Why do you say that, Vittorio?”
“You’re a highly intelligent woman, Sasha. You aren’t blind or deaf. You’re a planner. You take great care of your brother and it’s clear you put him first. That adds up to a certain personality. If you loved my brother with the same intensity as he loves you, you would never have put him in the position he’s in. You would have recognized the danger and avoided it. You wouldn’t have gone to your house licking your wounds because some woman put her tongue in your man’s mouth. You wanted out. You knew he was uncomfortable and wanted no part of Meredith Benson. You weren’t jealous of her. I saw your face. You didn’t get Giovanni out of the situation. You used it to remove yourself.”
She had done all that. She had. She didn’t like his world and she’d thought to remove herself. It was only when she was alone without him that she realized she loved Giovanni enough to face that world with him.
“You put yourself in danger. He loves you enough to let you because you’re the type of woman to get angry and say it’s your right to do that. And yeah”—he shrugged—“it is. Absolutely. But having a man like Giovanni means if you love him, you’ll do the right thing and take the protection offered.”
She almost protested. She had taken his protection. She’d been surrounded by guards. But she knew that wasn’t what Vittorio was telling her. She knew there were all kinds of men in the world. Some of them wouldn’t have cared what she did. If she wanted to go, she could go. There wouldn’t have even been a discussion. With a man like Giovanni, her safety and the safety of her brother were real issues. When she took him on as a partner, she took that part of him on as well.
“I hear you, Vittorio,” she said. “I won’t be making that mistake again. I would like to see what’s going on though. Is there a way to do that without putting us in danger?”
He nodded. “But you do what I tell you. I’m not like Giovanni.” It was a warning. Gentle. Delivered in a mild voice, but again, a little shiver of awareness crept down her spine.
She was fairly certain he wasn’t that gentle man they all thought he was. No one else seemed aware of this side of him. He was just so calm, but he was being calm now, just scary calm. Giovanni referred to him as the peacemaker. She suspected he was the peacemaker for a reason other than what the others thought.
“Have you heard anything about the fire?” She had been afraid to ask, afraid it would have jumped from her apartment to the buildings on either side of hers as well as Masci’s.
“It’s out already. It was out almost before the fire department got there. Why didn’t the sprinklers go off? They were installed last year.”
She hadn’t thought of that. “The only thing I can think of is that when he got into the apartment the first time, he disrupted the line to them? I don’t know how they work. I never thought about it, but he had to have done something. If he did it when he first got into my apartment, doesn’t that mean that he planned on killing me all along?”
Vittorio nodded slowly. “So, if he really had planned to kill you, why didn’t he just do it immediately? Why take all these chances?” He frowned as she started up the stairs. He began texting. “Sending a mass text to the family. They’re pretty good at figuring things out.”
“How much damage did the fire do?”
“Your apartment is a mess and so is the deli, but nothing else was touched. We’ll get a work crew in the moment the investigation is complete and tear the building down and rebuild. The nice part is, Pietro has wanted to remodel for a couple of years now. His place has gotten popular for lunch, and he would like to expand the inside to include an area for more tables. Or have an outside court. Clearly that would have to be built in the back, but he’s got all kinds of plans. Stefano will look them over and either approve or not.”
“I don’t know how you can make a fire sound like a good thing,” she said. “As if Pietro is going to be happy.”
“He will be. In the end. Besides, we can send him on a vacation to the home country. He’s been wanting to go but claimed he couldn’t because of his business. Right now, he’s upset, but once he sees what Stefano is willing to do with that place, he’ll be happy.”
“Like what?” she asked suspiciously.
“That little apartment could be used for his offices. You’ll be living with Giovanni.” He grinned at her and reached up to cautiously lift the trapdoor. “Straight ahead is a thick railing. It’s low, no more than three feet, so you’re going to have to stay low. I mean it, Sasha. If you start to rise, expect to find me on top of you.”