“I can’t allow that. Your father’s orders were very clear. You’re not to be alone with him right now.”
Marcella’s eyes flashed with anger, and it was obvious she swallowed back a reply. She nodded once. I leaned in. “Soon we’ll have enough time to be alone. I’ll show your father that he can trust me with you. Maybe you can use the time for a chat with your brother? Find out more about the information leak.”
I had a feeling confronting Luca first wouldn’t lead to good results. Amo was still more boisterous and might let information slip more easily.
She smiled gratefully but I could tell that she was still pissed over her father’s orders. “If you live in one of our apartment buildings, I’ll probably have it easier to visit you later. My father won’t allow me to go to a place he can’t protect properly, especially after the kidnapping.”
She was probably right. I really didn’t want to live under Vitiello’s watchful eyes but for now, I’d just swallow my pride until he realized I didn’t mean his daughter any harm.
“Come on,” Growl said. “We should hurry. Luca won’t appreciate waiting.”
“We don’t want to make him angry,” I said sarcastically then winked at Marcella. She took my hand and stood on her tiptoes to whisper in my ear. “He’ll try to make this as difficult for you as possible. He hoped that you’d run off, but now that you’re back, he and the other men from my family are going to try to test you until you decide it’s not worth it.”
“They can put me through hell all they want. It’s a place I’m very familiar with and I’ll get burned gladly for you. But they should know I can give them hell as well.”
“I don’t doubt it,” she said then pressed a fleeting kiss on my cheek before she followed Growl to his car. Vitiello had no intention of handing his daughter over without a fight. He was doing this to appease her after everything she went through, probably hoping she’d grow tired of me once she was back in her old life. Part of me worried the same, but I’d fight tooth and nail to keep Snow White, against her father and everyone else who intended to get in the way.
I was patting Santana’s soft head when a bike pulled up the driveway.
Growl immediately positioned himself in front of me and shouted at the lanky teen to get a shotgun. My pulse quickened from fear but then changed to excitement when I recognized Maddox. My heart beat so fast I felt almost dizzy. I’d sworn myself not to let my emotions run the show if I ever saw him again, but I realized I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise.
Maddox looked horrible with bruises and cuts all over his face and arms. He seemed frozen as he watched me. My excitement quickly morphed to fury. Maybe he looked so surprised because he never meant to see me again and didn’t expect me here. Growl held my arm when I was about to step forward and charge at him.
“Stay back. I don’t trust him.”
What was Maddox doing here of all places? If he’d really run off, his arrival at Growl’s shelter didn’t make the slightest sense. Our eyes met and his face pulled into a smile. My anger skyrocketed and my self-control slipped away. I shook Growl off and ran toward Maddox, glad I’d chosen sneakers for the trip. His smile quickly morphed to a look of confusion.
Part of me wanted to fling myself into Maddox’s arms. Luckily my anger kept my silly heart at bay. But with every word from Maddox’s mouth, my anger slipped away, at least toward Maddox, and my longing for him took its place. But I didn’t give in, not yet. I needed to know the truth about everything before I could allow my feelings to lead the show.
Growl dropped me off at home but waited in the car in front of the house to give me a ride to the Sphere later. My conversation with Amo hopefully wouldn’t take long and afterward I could head to the meeting between Dad and Maddox, and tell the latter that my brother hadn’t been involved. His biker buddies had to be behind the information leak.
I found Amo in our basement gym where he was doing push-ups as I walked in. I never saw the appeal in working out underground. I preferred to see daylight while working out but he was always in a sort of zone that probably had him blank out his surroundings completely.
Like now, as he did push-ups with a pissed off look as if the floor had personally insulted him. I leaned in the doorway, amused and impressed by his focus equally. I loved my brother like I loved Mom and Dad and Valerio. I didn’t want to believe that he wanted to kill the man who was slowing carving out another place in my heart. When he’d pulled up in the driveway of the shelter today, the furious throbbing of my heart had left no doubt about my feelings.
“It’s kind of strange to admire your brother working out.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yuck, Amo. You’re not my type.” I walked into the room, wrinkling my nose at the heavy odor. “I’m impressed you noticed me, considering your staring contest with the floor.”
“I’m a Made Man, it’s essential that I notice people sneaking up on me, in case they want to ram a knife into my back.”
“Speaking of knife in the back,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “I talked to Maddox.”
“Lover boy’s back, I heard,” Amo muttered, not even trying to hide his disapproval. He pushed up on his feet and rubbed his hair with a towel.
“He’s back, yes.”
“And did you give him the ball-kicking you promised or did you wag your tail?”
“Maddox knows I’m furious, don’t worry, but the details of my conversation with him are between him and me. I won’t discuss my relationship with you.”
“Relationship?” Amo scoffed. “You really want to be with someone who disappears without a word for days at a time?”
“Maddox had his reasons.” Reasons that didn’t fully convince me but Amo didn’t need to know that. “He told me someone leaked the information about him killing his uncle.”
“His fan club isn’t really big,” Amo said, dropping the towel unceremoniously on the bench before looking me straight in the eye. His expression was neutral, not giving anything away. He hadn’t been a good liar, at least to me, before my kidnapping, but now I couldn’t look through this newly hardened mask he’d adopted ever since.
“I’m more concerned about his list of mortal enemies within our family.”
Amo still only stared at me.
It drove me crazy that I couldn’t read him. “Maddox’s biker buddies told him you ratted him out.”
“Ratting him out would require that he and I were on the same team, but we’re not.”
“Stop beating around the bush, Amo. You owe me the truth. Did you spread the news about Maddox killing his uncle?”
“I did,” he said simply. No regret, no apology, just the cold hard truth.
I shook my head, trying to find my words and not lose myself in my fury and disappointment. “You hoped that the other bikers would kill him if they found out.”
He smirked. “That was my hope, yes, but as usual the fucking bikers do nothing but disappoint.”