“People are already talking. Several of your friends messaged me to ask if the rumors about you escaping captivity because of an affair with a biker were true. Even the ones I dumped messaged me, Marci. This is going to get only worse. People will tear into you now that they see a weakness.”
I looked away. I had ignored all messages from friends for that exact reason. Everyone only wanted to catch the newest tidbit of gossip. I’d only answered two messages from family like Sara or Isabella. When it came down to it, I could only trust family, not the people I called friends.
“You really must like him if you risk your reputation for him. Considering you worried about glassy scallops not too long ago.”
“I think I love him,” I whispered.
Amo grimaced. “You sure?”
“No.” I sighed and walked over to Amo to sit on his desk. “The last few weeks were too confusing. I need to get to know him. Today was the first time he and I texted, or talked to each other alone without either of us being a captive.” I shook my head. Saying it aloud made the absurdity of it sink in. “I wonder if Maddox and I can ever have a normal relationship considering everything.”
“I don’t want to burst your bubble, Marci, but nothing about our life is normal. Being a Vitiello and a normal life are at odds.”
I shook my head with a smile. “That’s not what I mean. I’m talking about the life I was used to.”
“Your version of a normal life probably isn’t White’s. If you really want things to work out, you and he have to figure out a new normal as a couple.”
My lips parted in shock. “Who are you and where’s my emotionally imbecile brother?”
“Just because I usually don’t bother doesn’t mean I don’t understand emotions.”
“You think Maddox and I can find a new normal?”
Amo gave me a look that made it clear he wouldn’t answer the question. “I won’t ever fall in love. It makes fools of people.”
“Don’t you want what Mom and Dad have?”
Amo shrugged. “Even Dad made bad decisions because of his love for Mom. The thing with Tartarus wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t been madly in love with Mom. I can’t see myself ever feeling something that strong for someone.”
“I never thought I could. I never did with Giovanni, but I think it could be like that with Maddox.”
“He betrayed his club and killed his uncle for you. That’s a good start for foolish love.”
I laughed. “Yeah.”
“I still don’t like him, so don’t expect any more relationship advice from me.”
“Can I—?” I asked, nodding at the bed. I still hadn’t managed to catch any sleep in my bedroom. The only times I got some sleep was in Amo’s room.
“Sure. I can’t sleep any time soon anyway.”
I glanced back down on my phone before I closed my eyes.
I followed Growl’s pickup on my bike to an apartment complex about two blocks from the Sphere. It wasn’t one of the luxury skyscrapers but it was much posher than anywhere I’d ever lived before. When Growl and I passed the lobby, the receptionist scanned me from head to toe, unable to hide her shock. I looked a mess, there was no question about it. The last few days had taken their toll on my body and my clothes had definitely seen better days. I tipped my imaginary hat in greeting and she quickly looked away and pretended to be busy with something on her computer.
I shook my head with a chuckle.
“The staff knows to keep their noses out of our business,” Growl said as we entered the elevator. He looked at my hands. “Don’t you have any clothes or other stuff?”
I cast my eyes up to the mirrored ceiling. Fuck. I really looked like shit. It was a miracle that the receptionist hadn’t run away screaming upon seeing me but working in one of Vitiello’s apartment buildings probably hardened you against bloody faces. “Most of my stuff went up in flames when the Vitiellos burned down the clubhouse. I always traveled light.”
Growl made a non-committal noise. “Do you have money to buy clothes and everything else you need?”
I patted my jeans pocket, which still held several grand. But I needed a new bike, so that would rip a huge hole in my pocket. “I’m fine, and I won’t borrow money from the Famiglia for sure. Even idiots know better than to owe the mob money.”
“I would have given you cash, without interest,” Growl said with a shrug and stepped out when the elevator arrived on the fifteenth floor.
I raised my eyebrows. “Really? Why would you do that? You don’t know me, and as far as your boss is concerned, I’m still the enemy.”
Growl motioned at the door at the end of the long hallway. “Because I once arrived in New York without anything to call my own as well.”
I nodded. Growl unlocked the door and motioned for me to go in. I didn’t like turning my back on him, no matter how semi-friendly he appeared but I forced myself to go ahead anyway. I froze in the loft that opened up before me. “Fuck.”
The living room-slash-kitchen-slash-dining area was big enough to serve as a ballroom. The ceiling was twice the height of a standard room at least. “I don’t need that much space,” I said.
Growl shrugged. “It’s the smallest apartment in the building, only two bedrooms.”
I laughed in disbelief. The Vitiellos really didn’t know what to do with the shitload of blood money they earned. I was poor like a church mouse in comparison. Did Marcella realize that? She’d be the one with the money. So far all the girls I’d been with had been in awe of me because of my status in the club and the not-too-shabby amount of money I earned as vice, but all of this meant nothing to Marcella. I was a nothing in her world, and especially in the eyes of her family. “I don’t intend to have any guests except for Marcella and she’ll sleep in my bed.”
Growl’s expression hardened. “Better watch out with those comments around other people. Luca won’t appreciate it if people talk badly about his daughter.”
“If she’s with me, it can be expected that she’ll sleep in my bed. But I suppose not in your old-fashioned world.”
“It’ll be your world if you want to be the man at Marcella’s side.”
I wanted nothing more, but belonging to this strange world with even stranger rules? Fuck. That would be almost as difficult as not ending up killing Luca Vitiello.
Growl held out the keys in one tattooed-scarred hand. I took it then motioned at his tattoo sleeves and tattooed throat. “Do people accept the way you look? Most of the mobsters like to look like businessmen in their expensive suits.”
“I’m Enforcer and I used to be the enemy. People will always treat me different. I don’t care.” He moved to the door. “I should go now.”
“Wait,” I said. “Can you give me Marcella’s number?”
Growl shook his head. “Not my place.”
I almost rolled my eyes. “All right, then give me Matteo’s number. Or does he need protection from me as well?”