“I do care,” he says, not much conviction to his tone.
“Well, prove it!” I exclaim desperately trying to keep my grip on my emotions. “If it wasn’t for Zane’s quick actions, I dread to think what sort of life I’d be living as a result of your greed. But don’t worry, you’re letting a good one into the family.”
“She’s right. Papà, you should have seen him,” Carlo begins with the retelling. “He didn’t even think. Carmello disrespected him and Amelia, and the next thing I knew, Carmello was on his knees and Zane was holding a bloodied hammer.”
“A hammer?” my father pushes for more answers.
“I think I damaged his jaw, sir,” Zane explains, rubbing his own jaw as if in sympathy.
“Think?” Carlo asked aghast. “Zane, you brought the bastardo to his knees and had him cowering. No one has ever done that to a man of Carmello’s stature.”
“I didn’t know,” Zane gasps, looking at Carlo and me. I see the annoyance that we didn’t forewarn him, but had he known, he wouldn’t have gone into the house.
“Maybe that’s your secret,” my father happily notes. “You are invariably in the dark to those we interact with, so maybe that’s the trick with you, Maverick. It gives you an edge and that’s what you need. If you can protect my fortune and my daughter without a care or fear then maybe you’re a treasure I should invest in.”
“You forgot to tell him that he has a bounty on his head now” Giovanni’s comment is brought forward with an ounce of arrogance and I can hear a hint of glee I can hear. He’s happy that Zane’s made a name for himself – it makes him in danger. “Like all of us, he’s marked. Carmello won’t forget him.”
I can’t take anymore and I leave the room. The thought is sickening. I don’t want to hear of the bounty on Zane ever again. I lived that once and it was crippling. I cannot believe this time Zane’s own actions have a hefty price on his own head. I hear Zane excuse himself and I hasten my speed, but it’s not enough to outrun him. He grabs me when I reach the stairs, spinning me around to face him.
“I’m not impressed with your move back there,” I comment, looking down briefly at the blood splatters on his shirt. It’s all I know to say.
Zane sighs in resignation. “I didn’t think you were, but I have to prove myself.”
“You don’t know the type of men you’re dealing with,” I quip, powerfully reminding him what he’s truly preparing himself to dabble in. “They’re not like the bad guys you’ve spent years putting away. These ones will kill you and not give a second thought to who’s left behind in your wake.”
“I have the battle scars to remind me of that,” Zane counters dryly, remembrance of his shooting hitting hard. “I have to make my mark, and I was not prepared for him to objectify you in front of me. Sorry, Amelia, you might not like it, but when a man threatens to do anything like that to you, I will not hesitate to lash out. He should just be lucky it was a smaller hammer than I wished it was.”
I laugh at the little sarcastic sentiment he’s trying to cut the air with and find myself reveling in this moment of solitude. It’s just that I could be fooled that we aren’t what we are if it wasn’t for the blood splatter across his crisp white shirt. So, I sigh as I come back down to Earth and look up at his bright eyes.
"I appreciate what you did, Zane," I murmur, my fingers playing with the blood-stained collar. Bashfully, I raise my gaze to look up at him. "But you're doing this all wrong. I don't want you here to win me over."
"But it's the only way we get a chance," he tells me; desperation lashes his last comment passionately.
I know he's right. I know he's wholeheartedly and without any reasonable doubt telling the truth. This is our only chance, but between forgiving, forgetting, and worrying about the man this will create of him, I cannot give myself to him.
Back at Carmello's, he proved that he would do this with or without my consent. He is here to give up everything to win me back, but still there is a resounding piece in me that just can't let me have him wholly. It causes a throb in my heart, a stark reminder of what he did to me before – twice. It's telling me not to trust him with my heart because my heart barely survived either past encounter with Zane.
"You're overthinking things," he tells me. He's speaking in soft tones, and he's offering a soft glower. "Just give into what you're feeling. I'm here and I'm here to stay. I will even commit to having the Abbiati wrath if I ever hurt you," he jokes, trying to push for a smile.
Which I give him.
"Zane, you're already going to feel the Abbiati wrath for the last two times you left me. You think it's going to be easy for you to join us here? It's going to be harder for you to be one of us with your track record," I ask, trying to make myself sound more scathing and meaner just for effect.