That is why I can’t and won’t kill him – Zane Maverick is the zest of my life.
If he’s going to die, it’ll be over my dead body.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Left hook. Right hook. Uppercut. Jab. Every move I make, Enzo blocks. Am I that predicable with my attack now? I bounce on the spot, thinking of my next move, and swing in for another right hook. I wonder which focus mitt to attack next, which one will be less foreseeable.
“Stop overthinking it,” Enzo interjects, breaking my concentration. “Seriously, you’re usually kicking my ass at this workout. What gives?”
“I don’t know,” I muse with a shrug, lowering my hands and releasing my tensed position. “I guess know it’s not for fun, and I’m trying to get it as correct as possible.”
Enzo laughs, irking me slightly. “It’s not about being correct or not, Lia. It’s about protecting yourself from an attacker. You just have to be able to defend yourself.” His statement rings true, but since Big Al, I’ve become more withdrawn and less feisty. “Maybe I pushed it too early?” he asks rhetorically. “I mean, you’re still rocking bruises, and you barely come around anymore. Maybe this is just too soon.”
“No,” I state, albeit a little sternly, but I don’t want him to think we’ve rushed anything. My bruises are just paintwork now. They cause me no pain; just remind me of my last kill. “I know I’m not here all the time, but I have no idea what Papà has in store, and I want to spend as much time with Zane as possible.” I feel impish. I never feel like this, but as I look at Enzo, I blush. “I’ve never felt so happy, Enz. There are no conditions or expectations. He just loves me. I don’t want it to end.”
“It won’t,” Enzo says, stripping the focus mitts from his hands. He tosses them aside and approaches me, his warm hands frame my face, and he gives me the sincerest grin possible. “Carlo is working out the paperwork.”
“But what if Papà finds out?” I ask; my voice struck with my hidden fear. “We both know that Papà has eyes on us at all times.”
Enzo drops his hands to my shoulders, shaking me a little. “Has Carlo been caught yet?” he asks, and I shake my head. “I know you want out, and I want you out, but we need to bide our time with this. You disappearing just yet will only alert Papà to what’s going on. He will hunt you down, but once Zane has healed and everything is back on track, we’ll provoke Giovanni to do something that would force you to run. Hell, give you a fake hit that goes wrong.” He gives me that same grin, trying to calm me. “But I want the scent off Zane first. I want it safe for you both, so can you wait it out? Can you do that?”
I nod, gulping hard. “It’s already been a month since the shooting and Papà hasn’t come home. How long have I got to wait?”
“As long as it takes, but everything is on hold until Papà is home and we can get back into the throe of it all. Right now, he has us watched do closely, I worry about you being with Zane.” He shakes me again, this time more so than before. “Now, chin up. You’ve got to get your head back into the game, Lia.” He releases me, picking up the mitts seconds how you actually got so beaten up?”
I shake my head. “He doesn’t know the truth,” I speak dangerously low, admittedly ashamed of myself. “And he won’t.”
“You can’t keep him in the dark,” my brother voices cautiously. “Manhattan PD are still investigating it. What will happen when Zane finds out they think the Femme Fatale is behind it?”
“I don’t know, but he doesn’t go back to work until he’s completely cleared, Enzo. Like everything else, I’m biding my sweet time because it’s all I know to do.” While my voice remains strong, my eyes water with conviction, and I hate myself for betraying yet more weakness. “Why did life have to get messy?”
Cocking his eyebrow at me, Enzo crosses his arms over his chest. “Do you really want me to give you an answer with that?”
“No,” I say and begin to play with the strap around my wrist. I look at my gloved hands and just know I need to work out all the pent-up secrets and angst in me. I’m a maelstrom of vicious demons that all want to kill me, one by one.
I know I told Zane he was my only kill, and he is clueless to my last three kills, but I have good reason to do so. I just have to hope and pray that when he finds out – and he will, I’m not stupid or that naive – he’ll forgive me. I have to trust in our love and not despair over it. What we have is formidable and unchanging. He knows who I am, what I am, and he still loves me. That’s all I need to anticipate a good ending.