Capturing my wrists, he holds them out in front of me and says, “Camilla, you have to listen to me, baby.”
“I’m listening,” I say, wishing he’d squeeze harder.
But the gashes across his knuckles are screaming angry and red, and reality is a dreary, cold thing. Up close, the bruise is worse than it looks, swollen and tender. I free one of my hands from his grip to brush my thumb across the welt, flinching when he hisses from the pain.
“Do you need to have that checked out?” I come to my knees, heart pounding.
“It’s just a black eye.” He carefully touches the bruise, smiling coyly. “You should see the other guy.”
“Was it Luca?”
“Yes,” he says, opening and closing his hand in and out of a fist. He spreads his fingers apart, and I know it hurts when his brows narrow. “He got me once, but I’ve waited a long time to fuck up Luca Coppola. It was worth it, even if we need a new table in the meeting room.”
The other guyis no simple man who’s easy to push around. He’s the underboss of a notorious organized crime operation—a monster, the darkest of darks.
Luca Coppolaisthe feeling of being watched.
He might even be the gateway to Hell in Grand Haven.
“Did you kill him?” It’s a ridiculous notion, but I mean it. Luca murders people for a living. He isn’t the type of guy who fights fair. If they both walked out of that office alive after a physical altercation, it won’t be long before Luca comes looking for Wilder with weapons.
“Not yet,” he says, meeting my eyes. “We didn’t know what we were walking into, but we couldn’t let that shit go unanswered.”
“We?” I ask.
“Talent and I watched the security footage from the hotel and recognized Vincent right away. We’ve known that little motherfucker since he was two feet tall. He’s Luca’s brother, but he’s not in the family. And I don’t know why he’s doing Luca’s dirty work, but had I seen him at Benny’s office that day, none of this would have happened.” His look is accusatory, but he goes on, saying, “I thought it was best to clear the air right away, and Talent agreed. Luca didn’t appreciate it when I told him I’d cut his brother’s fucking throat if he went near you again, so I busted his mouth open.”
“You hit him? And what did Giovanni think?”
Wilder’s jaw tightens, and he says, “The meeting was over, and he isn’t concerned with what his men do with their own time as long as it doesn’t interfere with business. He’s collecting money from Lydia on principle, but you heard the terms. Until my brother and I are made, Hush is unprotected. You’re unprotected.”
The burden he shoulders has doubled in size since last night, but Wilder is casual, shrugging like signing his life over to the mafia is no bigger deal than signing a cell phone carrier contract. He was brought up with the Coppolas, raised shoulder-to-shoulder with crooks and killers, not only believing that they were a family buthisfamily. It’s not something he survived untouched. Wilder loosely speaks about murder and joining the mafia, not as a result of trauma, but because it’s a way of life.
We’re two people on opposite sides of extreme. I experienced nothing as a child, and Wilder saw too much. But he’s so special. His life should mean more to him than this. I won’t let him give it away. Not for Hush. And not for me.
“Wilder, you can’t do this.” Sitting back on my lower legs, I brace myself as a tidal wave of grief crashes over me. “I’ll go. I’ll leave like you wanted me to. I’d rather sit in my father’s closet for the rest of my life than let you give yours to the Coppolas. You’re not like them. You’re not—”
“I am just like them.” He slides his palm around the back of my neck and pulls me forward, resting his forehead against mine. “It was always going to happen, Camilla.”
“Not like this,” I say. “Not to protect me.”
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe and happy, but this doesn’t have anything to do with you. This is all me. It’s bad blood.” He captures my jaw between his thumb and index finger to force eye contact. “Gio thinks he’s forcing our hands, and Nicolai is taking the credit, but Talent and I have waited a long time for this to happen. We made a deal to keep our friends close and our enemies closer. We can’t get much closer than joining the fucking family.”
“This is why you tried to push me away?”
“Talent refused to let Lydia go after he found her, but I didn’t want to make that same mistake.” He has the decency to look ashamed. They’ve all treated me like a child, but I’m capable of making my own decisions. “You’re only twenty-one, Camilla. If I do this, there’s no getting out. What kind of man would I be if I asked you to give up your entire life to me when I know what direction mine is headed? I care about you too much to let you do that blindly.”
“But you’d send me away blind,” I say, not as a question. It’s a fact. He would have let me go had I left.
“It’s different. You’re different, and you have options. Go to college. Travel. Do whatever the fuck it is normal people your age do. If you decide right now that this is too much, I’ll give you every cent in my bank account to start a new life somewhere else.” He takes my hands in his, pleading. “Grand Haven and North Carolina are not your only options. There’s an entire world out there you haven’t seen. And I’ve tried to stay away from you, but I am weak. You’re going to have to save yourself.”
“Save myself from you?” I ask incredulously. “You’re not weak. You’re fucking ridiculous.”
Grimacing at my choice of words, he says, “The fact that you’re in my house, dressed in my clothes, on your knees with my cum leaking from your pussy after I fucked you until the sun came up means I’ve failed.”
I jam my finger into his chest, as angry as he is. “First of all, stop acting like you’re so much older than me. You’re not ancient. You’re thirty years old, get over yourself.” His eyes light up with amusement, and his lips curve into a small smile. I poke my finger into his chest again. “I’ve already started a new life in Grand Haven. I don’t want to go anywhere else or be with anyone else, Wilder. Why can’t I go to college and travel with you? Why can’t we share these experiences together? Isn’t that what people do when they love each other? When they’re dating?”
“Dating?” he asks, chewing on the word like a tough piece of meat. “Is that what this is?”
