“Then it’s settled,” Ryan said. “You can stay here.”
Who the hell did he think he was, ordering her around? He might be the big brother, but she didn’t answer to him. More importantly, she wasn’t letting him get involved. She kind of wished she hadn’t told him, but they didn’t keep secrets from one another. At least, not ones like these.
She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “I’m not staying here.”
“Why not?”
“If those men are the threat you think they are, then I’m not putting you in harm’s way. Besides, my address is unlisted and I’m already difficult to find.”
After the Leo fiasco, she’d made sure of that. There was no trace of Katie Morton or Kat Delagrange on any public listings or social media. She lived like a ghost and so far it had served her well.
Another look passed between Ryan and Marco. Marco shook his head then sighed when Ryan gave him a pointed look.
This time, Kat did roll her eyes. Though they hadn’t spoken, it definitely felt like they were talking about her like wasn’t sitting right in front of them.
“Marco will stay with you,” Ryan said.
Kat blinked hard twice. “What?”
Surely she hadn’t heard him right.
“Until we know those men aren’t after you, you need a bodyguard. Marco is in the military. He can go all Rambo on their asses if they come around.”
Kat had no doubt Marco could handle himself. She saw that firsthand when he wrestled the gun away from that man. But the thought of sharing her small apartment with Marco was too much.
“No,” she said firmly.
“What do you mean ‘no’?” Ryan shot back.
What she meant was sharing her space with Marco would put her over the edge. Her body wanted him desperately, but it was at war with her mind, which couldn’t let go of the fact that Marco was the man she’d hated for years on behalf of her brother. It didn’t matter that Ryan didn’t have any ill will against him. Her grudge was about more than just what had happened with Ryan. Marco had deceived her twice now, albeit the second time was unknowing. Regardless, she wasn’t going to let the third time be the one that did her in.
“Fine. Then I’m going to be stuck on you like white on rice,” Ryan said, smiling in the way he knew irritated her. “I’ll stay at your place. I’ll go to work with you. I’ll be so far up your ass you won’t even see me.”
“Be serious.”
“Oh, I am. I totally am. And since I’ll be your Siamese twin for the foreseeable future, I’ll probably lose my job because I can’t make telemarketing calls from your office. I’ll probably fail all my classes, too. The professors won’t want my sister attached to my hip when I’m taking exams.”
“What are you talking about?”
Ryan shoved a stack of papers aside, revealing a textbook. “I’m taking classes at the community college.”
Kat gasped and her mouth stretched into an involuntary grin. For a moment she didn’t even care that he was using his classes to blackmail her into agreeing to something she didn’t want to do. She’d been after him for years to take classes or do something to try to better his situation. Her heart soared at the fact that he’d taken the initiative himself.
But so much for not keeping secrets.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She didn’t know whether to hug him or hit him for keeping it from her. On second thought, definitely hug.
He shrugged. “I’m still not sure if it’s going to work out and I didn’t want you to get your hopes up. But I guess now that I’ll be failing my classes, that makes the decision easy.”
Kat scowled. On third thought, perhaps she should go with hitting him after all. Ryan had her in a corner and he knew it. She glanced over at Marco, who had his hand held over his mouth, covering a grin. Her scowl deepened.
She believed Ryan would make good on his threat. He was just enough of a stubborn asshole to do everything he’d said. And, she admitted, devoted enough to her to do whatever he thought was necessary to keep her safe.
Besides the possibility of Ryan losing his job and failing his classes, she didn’t want him anywhere near those men. Ever since he’d been in the wheelchair and unable to defend himself with his fists, Ryan had kept himself armed. It was a rough neighborhood he lived in. But he would be no match against those men and if they were as ruthless as she’d seen today, they’d think nothing of striking down a man in a wheelchair. Anyone was fair game.
“I don’t want to put you out,” Kat muttered to Marco, hoping he’d take the bait and excuse himself from bodyguard duty. He couldn’t be any happier about this than she was.
“There’s nothing pressing on my schedule.”
Kat looked over at him, her eyes meeting his. In them she saw loyalty and fierceness, and her heart softened.
God, this was a horrible idea. The list of why she shouldn’t get further intertwined with Marco grew longer every day. He was a complication she didn’t need in her life right now. Or ever, for that matter. When she’d left Leo and Florida, she’d left complicated behind.
But it seemed that complicated had a way of finding her.
* * *
Marco glanced over at Kat, who sat beside him in his truck. She was the only passenger he’d had since he bought the truck, and it seemed she’d ridden with him damn near half the time he’d driven.
“I need to get my car,” she said. “It’s at the cemetery.”
Marco shifted, bracing himself for the protests that were bound to come. “I don’t know if we should go by there just yet.”
“Why not? I need my car.”
“If those men know it’s your car, they might be waiting for you there.”
“That’s unlikely. Until I was outed as X’s daughter, they had no interest in me. They didn’t pay me any attention until Nurse Hewlitt’s grand announcement, so they wouldn’t have noticed me at my car before the funeral.” There was bitterness in her tone. Marco sympathized with her. It was such a fluke the way her secret had been revealed.
“You’d be surprised what people notice. It wouldn’t be hard for them to figure out it’s yours.”
Kat didn’t blend into the crowd as well as she thought she did, but it was not for lack of trying. She was gorgeous and any red-blooded male who laid eyes on her would notice her. There was no hiding the raw sensuality of her lips, her eyes, her everything.
“It’s not like they could have asked anyone who was at the funeral. Not after they’d run around with their guns out.” There was pain in her voice this time. Dealing with the death of a family member was hard enough as it was, but having the funeral disrupted like that had to make it that much harder.
He wanted to reach over and squeeze her hand, to let her know he was there for her. But it wouldn’t be welcome. So instead, he’d make good on his promise to keep her safe. It was the least he could do. Hell, it was the only thing he could do.
“No, but we don’t know if it was just the three of them,” Marco said. “They could easily have had more men who didn’t get involved in the fray. Besides, they had to park somewhere. Chances are it was in the cemetery parking lot. One of them could have parked right next to you.”
She furrowed her brow. “I barely remember parking.”
“That’s my point. If those men are any good at what they do, then they would have noticed who they parked near. Men like that tend to pay attention to their surroundings.”
“It sounds like you know a thing or two about that.”
He shrugged. “I’ve spent the last few years in a war zone. Paying attention to your surroundings can mean the difference between stepping on an IED or living another day. I imagine the life of a criminal is sort of like being at war. The ones who are smart and pay attention live to see another day. Those who don’t die young.”
“Okay,” Kat said, much to his surprise. He didn’t expect her to agree with him so quickly. “But can we drive by and check it out?”
; “They may not have seen your car, but we know for a fact they’ve seen my truck,” he replied.
The thought had him looking in the rearview mirror, checking for a tail. He didn’t see anyone, but he wasn’t trained for that sort of thing. He switched lanes and took a right.
“Where are you going?” Kat asked.
“I’m going to circle around and take the long way,” he said. They were headed to his parents’ house so he could pack a bag for his stay at Kat’s. But now that the thought had occurred to him they might be looking for his truck, he wanted to stay off the main roads. He’d park his truck out of sight in the garage and borrow his mom’s car. It’s not like she would be using it.
When they arrived, Marco pulled around to the back of the house and stopped in front of the garage.
“So,” Kat said, peering out the window. “This is where you and Tony grew up.”
He tried to see the house through her eyes. To him, it had always just been home. The house was definitely large. Maybe not mansion size, but way more than a family of four needed. But houses like this weren’t uncommon on the north side. It wasn’t anywhere near the biggest. Natalie’s house claimed that superlative.
They got out of the truck and the normally confident Kat kept her arms wrapped around herself and her eyes trained on the ground. Her entire demeanor had changed.
Damn. If Marco had known this would make her uncomfortable, he wouldn’t have brought her here. He could have done without an overnight bag. And he would’ve figured out something to do with his truck.
The last thing he wanted to do was bring Kat more pain, even the minor kind. But they were here now, so they might as well go in.
Before he realized what he was doing, he put his hand on the small of Kat’s back to escort her inside. Her body stiffened, shying away from him. He dropped his hand.
Goddammit. Touching her had been automatic, an instinct. He’d only wanted to make her more comfortable, but he’d done the opposite. He should have known better.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t make the same mistake again. “This way.”
They entered using a side door near the kitchen. His mother and Nonna sat at the table with tea. Kat seemed to shrink next to him, positioning herself behind him so she wouldn’t be in their direct line of sight.
She was seriously intimidated. Damn. He hadn’t expected that, especially since his mother and Nonna weren’t formidable in the least. But mostly because nothing seemed to scare Kat.
It made his need to protect her even stronger.
“Mom, Nonna, this is Kat,” he said. Despite her earlier rebuttal of his touch, he put his hand on her back, wanting to show solidarity. This time, she didn’t flinch.
“Hello,” his mother said, her mouth forming into a smile that didn’t meet her tired eyes. Marco was a light sleeper and he’d heard her get up in the middle of the night almost every night since he’d been there.
Nonna pursed her lips and squinted at Kat. “Don’t I know you from somewhere, dear?”
“I worked at some of the events you’ve attended,” Kat said. “It’s good to see you again, Mrs. Adamo.”
It hadn’t occurred to Marco that Kat might know them from her former job. Though his family weren’t assholes—with the exception of his father—he’d witnessed how some of the social elite treated the waitstaff at these events. Like they were beneath them.
“Can I get you some tea?” his mother asked.
Kat’s eyes darted to him.
“We’re not staying long,” Marco said. “I just need to pack a bag.”
“Oh? Where are you going?”
He was a grown-ass man, so he had no problem telling his mother he was staying with a woman, but it wasn’t like that. Either way, it made Kat even more uncomfortable. But there was no way he could correct the situation without spilling Kat’s secret.
“I’m helping Kat out for a few days,” he said vaguely.
The two women nodded, polite enough not to ask for more information when the discussion was clearly making Kat squirm.
Marco walked over and leaned down to kiss first his mother and then Nonna on the cheek. “We’ll be out of your hair in a few minutes. Is it okay if I borrow your car for a few days?”
His mother nodded, once again not questioning why he needed it when he had a brand new truck. He had to wonder if she’d gotten used to accepting things without question having been married to his father all those years. The thought made him sick. Or perhaps she was simply too exhausted to care.
He led Kat to the spare bedroom he was occupying and she sat on the bed while he shoved some changes of clothes into a duffel bag.
“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to put you on the spot.”
“No, it’s fine,” she said. Her eyes were cast downward and she fidgeted in her lap. “Your mom and grandma seem nice.”
“They are.” He wanted to say something to put her at ease, but he had nothing. “Dealing with the mess my father made is taking a toll on them, though.”
“I can see that.”
“I don’t get it. How did someone like my mother end up with a scumbag like my father?” Marco yanked on the zipper on his bag. He hadn’t meant to discuss his family’s problems with Kat, especially not while she was dealing with her own shit, but seeing his mother’s haggard appearance made him so angry. “She should’ve left his sorry ass years ago.”
“Sometimes it’s not as easy as that,” Kat said quietly. “Unless you’ve been in her situation, you shouldn’t judge her.”
“I’m not . . .” He trailed off, realizing Kat had him pegged correctly. He had been judging his mother. But dammit, he didn’t understand.
Kat’s eyes met his, and in them he saw knowledge and experience, leaving him to again wonder what the hell Kat had been through that made her understand his mother’s plight. It wasn’t something he could ask.
So instead he picked up his bag. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 12
Kat buckled her seat belt in Marco’s mother’s Mercedes, looking over at Marco as he adjusted the mirrors. He seemed cramped and out of place in this luxury car. The sturdy truck suited him much better.
It was kind of a metaphor for him, actually. She couldn’t picture him sipping champagne and munching on caviar. He seemed more like a beer and potato chips kind of guy. Had he always been like that? Or had the military changed him? She was curious, wishing she’d known Marco before he joined the military and when he’d been friends with her brother. She could guarantee he wasn’t the same man now as he was then. The man now would never have such careless judgment as to drive drunk and high.
As the car pulled out of the driveway and onto the street, Kat looked over her shoulder at the house one last time. She’d spent plenty of time at Natalie’s house and she’d known the Adamos were wealthy, so she didn’t know why it threw her to visit Marco’s home. Maybe it was the circumstances. Maybe it was meeting his mother and seeing his grandmother unexpectedly.
Or maybe it was just Marco.
Most likely, it was all three.
The senior Mrs. Adamo was a lovely woman. Kat had known that from the few times she’d seen her with Tony at various events. And the other Mrs. Adamo seemed perfectly nice. But somehow she’d never felt more out of place. There she was in their home, taking Marco away from them so that he could protect her from goons who were after her criminal father.
It made her feel like a lowlife.
Logically, she knew she couldn’t help who her parents were or where she’d come from. She knew she should be judged by the woman she was today. But that was easier said than done. She was her own harshest critic.
While she couldn’t choose her parents, she had chosen a man who’d nearly destroyed her. She’d had to change her name for Christ’s sake, which was a daily reminder of her biggest mistake.
Kat had never had the courage to press charges against Leo after he’d nearly killed her, telling herself it was
more important to just get away. She’d been beyond lucky her friend was a nurse and able to help her recover while keeping her hidden. As soon as Kat was well enough, she left Florida. Along the way, she’d learned Leo had gotten picked up for armed robbery. She told herself as long as he was locked up, it didn’t matter why.
But Leo wouldn’t be in prison forever. It scared the shit out of her. Not much else did.
Except for society women she’d once served, apparently.
She sighed.
“You okay?” Marco asked.
“Fine.” Kat immediately squared her shoulders and looked straight ahead. Now was not the time for a pity party. She needed to get through the next few days—God, she hoped it wouldn’t be any longer than that—and once Ryan and Marco were convinced she was no longer in danger, Marco could go back to his life.
She hated that she was disrupting it. It shocked her to recognize the guilt she felt. Somehow in the course of the last few hours, her feelings toward Marco had changed from hatred to respect and gratitude.
Though Marco had been absent from Ryan’s life for the past four years, it was obvious he still cared about her brother. Why else would he continue sending checks even after Ryan hadn’t cashed even one? She could also tell just by the way the two men interacted. They’d shared a horrific experience and perhaps it had bonded them in a way Kat didn’t understand.
She’d been alone for her most horrific experience.
She squeezed her eyes shut as the memories invaded her mind. She never thought about the time in her life when she’d become an expert at applying makeup to cover the bruises. But now it was creeping in, probably because of the stress.
Running and hiding had worked for her before, but it wouldn’t work now. Though she didn’t have a much of a life, she didn’t want to lose what little she had. And Ryan was here. She couldn’t ask him to uproot himself, not when he’d finally started to get his life back on track.
She couldn’t believe he had enrolled in classes without telling her. It was fantastic. Ryan didn’t consider himself a smart guy, but she knew better. He was smarter than he gave himself credit for.
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