Theirs to Protect - Julia Sykes Page 0,50

in a hug.

“You’re hurt!” she protested, trying to push me back down so I was lying flat on my back.

Not happening. “I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”

Joseph made a derisive snort. I shot him a glare. His smile widened to a grin. I’d never seen him so happy to have me glaring at him.

Shit, he must’ve been really worried. “I’m okay,” I promised, meeting his clear blue eyes with a significant stare. “Seriously, I’m okay. The doctor patched me up, and I’ll be walking around in no time. Bullet went straight through. Didn’t hit anything vital.”

“You were shot,” Ashlyn whimpered, holding me tighter. “I was so scared for you.”

My stomach knotted. I’d never wanted her to be afraid again, but I’d created a situation where she’d been scared for her life. Suddenly, I was grateful that Domenico had drugged her. She wouldn’t have nightmares about what’d happened with Ciro.

I brushed a kiss over her forehead and rubbed my hands up and down her back, letting her cry out the last of her residual fear. I hated every second of her pain, but allowing her to release it through cathartic tears made us both feel better.

When she finally stopped sniffling, she pulled back far enough to look into my face. Her sapphire eyes traced each one of my features, checking for additional injuries. My split lip and bruised jaw probably looked pretty bad by now, but they were superficial.

“Don’t worry,” I teased. “I’ll be just as ugly as before once I heal up.”

She gasped, her eyes flashing. “You’re not ugly! Don’t stay that. You’re beautiful.”

I chuckled. “No, Joseph is beautiful. But I was just trying to get a rise out of you, babygirl. No need to look so offended on my behalf.”

She pouted. “Don’t do that. I can’t be annoyed with you when you’re hurt.”

I grinned. “I know.”

“Daddy!” she scolded, her hands fluttering around my injured body as though looking for a place that was safe to pinch.

I tugged her back into my arms and kissed her cheek. She snuggled close to my chest, sighing in contentment. With her safely in my arms, peace settled over my heart. But a shadow of guilt remained. I met Joseph’s aquamarine gaze, letting him see straight into my soul: my regret, my sorrow for what I’d done.

“I’m sorry I brought you here and didn’t tell you about my plan to meet Elio. I should’ve talked to you.”

His jaw firmed. “Yes, you should have.” He ran a hand through his hair, mussing the glossy black curls. “We talked about this, Marco. I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t isolate yourself. I thought this bullshit was behind us.”

“Joseph!” Ashlyn protested. “He’s hurt.” As though that was excuse enough to spare me from this difficult conversation.

“Yeah, and it’s my fault,” I said firmly, taking full responsibility. I grasped her shoulders and gently guided her away from me. I needed to be able to look them both in the eye. “I’m sorry I acted on my own. You both asked me to trust you, to lean on you, and I didn’t.” Claws sank into my heart when I looked into Ashlyn’s delicately beautiful face. “You were abducted by monsters because of actions I chose to take on my own. You were scared. I was trying to keep you safe and happy, but I made everything worse.”

“Marco.” Joseph said my name softly. “I know why you’ve been doing this. You think I’ll leave. You think I’ll abandon you again if things get bloody, but I won’t. I swear I won’t leave you. I’m so sorry that I ran away before, back when I escaped to Cambridge and didn’t take you with me.”

“We wouldn’t have met Ashlyn if you hadn’t done that,” I said, repeating the familiar excuse I’d made to gloss over my unforgivable actions.

He shook his head sharply. “That doesn’t make it okay. Don’t make excuses for what I did.”

“I’m making excuses for what I did!” The confession left me on a shout. All the pain of my betrayal that I’d buried so deep ripped out of my soul, carving a jagged path through my chest. “I let you think you’re a monster, Joseph. I let you believe that you’re responsible for a man’s death. But I’m the one who’s responsible. Me, not you. You’ve always thought that because the man was beaten to death on your watch, it’s your fault. But I’m the one who set up that job. I’m the one who recruited and trained the men