protection from other, less powerful families. Families such as…
A chill ran through Danny as an all too recent night flashed through his mind, and he looked up at Carmine. “Can I ask you something?”
“Hmm?”
Danny swallowed. “The night you got il Sacchi to let me and my crew go…” He shifted, skin crawling at the memory.
Carmine rolled over and draped a warm arm over Danny’s side. “What about it?”
Searching Carmine’s eyes, Danny whispered, “The cops that was waiting for us on the way out… When il Sacchi said he was taking me with him…” He furrowed his brow. “How did you know he’d do that? I mean, how did you know to have the cops there waiting?”
A little smile played at Carmine’s lips. “I know il Sacchi. That’s how he does business—always tries to take more than the other man agrees to give.”
“But did you think he’d…”
“Did I think he’d grab you like that?” Carmine shook his head. “I had a feeling il Sacchi would try something underhanded. He always does. So I paid off all the officers and had them wait out of sight. If I gave them the signal, they’d stop him on the way out. Which is what they did.” His features tightened as his hand slid up Danny’s back. “And thank God for that.”
“Gave them a—” Danny’s mind went back to that night, and he remembered the two gunshots as the cars were pulling away. “So you weren’t shooting at us.”
“No. No, of course not. There was no way to be sure I wouldn’t hit you. Or that he wouldn’t shoot you.”
Danny shuddered again. “What if he’d shot me when he saw the cops?”
Carmine pulled him closer. “Believe me when I say that was my biggest fear. But the alternative was letting him leave with you. And if he did…”
Danny closed his eyes, his blood turning cold even as Carmine’s body heat warmed him. Still holding on, he whispered, “Would you have done the same if he’d taken one of the others? Bernard, or Mathew, or…”
Carmine nodded without hesitation. “You and your men work for me. I have to be able to trust you, and that means you have to be able to trust me. It’s just good business.” He brought his hand up and stroked Danny’s cheek. “But I’d be lying if I said I would’ve been as terrified if he’d taken any of the others with him.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I’m responsible for the men in your crew. But you…” Carmine drew back to look in his eyes, and he seemed to be trying to find the right words. Finally, he said, “I’d have gone to war to save your crew. For you? I’d have burned the il Sacchis to the ground.”
Danny’s lips parted. He was startled as much by what he’d just heard as the fierce intensity in Carmine’s expression that told him every word the man said was true. “You… You would?”
“No question.”
They held each other’s gazes, and in Carmine’s eyes, Danny could see nothing but sincerity and unshakable determination. This was a man who wouldn’t have let Agosto il Sacchi get far with Danny. Not without a fight, damn it.
And that brought to mind another man who wasn’t going to stand back and let harm come to a lover, and a chill rippled through Danny at the same time a lump rose in his throat. He touched Carmine’s face. “The night…” He swallowed. “The night il Sacchi’s men grabbed us, Francis… He died trying to stop them from burning the truck with Giulia inside.”
Carmine shuddered, holding Danny a little tighter even as pain flickered across his expression.
Danny went on, “Promise me something, Carmine.”
Carmine met his gaze again. His dark eyes were full of questions now, his forehead creased as if he were bracing himself for whatever Danny was going to ask of him.
“I’ll always be grateful for what you did,” Danny whispered. “Getting us out of there. Not letting him leave with me. But promise me…” His voice wavered, and he cleared his throat as he smoothed Carmine’s black hair. “Swear to me that if saving me from a burning truck means getting yourself killed, you’ll let me and the damn thing burn.”
Carmine sucked in a breath. His entire body stiffened. “You want… Danny, I’m not going to just stand back and—”
“I don’t want you getting yourself killed trying to save me.” Danny shook his head. “I’d never be able to live with myself if I was alive because you—”
“You think I’d be able