side, confirming my suspicions when he opened his mouth again to tell them off. “What have you done? What did you say to her?” he demanded.
“This is none of your concern,” Mr. Malone said gruffly.
But my husband wasn’t backing down. “It is, though. I heard enough from the hall. And I’d wager you two are the reason our relationship hasn’t been able to move forward. So what do you have on her?”
My pulse quickened, adrenaline pumping hard. My secret was this close to being out.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re being silly,” Ford’s mother said.
“I know how you two operate,” Ford shot back, undeterred by her denials. “What are you threatening her with?”
“Threatening? How melodramatic. I’m sure we don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mr. Malone scoffed. “Enough with these theatrics.”
Ford’s mother crossed the room with her hand out, but Ford flinched out of her reach. She shot me a glare.
“Tell him, Mara. Is there anything we could possibly be threatening you with?”
I was up against a wall and she knew it. There was obviously no way I was going to out myself to Ford. The last thing I wanted to do was admit that the Russian mob was after my whole family, and that the Malones’ offer to pay them off—in exchange for agreeing to leave Ford—was the only way I could save us all.
“No,” I said quietly, dropping my eyes to the floor.
“Em—” Ford said, turning me to face him. “Look at me.”
“It’s nothing,” I insisted, but I couldn’t meet his gaze and I knew he wasn’t fooled.
Ford looked back at his parents. “You think I believe you?” he said. “I heard the words coming out of your mouths!”
He was livid. The anger I’d seen on his face when he found Andrew trying to make a move on me in the hotel hallway was nothing compared to this. Then, he’d been red faced and furious. Now, he was so angry that his entire body was radiating tension and danger, like a taut wire about to snap.
“Perhaps you misheard—” his mother began.
“No. I didn’t,” Ford said, interrupting. “So know this, both of you: Whatever you’re trying to do, whatever you told Emzee, whatever you think is going to happen in the future—I am not giving her up. I will fight for the woman I love.”
Love? Ford loved me? And this is how I was hearing it for the first time?
Mrs. Malone’s mouth had fallen open, and I could see the shock in her eyes. I wasn’t sure if Ford had ever spoken to her that way before.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, either. Ford Malone had just said he loved me. Declared it forcefully. Was it real, or just for show? It felt real, but I was afraid to trust it.
“Son. There’s no need for all this yelling. Let us explain,” Ford’s father tried, but Ford was having none of it—if anything, it seemed to stoke his anger even more.
“Fuck your explanations. Nothing you can say is going to drive us apart,” Ford said.
If it was just a show, it was clear judging by the shock on his parents’ faces that it had worked. That his words had done what they intended to do—get the Malones to back off. Because they didn’t say another word as Ford took my hand and led me out of the room. His parents didn’t try to stop us, didn’t even try to argue.
As he whisked me down the hallway, back toward the guest room where I’d been getting ready, he lifted my hand to his lips and gently kissed the back of my knuckles. I was buzzing.
“I meant it, Emzee. Every word. I’m not going to let them come between us.” We got to the room and he locked the door behind us, took a breath, and then looked down at me. “Please tell me you feel the same.”
As if it was that easy.
I searched his eyes, and I knew he was being honest with me. But it wasn’t as simple as us loving each other. The situation was much more complicated. My family was at risk without the Malones’ support. The Bratva could hurt us. Financially, reputationally, even physically.
Right now, though, I was too moved—too in love—to deny what I was feeling.
“Ever since you rescued me seven years ago, I’ve been in love with you,” I confessed.
Cupping my face, he drew me in for a kiss, so long and hard it took my breath away.
“I know,” he said. “Or