“Jesus,” Nix mumbled, and I’m sure they were all dumbstruck watching our little drama play out.
Robbie didn’t look like she believed me, so I did my best to explain my stupidity. “I was referring to the risk, Robbie.” The impertinent little baggage rolled her eyes at me.
No fucking respect.
And with no regard to our spectators, she blurted, “You said, ‘the things I do for my sister’ while you were still inside of me!”
“I just meant I never expected to fall in love with you,” I snapped. “I was referring to how looking out for you, for my sister, resulted in something I never saw coming.”
“So, I’m supposed to believe that in between your hate for me, threatening me, and ratcheting my guilt levels to the sky, you fell in love with me somewhere in there?”
I wanted to shake the shit out of her, but there was no way I could touch her. There wasn’t any part of her body that was untouched by trauma, so instead, I stepped to her until her tits were pressed up against my chest. “Yes!” I roared. “Just like you fell in love with me.”
Her head reared back. “You think so, do you?”
“You wouldn’t have let me into your bed otherwise,” I pointed out. “Like you said, I’ve been horrible to you since day one. So, that being the case, why did you let me touch you if you didn’t feel something for me?”
She cocked her head. “Maybe I just wanted to get laid.”
I was going to kill this woman.
Chapter 22
Roberta~
Ciro Mancini was standing before me, claiming to be in love with me.
As if my life wasn’t already a goddamn Greek tragedy.
And, if that weren’t enough, Luca freakin’ Benetti was in my house.
I shook my head.
This was all too much.
I could tell my words were bringing out the worst in Ciro, but he didn’t deserve easy. He’d hurt me with his careless wording, and I was still woman-scorned enough to want payback.
“I’m going to ignore that,” he glowered, “because I deserve it. But don’t ever belittle what we’ve done again.”
Suddenly, I was exhausted.
By everything.
My horrible taste in men. My ‘car wreck’. My healing. Ciro Mancini. Gary and Merrick. My ‘mugging’. That stupid box.
All of it.
“Wrap it up, Ciro,” Luca said from where he sat.
Luca freakin’ Benetti.
Ciro took my face in his hands and eyed me. “We’re going to take care of this, Robbie,” he assured me. “We’re going to handle this.”
I couldn’t, in good conscience, allow them to. “Ciro, I don’t want anyone dying because of me,” I told him. “This isn’t your problem.”
“If it’s your problem, it’s my problem,” he declared. “You’re mine, Robbie. And once you stop being hurt by my carelessness and being mad at me, you’ll see that. I protect what’s mine.”
I wanted to argue.
I wanted women’s lib to prevail. I wanted to proclaim my independence. I wanted to announce that I was a grown, capable woman. But the fact that I could barely move without excruciating pain radiating throughout my body proved otherwise.
I caved.
I gave in, and I wasn’t entirely too upset about it.
“Fine,” I relented. “Let’s find the box and figure out everything else later.”
I could tell he wanted to argue, but he just gave me a tight nod. “We need to check a few things out, but I want you to rest while we do what we need to do.”
“What you mean?”
“I’m going to clean up while the guys search your house,” Frankie offered. “They want to make sure you didn’t miss anything before they…do whatever it is they do next.”
What a quaint way to describe murder.
I wanted to object, but I knew I was useless right now. And I really did want this situation dealt with and over. I nodded in agreement and got comfortable on the couch as The Holy Trinity and their Church moved around my house.
When Frankie went into my bedroom, she yelled, “What the hell happened in here?”
I had never cleaned up after Ciro had left the other night. “Insanity,” I yelled back.
Somewhere during their search of my house, I must have nodded off. The pain meds I had taken earlier going to work after the adrenaline from earlier wearing off. I was prodded awake by Ciro’s voice in my hear. “Baby? Wake up.”
I blinked my eyes open and shook myself from the tiresome fog. “What?”
“Wake up, baby,” Ciro repeated. “We have something to show you.”
I nodded and Ciro helped me sit up. I was still blinking the sleep