be dead, bambina.” He slammed the carton of orange juice down onto the island and looked over it at me with his dark eyes. “Not raiding your father's business.”
“My business!” I protested. “Mine, Darien. You know it, too.”
“It isn't that simple.” He unscrewed the cap and poured two glasses. “You cannot walk in there, shoot your father, and take over the family.”
“Of course I can't. I can't take over something that already belongs to me.”
“Addy, you're working on your emotions. You can't make decisions when you're emotional.” He tightened the cap on the carton and put it back in the fridge. “You've had a rough two days. Why don't you calm down before making plans for your crazy ideas?”
“Because time is something I don't have, Dar.” I took the glass he offered me and sipped. “If I had time, Hunter wouldn't be here.”
“Hmm.” He took a long drink of juice, then wiped his upper lip. “And how much does Hunter have to do with this?”
I just about resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He knew every detail about our conversation the night before, except the part where I kissed Hunter, so he knew exactly how much he had to do with it. Even if he had blown me off when I got in and told him.
I felt stronger with Hunter behind me, and that was the end of it. I needed him to do this.
“He said he'd protect me. I believe him.”
“His loyalty isn't to you, bambina. His loyalty is to Enzio. You're surely not naive enough to believe he'd switch sides that simply.” Darien looked at me with pity in his eyes. “I know what he is to you. What he was. But he isn't that boy anymore. He isn't the boy you'd take home to your mamma.”
“If Mamma were alive I'd bring him home to her.”
“Only because she'd make you.”
“So what's the difference? She'd take him as he is, even if he isn't the same boy I knew. She wouldn't even question his loyalty to me. Why are you?”
“Because the day she died, I promised her no one would hurt you.” He swallowed, emotion thickening his voice. “I promised her no one would lay a finger on her bambina. I've already pushed it more than I'd like by allowing you that conversation with him last night. I don't trust him, Adriana.”
“What if I do?”
“Then you are a fool!” he snapped.
I stilled. Darien had never spoken to me like that. Ever. I swallowed back the small lump that'd formed in my throat.
“Just because he said he can't kill you don't mean he won't. Do not allow your heart to lead you where your mind knows best.”
I grabbed my glass and turned away from him. Call me stubborn, childish, naive... I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to listen to him tear Hunter apart in front of me when his only conversation with him lasted five minutes and began with him pinning him to the wall by his neck.
“Addy.” Darien sighed, following me. “I'm sorry. I wish you'd listen to me, that's all.”
“You're the one who said I should be allowed to talk with him. You obviously don't think he's that much of a danger if you let me meet him last night.” I sat on the sofa, hugging my glass.
“You weren't alone,” he said quietly. “You were followed.”
I inhaled sharply.
“And yes. I know you kissed him. That's why I believe you're working off your heart and not your mind.”
“I can't believe you did that.” I put the glass on the table and stood to meet his eyes. “But since you did, you'll know he didn't lay a single finger on me when he had the prime opportunity to kill me. You haven't even spoken to him. I'm not stupid.”
“I can't break my promise to your mother.”
“And neither can I,” I said softly. My heart clenched. “I promised her I'd pay him back. That he wouldn't get away with what he did. Promised her, Darien. And she gave me her blessing. If I die trying, then I died for a reason, and by my own choice, not by his. The way she did. She wouldn't be sitting around here weighing up the pros and cons of it. She'd be strapping a gun to herself and filling the gas tank in the car.”
He softened the way he always did when we talked about her. He loved her, even now. It'd been two years but the hole she'd left