The Gardarellis are the only people to have access to the community.”
“Is that why it's your safe house?”
“No.” My eyes traced the Vegas skyline. “It's the safe house because it's the only part of the business that my mother never owned. Nonno put it in my name to protect it from my father. He never trusted him. Enzio has no idea this exists.”
“So why didn't you live here when you left?”
“Because then it wouldn't be safe anymore.” I slowly turned my face toward him. “I'm not even sure Darien knows about this place.”
“Then why tell me?”
“If he finds out, I can't trust you.” I looked back out of the window, even though he was looking at me. “It's that simple.”
“You're wrong not to trust me, Adriana,” he said quietly, eyes on me. “You have every reason not to, but you're wrong.”
“You keep saying it, yet everything has gone to shit ever since you showed up.” I pushed off of the window seat. “I've had to leave behind the closest man I had to family, my best friend, my house, my cat, my education... Why? Because of you, Hunter. You. Nobody else. Just you.”
Emotion balled in my stomach as that fact hit me hard. I've had to leave my life twice because of men I thought loved me once. My father, then him.
The saddest part is that Hunter hurts more.
I wished he didn't. I wanted to rewind.
“You didn't have to do it. You didn't have to do what he said. You knew that. But you did.”
“I had no choice. You know that.” He turned, hitting me with his gaze. “We've already done this, Adriana.”
“I don't care if we've had this conversation a thousand times. We'll have it a thousand times more because right now I'm so angry and it's all your fault.” I ran my fingers through my hair.
He reached for me.
I stepped back. “Don't you dare try and touch me right now, Carlo Rosso. Don't you fucking dare.”
“What do you want me to do?” He held his arms out at his sides. “You want me to waltz back to New York and take the fucking bullet, huh?”
“Yes! Because you should have taken it in the first place.” The words shot out of me, and I couldn't stop them. “You should have taken it instead of come and try. The Hunter I knew never would have walked out of that office alive.”
“Newsflash, Principessa, I'm not the Hunter you knew.”
“No shit! I didn't notice. The Hunter I knew had integrity and honesty and he would have done anything to keep me safe even if it meant his own life.” My heart hurt as I saw the pain flash in his eyes. “He never would have thought about hurting me for a second. Yet this Hunter? The one right in front of me? He's done nothing but hurt me.”
He stared at me. His fists clenched and relaxed at his sides, and he raised one shaky, clenched hand, before releasing the fist like he was dropping something. He stormed past me, grabbed the key from his pocket, and walked to the door.
The key went in. Lock clicked. Door slammed. Echoed... Loudly. Over and and over.
I covered my face with my hands. I just wanted him to feel my pain. I just wanted to get rid of the swirling potion of anger and helplessness I felt. Every time I felt like I was getting somewhere, something happened that put my whole plan back ten steps.
I was there again. I could feel it. The plan to retake my family was slipping further and further from my grasp, and the only person to blame for that was me. I was letting my emotion get the better of me. I wasn't thinking like a Romano.
I was thinking like the twenty-three year old girl who'd just found her best friend and soulmate.
I was thinking like the twenty-three year old girl who was confused and maybe a little in love with the man she hated just as much.
You're an idiot, Adriana. Such a fucking idiot.
The door slammed again.
I looked through my fingers as Hunter appeared, his hair disheveled as though he'd scrubbed at it with both hands.
“You wanna talk hurt, Addy?” His eyes blazed with a tsunami of emotion. They mingled together so thoroughly there was no way to tell them apart. “You wanna talk to me about fucking hurt? I loved you. We were only kids, but I loved you harder than I ever thought someone could. I remember