I stare up at the ceiling from where I lie on the bed, mentally preparing myself to get up and make my morning coffee.
I’m not usually so desperate for a caffeine fix in the mornings. But then again, I’m not normally sleeping in my stalkers spare bedroom while he’s out doing God knows what, trying to find the man who’s after me and leaving me to stay in his small apartment with his scary as hell brother who communicates in grunts.
I barely slept, my mind spinning with everything that’s happened over the last few weeks.
How did I go from being the invisible girl who was constantly overlooked to being the girl with a stalker and being attacked and threatened by random men?
If someone had told me a couple of months ago that this would be my life—that I’d be staying with an obsessive Mafia prince while he tracks down a man who plans to… I don’t know, hurt me? Kidnap me? He wasn’t exactly specific in that area; I just know it was nothing good—I’d have thought they had lost their damn mind and probably advise them to get some help.
But no, of course this is my life.
At one point during the night—between tossing and turning in this huge bed and freaking out about what will happen if Enzo doesn’t find the mystery man—I briefly wondered if I’d actually just lost my goddamn mind and this was all some messed up dream that I’m having from reading too many Mafia romance books.
Maybe that’s why I haven’t completely freaked out about the whole Enzo situation, I’ve gone and desensitized myself by reading so much dark romance that the idea of having a stalker doesn’t even really phase me.
I sigh before kicking the cover from my body and finally get out of bed.
It doesn’t take me long to shower and dress and by the time I’m done it’s only seven thirty.
I head out to the kitchen where I find Marco sitting at the kitchen island nursing a cup of coffee. He’s wearing a fresh suit and looks perfectly put together, whereas I’ve thrown on an oversized shirt and leggings. We’re worlds apart and I wonder how him and Enzo are brothers when they’re complete opposites.
“Morning,” I murmur as I pour myself a coffee and stand with my hip resting against the counter. I’m not sure what to do, do I stay here and try and make conversation with a man that’s impossible to communicate with? Do I go sit in the lounge? Do I hide away in the bedroom again?
As I predicted, rather than speaking to me he nods his head in greeting before standing. He makes his way around the island, and I instinctively take a step back, causing him to pause his movements.
He stands and stares at me for a moment, head tilted, and eyes slightly narrowed, making me squirm under his scrutiny.
“You’re scared of me.” It’s a statement, not a question.
“You don’t exactly come across as the warm and fuzzy type,” I say, not knowing what else to say to him.
“But you’re here?” he questions as he opens the fridge and starts pulling things out.
“Uhh…” What the hell do I say to that? And what does he mean exactly?
He must sense my confusion because he pauses his movements and turns his full attention back to me.
“Are you scared of Enzo?”
“No,” I automatically say without thinking, even though the answer is true. I should be scared of him; I should be terrified, but I’m not.
I take a sip of my coffee and try not to fidget under the weight of his gaze as he stares at me questioningly.
“That’s never happened before,” he mutters, more to himself than to me.
“What’s never happened before?”
“Enzo has always been the one everyone is afraid of. Luca too. Sure, I make people uncomfortable because I prefer to observe rather than engage, but I’ve never known anyone to feel comfortable around my brother while also being scared of me. You have nothing to be afraid of by the way, my little brother would happily put a bullet between my eyes if anything were to happen to you under my watch,” he says before resuming what he was doing.
“I should be scared of him, but for some odd reason he makes me feel protected, he makes me feel safe. It’s strange, I know…” I trail off as he continues rummaging around in the fridge—what is he looking for?
“Can I help?”
“Nope, sit your ass down while I make breakfast. I’m under strict orders to make sure you’re taken care of.”
Well, okay then…
I’ve spent the day reading, avoiding Marco’s curious stares and dodging calls from Lia. She’s not happy that I’ve backed out of girls night for the third week in a row.
I’m gonna have to tell her what’s going on at some point, I just honestly don’t know how to put the situation into words.
Me and Marco haven’t spoken much since he cooked me breakfast and we ate in silence. After that, he had sandwiches delivered for lunch and pizza for dinner because apparently Enzo didn’t have much food in the apartment.
I know that their older brother Luca is still in the hospital. I tried telling Marco that he didn’t have to stay with me and that he should be with his brother instead, but he wouldn’t hear a word of it. He said that Izzy would probably just kick him out anyways and that he didn’t feel like “getting his dick sliced off by Enzo” which was a threat that he’d actually made.
And as for Enzo, I haven’t heard a word from him since he called late last night.
I’m definitely not worried about him, because you’d be insane to be worried about a man who has been stalking you.
Insane.
I check the time on my phone and see that it’s just after eight. Deciding to stop sitting here wallowing in self-pity, I say goodnight to Marco and head to my assigned bedroom.
I get undressed and take a shower, reveling in the rain shower head that’s one hundred times better than the one in my own apartment. I take my time scrubbing my body, since I know that as soon as I’m lying in bed, I’ll be back to stressing and overthinking—wondering what Enzo is up to and if he’s okay.
Stepping out of the shower, I wrap a towel around my body, dry off and go to grab my clothes—except I realize I didn’t bring them into the bathroom with me.
I’m in a world of my own as I exit the bathroom, but the clearing of a throat soon gets my attention. My head snaps up and my eyes clash with a brown pair that look so heated, they threaten to bring me to my knees.
