“I’m not freaking out. I just can’t believe how stupid I am. You know what? It’s not even worth it. At least I’m not a virgin anymore. At least he can’t hurt me.” Tears were streaming down her cheeks; she wiped them away and laughed. ‘Try not to feel, Mil.’ What a pathetic joke. Because I feel every damn thing.”

“Mil!” I grasped her shoulders and shook her. “Look at me.”

She raised her eyes, but they were empty. What the hell was going on?

“Mil?” A knock came on the door. Phoenix? What the hell was Phoenix doing there? I went to open it, but Mil punched me in the jaw before I was able to do anything.

“What the hell!” I yelled from the floor.

“Don’t open the door!” Tears mixed with rage made her face like a mask of turmoil. I pushed her away, still gripping my jaw, and jerked open the door.

“Not a good time, man.” I rubbed my jaw. Phoenix’s eyes took in my state of undress, then he pushed me out of the way and stomped toward Mil.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Dad’s going to go ape-shit if he finds you in here!”

“Dad?” I croaked.

Mil didn’t look apologetic.

“Let him,” Mil said in a numb voice. “What’s done is done.”

“Mil—” Phoenix closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. “Please tell me you didn’t… not with Chase.”

“Like I said, what’s done is done. Now he can’t hurt me.”

Confusion went off like a freaking atom bomb in my system. Now I couldn’t hurt her? Or was she talking about someone else? And who the hell was she?

Phoenix threw a shirt at Mil and stalked toward me. “If you touch her again, I’ll gut you from head to toe.”

“I didn’t know, man, I promise. I had no idea.” I held up my hands. “Swear.”

Mil cursed and pushed her way into our conversation. “Let’s go, Phoenix.”

Phoenix gave me one last look and led the way out the door.

“Why me?” I whispered as Mil stepped by.

“Because I knew you wouldn’t hurt me,” she answered.

“But I did.”

“Not in the way I was worried about.” She sighed and grabbed Phoenix’s hand. They walked like that all the way to the elevators, leaving me empty.

It was the last time I saw Mil. And the beginning of the end of my relationship with Phoenix…

“You awake?” Mil elbowed me in the ribs. “Come on, sunshine.”

“Everything hurts,” I grumbled, not recognizing my own lust-filled voice. Oh great. How was I going to explain that away? Sorry Mil, but I’m a male, and you’re a female, and sometimes when males get… shit. If I couldn’t say aroused in my head, I sure as hell couldn’t say it out loud.

“Seriously, Chase.” Mil smothered me with her pillow. “I know you’re sore.”

Damn, her choice of words needed help. I wasn’t sore. I was dying. Every part of my anatomy that made me a man was slowly going to shrink away into my body if I couldn’t get my head out of my ass and focus on anything except the fact that about two seconds ago I’d felt her breast graze my arm.

Married.

We were married.

So breasts? Totally okay. Fine. Not a problem.

“Alright, well if you’re not going to go shower first, then I am. We have a plane to catch.”

“You can’t be serious!” That snapped me out of it. “You want us to go on our honeymoon after everything that went down last night?”

“It was never a honeymoon.” Mil stopped halfway toward the bathroom and turned. “Vegas is close — but it’s also where my mom lives, one of the reasons I didn’t want to go.”

“Wait.” I shook my head. “Back up. Your mom’s alive?”

“A ghost,” Mil corrected. “Just like Sergio, only she may have the keys we need to fix this whole mess.”

“How do you figure?”

Mil was silent for a minute before answering in a quiet voice. “She has the ear of the Capo di Capi.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to swallow as my body shook — not with anger — no this was pure raw fear. This was something unlike I’d ever experienced in my life.

“Tell me you didn’t just say Capo di Capi. Tell me we aren’t meeting with Vito Campisi.”

“We aren’t,” Mil answered.

I exhaled.

“We’re meeting with his wife.”

Mil

It had to be a bad sign that I was spending over half our wedding night and morning in the bathroom like a complete coward. Chase’s curses filled the otherwise peaceful morning air as I slammed the door shut and locked it.

Wouldn’t be the first time we’d woken up in the same bed angry at one another.

I’d chosen Chase because he was safe — I just didn’t know that he’d also be tempting as hell. There was something so attractive about his protectiveness — damn. I sounded like every other mafia wife out there. They loved the money, they loved the lifestyle, but mainly — they loved that their husbands were fiercely protective, fiercely loyal.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus. So many scenarios swam around my head that I felt dizzy. Balancing Chase and my family was going to be difficult. Balancing my feelings? Near impossible.

At least I could trust him. He would never betray me. That thought alone got me through the morning as I washed my face and put on fresh clothes. Vegas wasn’t for the faint of heart, and I was officially walking into the lions’ den. I wasn’t sure if we’d make it out alive.

I hadn’t planned past the meeting in Vegas, because I wasn’t sure how it would go. I’d tried to sleep but sleep wouldn’t come, so I planned. I went over and over all the connections I had, went through every scenario that would have us coming out of this alive. And all I was able to come up with was my mom.

Marrying Chase had bought me time as well as protection. And I needed both if I was going to be meeting with Tanya.

My hands trembled as I unlocked the bathroom door. I’d always wondered what it would be like, to know you only had twenty-four hours to live. Would I change anything? Would I be acting any different than I was in that moment? I pushed the door open and gasped.

Chase was texting someone, completely ignoring everything else going on in the universe, which of course gave me adequate time to take in his state of undress. Standing in nothing but a pair of ripped jeans, he looked like every girl’s fantasy. Thick, corded muscles lined his flat stomach, leading all the way up to cut shoulders. His tan back had more muscles than I was aware even existed on the human body.

Yes. I gulped. I would do something different.

If I knew I had twenty-four hours to live.

I’d spend every last one staring at him.

Even if it was staring and nothing more — I’d do it. My heart did a little flip in my chest as Chase lifted his eyes and grinned. “You look good, Mil.”

I gave a weak nod, using every ounce of strength I had to avert my eyes and appear disinterested.

“I’ll just put on a shirt then,” Chase mumbled.

Yes, do that. For the love of God, put on some clothes!

I sat on the bed and pretended to be looking at my cell phone, when I heard the zipper to his suitcase close.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay.” I shoved my phone in my jeans pocket and snatched my purse from the table. Chase carried our two suitcases into the elevator.

That damn elevator music was the only noise as we descended to the lobby. I wasn’t sure if I was making it awkward, or if it really was just awkward as hell. Neither of us moved when the elevator doors first opened, and then both of us moved at the same time. As his arm brushed mine, I groaned. Chase cursed and then said, “After you.”

I was like a scared rabbit getting chased by a fox. I practically ran to the front desk and waited for Chase.