Chapter 3

"Miss Vittori, the boss says you're required at tomorrow night's dinner. His exact words were: 'She took my money, and she will fulfill every last family obligation before she leaves. After that meal, she can go wherever she likes.'"

Falling back on the family again.

"Send me the address. Tell him this is the last time I entertain anyone for him."

The next evening, at a private club in Lower Manhattan, the dinner the Vittori family was hosting was billed as business and was really a quiet negotiation among the Five Families over territory.

My job that night was simply to show up, make an appearance, dine, and then leave.

My father was in a booth with the Colombo underboss discussing the redistribution of the docks, all smiles, as though he weren't the one whose shipment had been taken.

Isabella was being pestered by Anthony, the Colombo family's youngest son.

She laughed and pointed at me. "My sister is the face of the Vittoris. Anthony should be buying her a drink."

Anthony's father was in the middle of the dock talks with mine.

He was betting I wouldn't dare embarrass both families at a moment like this, and sure enough, he approached me with a glass in his hand.

Marco didn't follow me. He stayed at Isabella's side, fending off the guests who drew near to her, every protective instinct he had aimed at her alone.

Anthony used the pretext of talking business to block my way, and when I didn't turn on him, his hand slid onto my waist.

I called him by his full name, my voice cold. "Marco De Luca. Come here."

Only then did Marco come back from Isabella's side.

He gave Anthony one cold look, and Anthony took his hand back at once and retreated with his drink.

"Anyone who didn't know better would think you were Isabella's bodyguard." I brushed off the spot he had touched in disgust. "Get it straight. Right now you are still my personal bodyguard."

He lowered his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't see it."

"From that close, you didn't see it?" I curved my lips and leaned in suddenly, my red lips nearly brushing his jaw. "Are your eyes broken, or do you just not want to look?"

I watched his throat move, and then he took half a step back. "Miss Vittori, you've had too much to drink."

I drained my champagne. "I'm getting some air. Come with me."

The wind on the terrace was cool. I crooked a finger at Marco. "Jacket."

He hesitated, then took off his suit jacket and put it over my shoulders.

Just then a burst of shrieking and the snarl of a dog came from the ballroom.

The side door had been knocked open at some point, and a huge hunting dog had come charging in. Several Colombo bodyguards scrambled in a panic, trying to get it under control.

It was a vicious hunting dog the Colombos had brought!

Something had gone wrong. It had slipped its restraint and was tearing through the ballroom out of control.

The Colombo underboss went green in the face.

The dog knocked over a row of chairs and came straight for the terrace entrance.

Isabella was walking over with a glass in her hand.

Marco pulled Isabella behind him with one hand and shoved me hard in the shoulder with the other.

I stumbled out through the terrace entrance, fully exposed in the dog's line of sight.

It changed direction at once and sprang at me.

I screamed, but there was no time. Hot, rank breath was already washing over my face.

Its fangs were less than half an arm's length from my throat when a shot cut through the ballroom.

The bullet went through the dog's skull. It slammed down at my feet.

Before I could get one breath, its falling body knocked over the champagne tower beside me, and rows of glasses came down from above.

"Help..."

Isabella's frail little voice forced its way out of her throat again.

Marco tore the jacket off my shoulders and threw it over Isabella, then used his own body to shield her head and face.

I went down flat on my back into broken glass.

Sharp glass pierced my arms, calves, and back, and warm blood quickly soaked through my skirt.

I was in too much pain to get up. Marco had already carried Isabella to the emergency exit and was bent over checking whether she was hurt. He never looked back at me once.

The lights in front of me broke apart, and I went under.

When I came around again, a thousand stinging pains swept over my body.

I saw Isabella bury her face against Marco's shoulder, sobbing as if her mother had died. "You're my sister's bodyguard. Why did you protect me? It's all my fault. If it weren't for me she wouldn't be hurt."

"Don't blame yourself, Miss Isabella." Marco wiped her tears away with his fingertips. "If it happened a hundred more times, I'd still choose to save you."

"Why?" Isabella looked up through her tears.

Marco looked at her, and something soft came into his eyes. "Because I lo..."

I said, flatly, "This is a hospital room. If the two of you have private things to say, take them elsewhere and let me rest."

Isabella jerked back out of Marco's arms.

"You're awake!" She rushed to my bedside, tears springing up on command. "How do you feel? Does it still hurt? It's all my fault..." I looked at her, my voice completely flat. "If you know it was your fault, put your tears away. Nobody here enjoys the performance."

She went white, gave Marco a tearful look, and ran out.

He started after her without thinking, forced himself to stop, and turned back to explain. "Miss Vittori, it was an emergency. I didn't have time to react."

"I don't think you need me to remind you who employs you."

I settled back into the pillow, my voice even. "If you can't even keep your own job straight, there's no reason to stay here. Get out."

For three whole days after that he stood outside my room like a conscientious bodyguard, and I never said another word to him.

The day I was discharged and got back to the house, the butler handed me a transfer order.

I signed in the approval box.

From that moment Marco De Luca was formally reassigned as Isabella Vittori's bodyguard.

"One more thing. The boss says Marco failed to protect his principal, but he did protect Isabella, so he wants the matter dropped."

Of course. The one he protected was the daughter my father loves more.

And that was exactly why I wouldn't let it go.

"Send Marco to me."