Strapped: A Second Chance Mafia Romance by Emma Spring Page A

just know that I can’t fully trust my own judgement because I assumed what we had before, all those years ago, was love... and it was on my side, but the way that he wouldn’t say it when I told him that I was leaving had me questioning absolutely everything.
    “Oh my God, how can you not see it?” Ryan laughs. “That guy is so in love with you, it’s unreal.”
    “What do you mean?” I gasp, unable to disguise my need to know any longer. “How could you tell?”
    “Olivia, it was written all over his face. You forget that I’m a man who now has a lot of experience in the romantic field,” I chuckle at his joke, feeling an odd sense of relief flood through me. “And that guy is in love... hard. Are you together? How long has it been going on?”
    “No,” I rasp, the sadness catching up with me once more. “No, we aren’t. I don't think it’s going to work out.”
    “Why not?” He asks, sounding genuinely shocked. “What could possibly be keeping you two apart?”
    The fact that he’s in the mafia.
    Because he’s a killer.
    “We’re just too different,” I smile blandly, opting for an out and out lie. “It’s just the way it is.”
    “Ah well,” he turns back to face his work, rapidly losing any interest now that there isn’t any juiciness to the story. “Plenty more fish in the sea.”
    But as I get back to my menial task at work, my mind can’t help but whir. I don't want any other fish, I only want Marco. I know that it doesn’t make any sense, and that he isn’t the sort of guy that I should even be giving a chance to, but I can’t help how I feel.
    Maybe... maybe I haven’t given him a chance.
    I don't know if I’m just giving myself an excuse to possibly go back to Marco, but once that idea is fixed in my brain, it isn’t going away. My dad always refused to give him any kind of a chance because he just didn’t know him, and he moved me across the country to ensure that I kept away from him. He was so adamant that he didn’t want to give him an opportunity – especially after he got mixed up with the police – and that was that. He was written off as if he didn’t even exist.
    Am I doing the same by running away as soon as he’s told me about his life? I didn’t really give him the chance to explain, and I haven’t made any effort to speak to him since. Will he see me as just another person to brush him under the carpet? Is that what I want to be, or should I attempt to be more? Should I at least hear him out?
    Especially if Ryan’s observation was right, and he does genuinely love me.
    By the time I arrive home after another very long shift, I can’t stop thinking about the Marco I know, rather than the man he told me he was. I recall his strong, yet sensitive nature, his kind heart, his inner strength, his ability to really do something if he commits, and the way that he always put me first.
    Maybe he only pushed me away back then to protect me, and maybe he’s doing the same now.
    Well, fuck that! I think to myself. I don't need protecting. I’m a grown woman, I can look after myself.
    And with that, a switch has flicked on in my brain, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that I’m going to see him. I haven’t yet decided on my motivation yet, I don't quite know why I’m going to see Marco, and what I’m going to say when I do lay my eyes upon him, but I do know that if I even attempt to sit in my apartment, I’ll end up driving myself crazy.
    I glance at my phone for a few seconds, trying to decide whether or not I should call him first, before quickly dismissing that idea. I’m so charged up that I actually need to see him face to face, so I quickly throw some better clothes on. I don’t know much, but I do know that I need to at least attempt to look good, so I grab a red, knee-length dress and some black ballet pumps. I even go as far as to run a brush through my hair a couple of times, just to make a real effort.
    Then I walk out the door without