La Vita Dolce Ch. 02

She lay sleeping, her dark hair a cloud around her. She frowned in her sleep, fretting as though she knew the danger she was in.

He wrenched the mask from his face and ran a shaking hand though his hair. His other hand gripped the gun tightly.

'I can't.'

'You must...' Came a quieter darker voice.

"No" he groaned and Natasha stirred but did not wake. Part of him wanted her to wake and see him there.

Why her? What had she done? And then he saw Alejandro Montelli, clearly, standing in the airport his arm around Natasha. Christ. She had been with him. Why? He racked his brain. Montelli was, mob boss, Renaldo Pezzini's hired man. Was she seeing him? Was that it?

He stood and gazed down at her. She looked so innocent so.... She was tiny really, just a little thing. He wondered how old she was. Asleep she looked childlike, no more than eighteen.

He lightly touched a dark curl that lay on the pillow. "You're safe, little one." He whispered. But for how long, he wondered. If he didn't finish the job someone else would.

He didn't know how long he stood there watching her sleep but when he finally left her room his mind was made up. No, he couldn't kill her. And he would let no one else harm her. She was his.