Protettore.

Chapter 12.

Enzo's POV

The three of us entered my office and I slammed the door shut behind me, leaving it rattling in its frame.

"That meeting was a waste of my fucking time." I growled at Fiero who said nothing. It was his stupid fault we had the meeting in the first place. "I would kill to protect every man in that room and their families. The fact that Michael would dare say something like that to me proves he needs some reminding of what is expected of him."

Fiero only nodded in response. I looked over to see why he wasn't talking, but he wasn't looking at me. His mouth was set in a thin line and his eyes were trained on my girl sitting on the sofa in the corner of the room. I had been so busy in my own rage that I hadn't even noticed the darkened cloud her mood became. She was staring at the speckled carpet with a furrowed brow and her bottom lip caught firmly between her teeth.

"Go have that talk with Michael, Fiero." He nodded and exited the office with one last worried glance at Nora.

I took her hand and tugged her to my side, placing my arm around her shoulders. She stiffened at my touch for the first time in a while. "Please tell me what you're thinking baby girl."

She just shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She was holding her breath to keep from crying. I hated when she did that. I wish she would just let herself express her emotions naturally. Whenever she did this, it often led to a hyperventilating panic attack.

"You're not worrying about what that idiot in there said are you?" I gave her shoulders a playful shake.

When she finally looked up at me, her eyes were swimming with tears. "Why shouldn't I? He's right! I'm no good to anyone. I only cause problems. I-I shouldn't-" her breath was gasping.

"Hey, hey, hey." I pulled her into my lap, and she pressed her face into the crook of my neck. "Don't you dare listen to anything that fucker said. What did I tell you before we went into the conference room?"

She only continued to cry silently. I could kill Michael. I knew for a fact that she felt this way about herself on a daily basis, but it was a totally different beast to hear those words from another's mouth. I would spend the rest of my life reassuring her if that's what it took for her to see her self-worth.

"I told you your place is always right next to me. Do you remember that?" she sniffled in response. "And have you ever known me to lie to you?"

She fisted the lapel of my jacket in her little hands and uttered a small 'no'.

"Alright then. There's no reason to worry about what some low-IQ mouth breather said, right?" She nodded, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You're good for me. You've brought light to my life. You're my everything. Remember that." At my words, she sat up straighter and looked me directly in the eyes. Her lips were swollen from her incessant chewing and her pupils were dilated. She was warm and felt so good in my arms.

I couldn't resist her anymore. Her lips were begging to be kissed. "Enzo, I-"

We were interrupted by three sharp knocks on my office door. The bubble we had created around ourselves had popped and we were suddenly back on the leather sofa in my office. I groaned and Nora scrambled off my lap and quickly wiped the remaining tears from her face. Her cheeks were flushed and all I wanted to do was pull her body back onto mine.

"Enter."

The nameless receptionist from the lobby came in with a package in her hands. "Mr. Lorenzo, this package just arrived for you and your guest." She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. I imagine she thought she was being flirtatious, but it looked more like a nervous tick to me.