When he’d died two years ago, she’d decided to stay. If there was no one left on earth who understood her, at least this place did.
She drove up the winding pathway to the castle now. It was dark up here—very little artificial light at night. Her headlights led the way, and she could see only the shadow of the old house on the jagged peak of hill.
Her mother called it a morgue. Her father had called it a crumbling atrocity.
Serena had begun to call ithomeand meant it. Because neither her father’s ostentatious estate in the city, nor her mother’s unending array of apartments, houses, villas—all usually funded by the next man down the line—had ever been home.
She parked in the garage, then moved inside, unlocking and then re-engaging the security system. As was so often her habit, she went straight to her room and began the process of taking Serena Valli off.
The heels went first, then the expensive dress and jewelry, making sure to put her mother’s belongings in a little case to be returned as soon as possible. She scrubbed her face clean of makeup, took out her contacts and replaced them with her glasses. Neatly, she put everything back where it belonged.
The house could get drafty at night, so she grabbed a shawl before she went down to her sitting room, where a hot mug of tea, a book and her cats would be waiting for her while a fire crackled cozily in the hearth.
She’d need a good hour to decompress before she could even begin to consider sleep. Leopold immediately meowed at her as she entered the luxurious room she’d done little to change since her grandfather’s death.
She knew to anyone else it would appear fussy and outdated.Elderlyeven with its dark woods, floral wallpapers and heaps of shawls and throws, but she loved it, and now that some of the sharp grief of losing her grandfather had softened into a subtle missing him, the room comforted her as her grandfather once had with just his presence.
What she had done was add another kitten—this one after her father’s death. She was also considering a bird, though Pierro, her house manager, had threatened to quit over that. Her trio of dogs had been trained as guard dogs and they had their own little outbuilding for the evenings, but she was considering getting a puppy that wasjusta dog.Justa companion. To be allowed inside to cuddle up in bed with her and the cats. Something tiny and yappy and wonderful.
Serena loved animals. They were so simple. They could be so loving, and interesting with their own little personalities. They could be pleased easily with daily meals and attention.
She settled into her chair now and took a sip of tea as Leopold hopped onto her lap, and Kate watched with jealous eyes but did not move from her perch at the window. On a sigh of pleasure, Serena smoothed her hand down Leopold’s spine, closed her eyes and finally relaxed.
In the quiet, only the sound of the fire crackling, she sipped her tea, but she did not pick up her book. She was exhausted, but she would not be able to sleep.
The solution she had suggested to her sworn enemy was not one she relished, not one shewanted. It was simply the only one available to her. And now she’d have to wait—for days, no doubt—to see if Luciano would be smart enough to take such an unfortunate deal.
She worried there. It had always been clear he had no real loyalty to Ascione. She had been surprised, in fact, that he hadn’t sold it upon his father’s death. It was well known in their world that he would not take over any role in his father’s company.
But apparently he’d inherited it all the same.
Now she just had to wait.
“I am good at waiting,” she told Leopold as he hopped off her lap, no doubt to go harass Kate.
She let her eyes drift closed for a minute. Maybe if she fell asleep here, she would actually sleep for more than an hour or two, before another worry woke her up.
Then she heard someone enter. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes to see Pierro standing in the doorway. He looked…perplexed, which was unlike him.
“Ms. Valli. I apologize for interrupting, but you have a rather…insistent visitor.”
“I am not seeing any visitors at this hour, Pierro. You of all people should be able to see to that.” She was in herpajamas, with a shawl wrapped around her. Honestly, what would possess Pierro…?
She heard it then. A familiar dark, ill-boding voice somewhere in the house. Getting closer by the moment.
“We could call thepolizia,” Pierro offered.
But he knew, as well as she did, that this would be a tactical error and bring all the wrong kind of attention to a problem they were trying to hide. That was why he posed it as a question, rather than going ahead and doing it.
Serena sighed, tried to find some inner center of strength here as she got to her feet.
She’d taken off all of her armor, but she couldhearhim.
“Please, show him in,” Serena said between clenched teeth, hoping Pierro could takesomecontrol of the situation.
“You must be on your best behavior, Leopold,” she murmured to her younger cat, who had a habit of getting a little rambunctious at night. Sweet Kate was placid in her old age and blinked from her perch in the window.
When Luciano strode into her cozy living room, she was not dressed to be Serena Valli, but she would not let that deter her. She stood, chin up, hazel eyes defiant. The fire that crackled in the hearth and the shawl around her shoulders might give the aura of cozy, but she would not.
