“I believe so, yes. Unless you’ve got better plans?” I arched an eyebrow.
“Are you insane?” she hissed.
“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun,” I lied and flashed her a smile.
The truth was that I had no idea what I was doing. My family didn’t even know she existed, let alone that she’s my wife. But sooner or later, the truth was bound to come out, right? And if her father truly did promise her to another family, I needed to warn mine before someone brought war to our door to reclaim their right and took my brothers by surprise.
I leaned forward. “Look, you might have fun at the circus.”
She blushed. “I never said your family’s a circu—”
“I know what you think, though.” I wiggled my brows at her playfully. “I’m telling you… It’s just to get your minds off things.”
She sighed and took a second to think before nodding. “Fine. But when they hate me, remember this was your idea.”
I grinned. “They won’t hate you. They’ll hate me for keeping you secret. And Alisa? Tonight, wear something nice, but nothing too fancy. Caspian likes to pretend he’s sophisticated, but we’re still just a bunch of criminals playing house.”
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t hide her smile.
***
“You’re very quiet tonight,” I observed as we drove toward Caspian’s mansion in the suburbs. The whole drive over, Alisa had stayed quiet and stared out of the window listlessly.
“It’s just a pretty view,” she mumbled, without turning to me.
It was a beautiful view, no doubt, with the setting sun and sky painted in crimson and gold, but I knew her silence had nothing to do with admiring the view.
We drove in silence for a few minutes before I spoke again. “My sisters will love you. Elena’s the oldest—she’s married to Gastone Ajello and they have two kids. Beatrice is the baby of the family. She’s single and stubborn as hell, but we let it slide because she’s the best baker in all of New York.”
At last, she looked over at me. “How many siblings do you have?”
I hid back a smile, not wanting to scare her off. She was nervous enough already, and something told me too much exuberance would have pushed her back into that shell of hers. But hearing about my family? It worked.
“I’ve got six siblings.”
“That must be nice.” She let out a small whoosh of air from between her lips. “I always wanted siblings growing up.”
I glanced at her, the light from the setting sun catching the slope of her cheek. “You didn’t enjoy being an only kid?”
Something about this conversation tugged at my heart. Despite the past, despite thinking I knew everything there was to know about her, I was learning something about Alisa that I didn’t already know. It felt jarring in a way—a reminder of just what little time we truly spent together and how I mistook it for a lifetime.
She shrugged. “Papa was always working, traveling, or out with clients. Even when he was home, he wasn’t home.”
I could feel the loneliness in her voice.
Her voice dropped lower. “And Mama… well, she… “
“Dead,” I said quietly. “I remember.”
“Yeah,” she whispered, but I heard the lump in her throat. She drifted away once again, and I let her.
I remembered the night she told me, after drinking too many glasses of wine. We’d checked into a hotel after a long flight, and I’d asked if she needed to check in with her parents. She’d cried in my arms all night. Back then, she told me something strange, something that never registered.
Her father never asked how she was doing after her mother passed. He simply told her she was gone, then got her a new dress for the funeral. A driver took her. She had been only eight.
Now I understood. The man had no soul. But Alisa? She still clung to the idea of a father who gave a damn—and it drove me insane.
A few minutes later, as the gates of Caspian’s estate came into view, I slowed the car.
