My heart jumped into my throat. “Dante? Do… do you think we were followed?”
“I don’t think so.” He paled, and his eyes darted left and right.
“Could it be… an animal?”
Dante tensed beside me and whispered. “Shit. A bear, maybe?”
“Oh my god, oh my god,” I hissed. “Do bears like burgers? We had burgers.”
“They like everything,” he muttered, suddenly stepping in front of me protectively. “Don’t move.”
I didn’t breathe, and we heard another rustle.
Something shifted in the shadows by a tree.
We both stared, braced, frozen like two idiots about to be mauled to death when we saw what it was.
A small, fluffy, smug-looking cat padded out from the trees and gave us both a disinterested blink before sauntering right past.
“What the actual fuck?” I shrieked and grabbed Dante’s arm in disbelief.
Beside me, Dante started laughing. “Well. That was terrifying.”
And just like that, I lost it. I laughed so hard I had to bend over, hands on my knees. Dante laughed too, wiping away tears.
“You were ready to fight a bear,” I wheezed.
“You screamed first!”
He doubled over again, and soon we were both laughing uncontrollably. When the laughter finally faded, I looked up at him. His face was flushed from laughing, his eyes crinkled in that way I secretly loved.
“I needed that,” I admitted softly.
He looked down at me, a smile still tugging at his lips. “Yeah,” he murmured. “Me too. But before a real bear finds us, how about we get home?”
***
The drive back was comfortable, and the beauty of the night had wrapped me up in some sort of hopeful cocoon. Even a couple of hours away from the city, surrounded by nature, had reset my nervous system in the best way possible.
But I knew the calm wouldn’t last. The moment we got home, we found Federico waiting for us in the living room, and nothing about his expression screamed friendly visit.
“Federico?” Dante and I exchanged nervous glances, and Dante stepped toward him. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I didn’t know what to do, brother,” Federico said, but his eyes flickered to mine. My heart was racing, and I felt a premonition of bad news coming our way.
“Your father reached out through a mutual contact,” he told me with a sigh.
“What did he want?” Dante hissed.
I saw a flash of sympathy cross Federico’s face as he looked at me again, before turning back to Dante. “He wants to have dinner with Alisa.”
Chapter 17 - Dante
We walked Federico out and saw him to his car. Once inside, he rolled down his windows and gave us both a sympathetic smile.
“I’m sorry to have had to bring this to you,” he said with more kindness than I knew my brother capable of, as he looked at Alisa.
“Thank you, Federico,” Alisa said sweetly. I looked over at her, and she was still pale.
