“Shot,” he rasped. “Dorian…”
I looked back at Seraphina, who stood frozen at the edge of the trees, her eyes wide with horror.
“Stay there,” I told her, voice tight. I turned back to Finley, scanning the woods again. If Dorian was still out here, we were too exposed.
I needed to get them both out of here. Fast.
But first, I had to keep Finley breathing.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Seraphina
I hadn’t felt safe in a long time.
Not truly. Not in the way that let me breathe without bracing for impact from whatever Dorian had planned for me next. But this morning, when I opened my eyes to the white linen curtains and the fragrance of rosemary drifting in from the garden, something inside me shifted. For the first time in a long time, I felt relief.
I was back in the States at the Puglisi estate, tucked behind wrought-iron gates, thousands of miles, and an ocean away from Greece. My sister insisted this was the safest place I could be, and I couldn’t agree more. The walls were thick, the staff vetted, and the security detail rotated like clockwork. And while therewas nowhere Dorian couldn’t find me, at least here he couldn’t get to me even if he did. But something gnawed at me.
Sergio.
I hadn’t heard from him.
No calls. No messages. Nothing. And I didn’t like the way it made me feel. Not after everything that had happened. Not after the way he looked at me before he left, like he needed to memorize my face just in case it was the last time he might see me. I didn’t like the silence.
I stood on the balcony, watching the breeze stir the oak trees. The warm sun against my skin didn’t reach the chill inside my chest.
I pulled my phone from my pocket again, hoping that this time I saw something different. Still nothing.
I told myself he was just making sure Finley was alright. That he would reach out once Finley was out of the woods. But the quiet stretched too long. And I knew deep down the silence was because he went after Dorian. I wanted Dorian dead, but I wanted Sergio alive more.
The door opening drew my attention, and I looked over my shoulder. My heart soared. He had finally come back, and I could stop worrying. But when Phoenix came in, my happiness disappeared. Not that I wasn’t happy to see my sister, I just wanted to see Sergio to make sure he was alright.
She shut the door behind her then came to stand next to me on the balcony. “I haven’t heard anything yet,” she said before I even asked.
I let out a sigh.
“It’s okay to be worried about him, Seraphina.”
I looked at my sister, and she smiled when she looked at me. “You’re team Sergio, now?”
“Never. He’s an asshole. He almost got you killed and was the reason my son was taken by a maniac. He will always be on my shit list. But he got you away from Dorian, and for that he has my gratitude.”
I focused back on the view. “I still love him.”
“I know you do. But…”
“But I can’t trust him.”
“No, you can’t but trust can be built or repaired.”
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience?”
Phoenix gripped the wrought-iron railing, her eyes sweeping across the estate’s manicured lawns. The gardens bloomed in perfect symmetry. The roses too red, the hedges too precise, and the fountains sounded in the gentle breeze. It was breathtakingto witness such beauty. But beneath the ivy and marble, beneath the perfection that only the eye could see, the soil remembered the bloodshed that made this family as powerful as it was. Every stone path had been laid, every blossom that bloomed was only here because of a favor owed, or a life taken.
“Trust is something Gianni, and I have worked on since high school. Sometimes trust is broken. It’s just a consequence of dealing with the Puglisi men.”
“How can I ever get past what he did?”
