"Mr. Cavetti?" Alegna's voice pierced my thought. "Are you okay? You look like you don't feel well all of a sudden."
I didn't. I felt sick in the pit of my stomach.
"I'm okay. You can tell my father I've received his message. Thank you."
“You’re welcome, Mr. Cavetti.” She turned around and picked up a bag of trash, gave me a quick bow, said “If you need anything, do not hesitate to call for us,” and then left.
The rest of the day was a blur of me making all of the appropriate arrangements for my eventual departure. I secured a townhome about two hours outside of Chicago, where I wasn’t likely to be seen. I set up new bank accounts to operate under that weren’t attached to my father or my family at all, and moved a significant amount of money into them to live off of.
My savings was bordering on seven figures. Turns out, when you’re forced to do little else but sit at home and be mostly ignored by everyone around you, but still have all of life’s luxuries paid for on your family’s dime, saving up earnings is pretty easy. My father didn’t provide me with an allowance like he did the rest of his children, but I did earn an underboss’ salary if for no other reason, to ensure my fingerprints were all over his dirty money in case I decided to flee the coop.
I ordered furniture and groceries to stock my new place with and secured a couple of my trusted street dogs to become some underlings of my own. Once I was “dead” as a Cavetti, the clout that was associated with the last name wouldn’t extend to me anymore. Considering that, I realized that I was going to need a new last name to go by in general. My mother’s last name was too closely associated with my father so that wasn’t a good idea. I would have preferred something that meant something to me but was on the cusp of just making something up.
Then there was a knock on my door.
I glanced at the clock and noticed that it was already after 9:00 pm. Once the house was quieted for the night, apart from my brothers who frequently stepped out at night to party or run the streets, Philippa made her way to my room. I got up from my desk and walked over to the door, answering it to her pristine pale face.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to say goodbye earlier,” she said.
I didn’t respond.
My arms wrapped around her waist and it was like I was moving on instinct as I guided her over to the bed. Everything else left my mind and all I could think about was drinking up as much of my beautiful lover as I could. As I peeled each article of her clothes away, I kissed her skin and tried my hardest to memorize every bend and curve of her skin. I wanted the softness of her thighs to be as emblazoned on my brain as the sweet look in her beautiful, brown eyes.
Every time I pushed into her, I closed my eyes and held the feeling in my brain. Would it ever feel that good with someone else? Thatmeaningful? Never mind that, would I ever be able to take someone else? When I thought of it, my mind immediately told me no. She was the woman I wanted with every cell in my body. As long as we were both living, she was the only one who could quench the thirst I had for her alone.
I didn’t want to give her up.
“Gianni,” she hummed to me, her bare body atop mine, still breathing out the end of our last round. “What’s wrong?”
My hands slid up her legs and wrapped around her hips. She was half my size in every way. In a far, dark corner of my mind, I wondered if I really could fit her into a bag and drag her off with me. My father would never let her out of the house though, not knowing what he did to her mother and his fear that she might tell. Even if he wasn’t aware that she saw in person how he killed her, he knew that she knew and wouldn’t ever let her back into regular society with that knowledge.
Not alive anyway.
“I have something to tell you,” I said. “It’s not good.”
She sat back, unintentionally arousing me yet again as her bare ass nuzzled against my exhausted member. “Okay?” I sat up in bed and slid backward, bringing her flush against me. Wrapping my arms around her back and holding as tight as I could, I kissed her. It was as unexpected to me as it was to her, but when we parted, I dropped my head to her shoulder just as emotions came up to my throat. “Gianni.” She placed her hands on either side of my head and tilted it back. I didn’t like showing emotions. I wasn’t a vulnerable person. “What is it?” She knew as well as I did my propensity for burying the way I felt and was terrified to see it risen to the surface.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “This is the last time we’ll be together.”
Her face went from scared to anguished in the blink of an eye. “What?” Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and it broke my heart. “Why?”
“I shouldn’t have lied to you. I’m sorry,” I said again. “I…” I hugged her tight. “I don’t want to lose you.”
Her fingers laced into my hair. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’re not,” I said. My throat felt like it was clogged with a lump of coal. “I am.”
Philippa pulled back and looked into my eyes. “Where are you going?”
“In three days, my father is mounting a coup against the Bonifacios. As revenge for my death, he’s going to murder the heads and capture the children, Lucia included,” I explained.
The wide look of panic on Philippa’s face set my heart racing. “Your death?” At that, tears started to flow down her cheeks. “No. You can’t. You can’t die for him.”
“Phil… ”
“No!” She yelped, then wrapped her arms around my shoulders and held on tight. “I won’t let you. You can’t leave me. I… I love you, Gianni. Please don’t do this.”
“I’m not dying,.” I pushed her away from me a little, used my hands to wipe the tears away from her cheeks, and then pointed down at the newest of my scars, one she’d been curious about before but I kept the truth from her. A repeated pot-shot wound from burning hunting pellets straight to my stomach. “If they shoot me here, I’ll be okay.”
