She kissed my hand before she let go. She sat on the bed, legs crossed, staring down at her empty palm as she continued on.
“I know most people think loving is a simple thing, compared to what I’ve found in the ballet. It doesn’t feel simple to me. It feels right. It always has. I never dreamed of this life, Brando. When I dreamed, I dreamed of us. Living in our house on Snow. Becoming a teacher. Going to the diner once a week for date night. Bouncing around in your old truck while we cruised downtown. Getting an ice cream and then walking around holding hands. This life—it’s become much bigger than what I bargained for.”
After a few minutes had passed, I got down on one knee next to the bed, taking her hand in mine. “You’ve been here before, baby,” I said. “But you have to remember that you can’t dance forever. I’m fine. We’re fine. I’ll always be here. Your career won’t—not like it is now.”
“I—I know. But. It’s me. It’s a struggle between what I can do, what I’ve found success in, and what my heart wants to do. It’s always wanted to be with you, in a simpler life.”
Here was her mother’s greatest fear—that, and her daughter marrying a wild Italian who had nothing to offer her at first. Nothing but love.
“I’ll be proud of you no matter what you do.”
“You will?” She gave me a sad smile.
I squeezed her hand in reply. She felt my answer.
“Tell me the rest,” I said.
Her eyes met mine. “Change. Change I can’t seem to keep up with. It’s like being caught up in a whirlwind. There’s so much trapped in there with me—fear, anger, sadness. I can’t feel my way to the other side.”
I squeezed her hand once more before I rose up off my knee and went into our closet. I reached up on a shelf, bringing down the box. Scarlett took one look at it and hopped off the bed. She backed away, hands up.
“A r-rose?”
I didn’t get any closer. Instead, I placed the box on the bathroom counter, so she wouldn’t have to see it.
“Some kid dropped it off on the porch the night I picked you up from The Club. During all of the chaos, the kid was overlooked on the monitors.”
“Was it—”
“Yeah, packaged the same way it was before. Except now it’s in a small, carved coffin.”
“What did it say?”
I refused to repeat what I had read, all of the blood rushing to my head, making me feel almost manic.
“Oh, I see,” she said, judging by the look on my face. “It has my name on it again. Murdered, at the bottom?”
She sat on the bed, her face pale. Her eyes were a hypnotizing green, so close to emerald in this light that they glistened. But when she went so pale, and her eyes so green, she almost reminded me of a creature yet to be discovered, one that had no name butmine.
“What else?” She asked.
“Ettore.”
“Luca unleashed him. Because you refused his offer.”
“That covers the finer points.”
She sighed. “We need a plan.”
I sat next to her on the bed, pulling her onto my lap. She moved in closer, as close as she could get.
“I’ll tell you what we’re not going to do. We’re not going to separate. Ever.” I’d lose my fucking mind. Nothing or no one could save me but her.
“Will if I want to,” she said, and I felt a familiar tremble shoot through her.
“It was only a matter of time,” I said. “Let the laughter begin.”
Scarlett suffered from nervous laughter. If she couldn’t deal with a situation, or if life had somehow become too burdensome, she’d crack with laughter until she cried. Tito thought that it stemmed from her being so strong—she couldn’t let go easily, and laughter was a means to get to the emotions she couldn’t express.
