Her eyes turned up slowly to meet mine. Her long, black lashes fanned up, making her eyes seem more intense, more feline. Her makeup was simple, her lips a color that matched her name.
I couldn’t believe how foolish I had been to ever let her go. The carelessness of it stole my breath. I had played a foolish game ofpollowith my life. No wonder the word rhymed with wife. “Grazie, mia moglie, per essere fedeli.” I took her hand and put her wrist to my lips. “Chi può trovare una moglie virtuosa e capace? È più preziosa dei rubini.”Thank you, my wife, for being faithful. Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies.“I found you, Scarlett,” I said. “I refuse to lose you. I forbid it.”
She and I both knew that was the closest I’d come to asking her not to pursue the separate trips. For me, it felt close to begging.
* * *
Her silence gutted me. She refused to give in. In return, I hardened even further.
I rose from the bench, leaving her to the roses and bees. Whatever Rocco had told her had convinced her. She had played the unhappy card to force my hand.
Whatever Rocco needed from me—whatever they all needed from me—did feel…big? Life-changing? Important? I didn’t know, not in exact terms. Feelings were a mystery to me. They were things that floated in space, there but never reachable. Scarlett was the real in my life, as well as fantasy. I had caught a falling star. And that star was sending me off in a fucking rocket.
This trip came at the cost of my wife’s safety. For bonding, she had said. What a fucking weak word.I might have growled but wasn’t paying much attention to anything outside of my head.
Fucking Rocco.
How did she expect me tobondwith the man when I had started to resent him? He knew the cost of this trip, yet he was selfish enough to push it. Scotland, Ireland, Spain—three separate countries. The knowledge it took to put together a risk assessment on this particular quandary didn’t exist—it couldn’t. It would have been burnt to a crisp trying to formulate an answer.
My wife was just that much of a risk. If she danced—game over.
Running a hand through my hair, I paced the rows of roses.
Africa. She might as well have been sending me into space. How could I even get back to her if she needed me? Under with great whites, she had said. Safaris, Romeo had mentioned. Sleeping under the stars in a tree house, Dario had nudged me. Mitch and Mick on board, discussing all of the possibilities. Tito even agreed, though with a subtle nod. Which still made him atraditore.
I waved a hand. All of them. In cahoots.
I stopped moving, narrowing my eyes at her, before I started up again. Not for long. She shot up from the bench, rushing over to me as though the devil was on her heels. She slammed into my back, wrapping her hands around my stomach. Her heart beat hard against me, and without even having to see her, I knew her eyes were shut tight.
“Tell me what’s wrong.” At the same time I said this, I searched for the threat.
“I heard something,” she barely whispered.
I pulled her to my side, keeping her tucked in. Her arms were puckered with goosebumps.
“People are coming and going from the party,” I said, hoping that was it. It bothered me when she saw people that were dead. Felt their presence even. There wasn’t much I could do about it. “It was probably one of them.”
She shook her head. “I—I don’t know. I feel like there’s so much history here. Maja hid here with him at one time. Aunt Sibilla said so. I’m not sure if I’m feeling the tension and the intense love they felt or…if I’m feeling them. Now.”
I completely missed a step and grabbed for a ghost to catch me before I fell. A cold wind blew over me, and every hair stood erect.
“It’s real, Brando. I can feel it.”
She closed her eyes and released her hold some. Long shadows stretched across the cobblestones, slid up the walls, danced with the wavering torches—fires alive in the night air, swaying with audible breaths.
“Tell them to rest easy,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Tell them that you don’t need them. I’m here.”
“I think they know that!” she hissed.
“All the same. Tell them.”
“That’s rude!”
“Scarlett,” I warned. “I mean no disrespect, and you can tell them that too, if you want. But they need to rest easy. They need to know that you’re in good hands. I’m here to take care of you, on this side. They can take care of you from theirside.”
She cleared her throat. “Brando’s here,” she said as quiet as a mouse. I almost expected her to let out a squeak.
“Louder.”
