I fucking wanted—needed—my wife back.
The demon had gotten so far entrenched in her mind that I knew she was struggling to find her way back to me—to us—but I’d killed him. He would never hurt her or us again, not even in nightmares.
I’d gone to battle for her soul, and then I slayed the demon to take mine back.
It was only a matter of time before she started burning in the darkness for me again. Because I refused to believe otherwise.
Without her—I ran a hand over my heart. I’d be stuck in eternal darkness without my light.
An easy sigh came from my right.
“No need to be stuck with me here,” I said to Matteo, who was sitting next to me in the grass, our view the stone giant and the pond before it. He’d decided he didn’t want to hang out with his cousins before we left, but me. He’d been stuck like glue to me ever since I got rid of theratto.
“I’ll do,” he said.
I’ll do.I grinned at that.
“Check her out,” I said, nodding toward a swan, a pen, making her way with a few cygnets following her.
His eyes narrowed. “She reminds me of mamma. She moves, and it does not seem like she does sometimes.”
“A hundred percent,” I said.
“Do you think—do you think she will ever dance again?”
“It’s a miracle mamma is alive, and walking.” I sighed. “Yeah, I do. Mamma is hardheaded, when she’s thinking straight. Even if she doesn’t dance like she did before, she’ll dance. It’s a big part of who mamma is. They’ll find a way back to each other.”
We both became quiet. I’d been fiddling with a blade of grass, and I noticed that he was too.
I sighed again, laying back in the grass, using my arms as a pillow. He did the exact same thing. I crossed my feet, and so did he.
Grinning, I slid my Ray-Bans off my eyes and set them over his. He didn’t turn to me, but something told me it pleased him. I made a mental note to tell Scarlett to buy him a pair. He could pick out a pair himself.
“We should do something nice for mamma,” he said. “Something that will make her feel like herself again.”
“Yeah? Have any ideas?”
“Not really,” he said. “That was my idea.”
I laughed. “All right,” I said. “We’ll talk to Aunt Carmine about getting someone to help carry out something special—at home. Then we’re getting the fuck out of here and back to our family.”
29
Scarlett
The sun in Austin seemed stronger, almost blinding, and without the air-soaked humidity.
My father, ever the generous one, had given us the keys to his mansion overlooking Lake Travis. He had acquired it recently. One of his oil pals had taken a turn for the worse and his son, pretending to be distraught, had sold the property to my father under the illusion that the family hurt for money.
A couple weeks after the sale, the son had taken off to Mexico, not wanting to be brought back to America to be charged with the murder of his father.
Punishment, death penalty.
Charlotte had been in love with the murderous son since she was old enough to notice the opposite sex. Explained a lot, in my opinion. Birds of a feather and all of that. I chose not to mention this to either of my parents, seeing as my father would only shake his head and my mother would complain that I was being petty.
She could call it what she wanted, but the truth was the truth.
My father assured me, though, that the mansion overlooking the lake wasn’t where the crime had taken place. Violet decided to research the ordeal before we left. The murder occurred in Chappell Hill, Texas, about an hour from Houston. Houston was where the hub of my father’s business took place.
