Instead, she shook her head and stared toward the window. “Can we stay here? Just for tonight?”
When she turned to face me again, her eyes were pleading. I shook my head, getting down on one knee next to her.
“No, Mia,” I said. “I don’t hide. We’re not hiding. I refuse to.”
“Are you giving me an ultimatum?”
“Life is about choices. Yes or no. Left or right. I refuse to allow anyone to make this choice for us. I’m ready for this. I’ve always been ready. I want the world to know who you are to me.”
She stood abruptly, going back to the window, giving me her back. She pressed her palm to the glass. She didn’t say anything for at least twenty minutes.
My fucking heart kept track.
“All right,” she said, finally turning to face me. The ghost of her touch disappeared a second after she took her hand back. “Let’s go.”
We went a different way, to a different car. Another one of my little sister’s alias buys. We were quiet the entire hour drive. I didn’t speed this time, taking my time. Rain fell against the windshield, keeping the wipers busy.
Mia let out a heavy breath when the gates opened and we were allowed entrance. A murderous face was what we both saw first. Her father. His hair was disheveled, and he looked just like the beast everyone called him. Scarlett’s face was as pale as her daughter’s had been. A crowd stood around them, waiting in the rain.
“I’ve never done anything like this before…” Mia’s voice trailed off as I parked.
I went around to her door and opened it. I took her hand and helped her out. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and then met Brando Fausti’s wrath face to face.
Something I’d never even seen a man do.
Chapter15
Mia
“If I were dead and buried And I heard your voice, Beneath the sod My heart of dust Would still rejoice.”
The TV played in the background.Roman Holiday.But I wasn’t really seeing it. Or listening to Magpie make comments about it while she ate popcorn mixed with a ton of candy. It made my stomach churn.
The night before played through my thoughts as vividly as the movie. Sneaking out.S’envoyer en l’air. My lips tingling. Feeling flighty like a bird. Being worried about Saverio. Livia pulling me inside the dark room. The rocky catacombs. Making love. Fighting. Our flight. The apartment in Paris. Healing and breaking at the same time.
Papà and mamma’s faces when we arrived at the estate.
I would never forget the rage on papà’s, and the fear on mamma’s. I was ready for whatever he would say, but I wasn’t ready for him to come in close and sniff my mouth. Then for him to turn his back on me and walk away. Mamma studied my eyes, and I saw a fear like I’d never seen in them before. She turned and left me with Saverio and the crowd, out in the rain, to follow behind him.
Probably to talk him out of doing something dangerous.
I’d never let them down like that before.
Did I regret it?
I sighed out a breath and shook my head.
No.
I was old enough not to have to sneak out of my own house. I was old enough to say if I wanted guards or not around me. I was old enough to go to a club if I wanted to. I was already attached to man like half of his heart was welded to mine, so…a little freedom would go a long way in other aspects of my life.
Even if I went because I was worried about Saverio—in more ways than one—my parents couldn’t blame me for being reckless when the cause of this...connection came from them.
The pressure in my chest hurt, though. I didn’t want to let them down or make them worry, but…I closed my eyes and leaned my head against Magpie’s shoulder, her presence enough to lull me to sleep.
Or maybe it was avoidance.
Sometime today, I knew someone would call me in for a meeting. Tension was something the men in my family didn’t do well with when it came to family matters. They would want it gone, like a mortal enemy.
