“Always thinking of others. You are a good woman, Carly.”
“You forgot stupid. If I’d been smart, I wouldn’t have gone outside by myself. I just thought...I thought it was safe, you know? I thought I’d be fine.”
Gio knelt in front of where I was sitting and took my face in his hands. “You are not stupid,Bella. You have a good heart and you didn’t think your stalker would do anything beyond sending you notes. You had no idea Chablis was setting you up.”
“But I should have, Gio. I should have known she was up to something when she said her outfit had a tear in it and she’d left her backup in her car. She never did that.”
He pressed a finger to my lips. “Enough. We cannot change what happened. It’s over. You’re safe. And you will heal.”
Part of me wanted to keep arguing but I was suddenly drained. “Will you take me down to the car to wait for Risa? I’m just so exhausted all of a sudden.”
“Of course,Tesoro.”
He carried me down to the car and I leaned my head back on the seat while I waited for Risa to be finished packing her bag. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, he was tucking me into bed back at the house.
“Sleep,Amore.”
His words flitted through my mind and I felt a faint smile grace my lips before I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
