I followed them out into the corridor and towards the playroom. Enzo’s attention was solely on Nerina as she chatted about the song she knew that taught her the colours of the rainbow. She shoved open the playroom door, where Elle and the twins were each at a canvas, painting. Elle twisted around with a smile, which dropped as soon as she saw Enzo and my irritated glare. She mouthed an apology for not realising I was with him when she let Nerina come to me.
“This is mine!” Nerina shouted, rushing over to a white canvas streaked with colours that resembled a rainbow. “Papi,look!”
“It’s amazing,Stellina.” I kissed the top of her head. “So clever, and you remembered the order of the colours.Brava!”
“Do you like it?” She looked at Enzo, twisting her body in her glittery blue tutu from side to side.
“I love it. It’s a masterpiece.”
Her face lit up, and she picked it up from the table. “It’s for you.”
The emotional look on his face nearly ripped my soul from my body. “Are you sure?”
“Si.I don’t mind.” She shrugged her little shoulders, and he bent down to take it from her.
“Grazie,”he said, staring at the picture as if it were an original Michelangelo, not a finger painting by a three-year-old.
Then she did something that took us all by surprise. She hugged him. My gaze snapped to Elle, who stared at me with wide eyes as Enzo knelt, frozen by my daughter's onslaught of affection. It was all too much, seeing him with her. Two worlds that I wanted to keep apart collided. Letting him close enough to break me was one thing, but I’d protect her until my dying breath.
“It’s time for Enzo to go,” I said sharply when they broke apart. “Say goodbye, Nerina.”
“Ciao!”She waved at him and dashed over to where Isotta was busy creating something in the arts and crafts corner.
Enzo slowly stood back on his feet, still holding that fucking picture, and glanced at me. His eyes were soft, softer than I’d seen them in years, and it took me back to the man I used to know. I turned my back to him and opened the door, gesturing for him to leave.
Once we were outside, I walked ahead, my body tense and my mind flustered. He didn’t speak, but I could feel his gaze on me; the hairs on the back of my neck stood up under his attention. Why did my body still react this way? Why, after all these years, did I still feel anything for this man? It was infuriating. I didn’t want it.
He grabbed my elbow, yanking me back before we reached the staircase that would take us down to a more public area where Barbieri soldiers stood on guard.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered into the shell of my ear. I spun around, twisting my arm free from his grasp.
What exactly was he sorry for? The years he kept me a secret? Trying to marry my best friend in a fake arranged marriage?Asking me to accept it while he fucked me on the side? Or the fact that, ten years later, he’d shown up, said he still loved me, and accepted a gift from my daughter, making my heart tear open again?
“No,” I growled. He flinched back, clearly hurt and confused by my sudden fury, but I couldn’t stop. It had been brewing inside me for years. Every time I’d tried to take another lover, I’d compare them to him. Every time I’d tried to tell myself I was worth being loved in the light, I’d only been reminded that I didn’t want anyone else’s love. Only his.
“You don’t get to come to my city, to my house, demand my help, and then do this! What did you think would happen, Enzo? That I was so naive I’d fall into your arms when you told me you still loved me? That you could worm your way into my daughter’s life to make me weak? Fuck off. I’m this close to backing out of this plan against the Americans because of you! The only reason I’m even doing this is because they will keep coming for our families, and I can’t have Nerina in their sights. Do you understand that? I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for her.”
He licked his lips, his blue eyes shining in the sunlight pouring through the window, making my pulse quicken. Hurt flickered across his face before vanishing like a closing book. But I stood my ground. Once, I would have given in. This kind of passion, fury, and addictive toxicity had been my downfall, but not anymore. Not now that I was a father.
He glanced away, looking out of the window, and exhaled, his body rigid. “I don’t think you’re naive or weak, Finn. I just… fuck. She’s… the image of you. She’s amazing. I’d go to war for her, too.”
I shook my head, stepped back, and gritted my teeth. Enzo had always been dangerous to me. But this version, the one who said shit like that with such genuine feeling, he was lethal.
“This is business, Enzo. I mean it. If we can’t work together, this will fail. I have too much at stake for this to go wrong.”
He stepped back, shoved his hands in his pockets, and nodded. “I know. Fuck, I’m sorry. Business only.”
We stood metres apart, yet the distance felt like an ocean. Why was it that the moment he stepped back was exactly when I wanted to pull him closer? I couldn’t allow this man to have any control over me again. If we hoped to stand a chance against the Americans, we had to keep this strictly professional.
“I’ll go back to the North. Get shit ready. Call me when it’s time, and I’ll be there,” he said, his voice hardening.
“Will do.”
He nodded, then hurried down the stairs, his impressive muscles rippling beneath his clothes until he disappeared from sight. I leaned back against the wall, glancing up at the ceiling.
Fuck. This was going to be harder than I thought.
Chapter six
