“Twenty minutes.” I kept my voice steady and firm. “Grab essentials for both of you. Meet me downstairs.”
Ren nodded once again and stood, already moving purposefully around Matteo’s room. Her efficiency was a balm,knowing she could keep her head in a crisis, but it was also a warning that this was unusual for her.
“Thank you, Ren.”
She stopped and turned slowly until our eyes locked. “Of course.”
With that, I headed back to my room to pack a small bag of clothes and toiletries before I rushed to my office. I pulled the heavy silver case from the safe and filled it with flash drives, ledgers, burner phones, and contingency files—everything I needed to run the DeRossi organization from anywhere in the world.
It wasn’t paranoia; it was preparation.
We rolled out in a black SUV with Damien behind the wheel, headlights cutting through the darkness as tires crunched over gravel. I called Luca as soon as we were on the highway.
“Power’s out,” I said the moment he answered. “Someone knocked a fucking tree down.”
There was a long silence, and then, “Jesus fuck,” he muttered. “You need to get off the road where you’re not a sitting target, but hotels are too fucking traceable. Since they know about Ren, we can’t use her cards or her house either.”
“And it’s the middle of the fucking night.”
“Right. Let me think.” Luca wasn’t just my number two; he was a fixer.
Ren reached across the back seat and laid a hand on my forearm. “I might know a place. One of my former nannies lives up on the mountain.” She gave Luca their names in a calm voice meant to soothe Matteo.
“I’ll vet them and get back to you.”
The thirty-minute wait felt obnoxious, but when Luca called back with the green light, Damien maneuvered the car up the mountain where we met a gruff mountain man and his sweet wife and child, who set us up in a guest cabin.
“Thank you, Xavier, and you too, Rosalee.” Ren hugged the woman tight and offered a quick handshake to the man, same as I had. She turned to me once they were gone. “We’ll be okay here for a few days.”
I nodded, watching the road beyond and the sky above as guilt tightened my chest. This was my fault, pure and simple. Even though I had no fucking clue who was doing this—yet—I knew I should’ve let Ren go sooner. As soon as I understood what was happening, I should’ve gone back to California and left Matteo with Valentina.
Now it was too late to turn back, too late to give her up.
Chapter 21
Serenity
The guest cabin smelled like pine and clean linen with a hint of rain and dirt. These were guest cabins for fun; they were meant to ride out unexpected rain, to literally be a refuge in the storm. The cabin was small, but there was enough in here to last a few days.
Mattie clung to my side the entire car ride and he didn’t let go, not even once we stepped inside the cabin. His small fingers curled into my sweater like an anchor. He was trying to be brave; I could see it in the way his chin lifted, in how he didn’t ask the questions I knew were crowding his mind. His chin wobbled as if he was holding back tears.
I crouched in front of him and brushed his hair back, finding a reassuring smile. “You ever been on a mountain before?”
He shook his head slowly, eyes wide as he took in the wood-paneled walls and the low-beamed ceiling. “I wish we could go outside.”
“Soon,” Enzo said gently from behind me. “I just need to check a few things first.”
He sounded calm, but I knew better. The lines around his eyes and mouth showed signs of tension, and he’d been a tightcoil since the lights went out. Each move he made was slow and deliberate; every spot his green eyes landed on was assessed for danger and then safety. We left so quickly there hadn’t been any time for real conversation, and the weight of all the unanswered questions pressed down on my chest.
Mattie yawned mid-sentence, the excitement of new surroundings, a middle-of-the-night exit, and suppressed fear had finally caught up to him.
“Come on,” I laughed softly. “Let’s get you ready for bed.”
“I’m not sleepy,” he insisted, even as another yawn split his face.
“Yeah, sure you’re not, buddy. Let’s put on pajamas and brush your teeth, and then see how you feel.”
He nodded and placed his hand in mine, so full of trust my heart expanded as it made even more room for him.
