Or maybe just having a baby around the house will chase them away. I mean, who wants the constant reminder of what can happen if you’re not playing it safe?
After dinner, Dante corners me in the hallway, alone. “We’ll start first thing in the morning with your training,” he says.
I have no idea what that will entail. Being stuck with Dante for the weekend, doing whatever dirty job he requires of me is not something I’m looking forward to.
But I know what I signed up for, and I swallow the seeds of doubt and get on with it.
“Fine,” I say, surprised he’s not making me start this evening, but I’m not about to question his motives. I know better than to piss him off.
“Where’s your fiancée?” Dante asks, and I’m quite confident he’s not asking because he cares.
Unless you count him caring for his mafia family, but it’s not out of any sense of kindness.
“Harper is on campus for the weekend,” I say, leaving out the part where she’s hanging out with her best friend Kensley.
“She’s not spending the weekend with her son?” Dante seems disappointed.
“Her parents aren’t speaking to her at the moment.”
“How unfortunate,” he says, but I don’t see any remorse on his face for his involvement in this mess.
I lean against the wall, fold my arms across my chest and glare at him. “Right, coming from the man who insisted we tell her parents about our engagement over a dinner here,” I seethe. I’m not the least bit happy about my father pulling all the strings.
It seems I have zero control over the situation, in part my own doing by trying to save Harper.
Would I do it all over again?
Absolutely.
“Speaking of the engagement. Your mother and I were talking, and we insist that you both have the wedding here, under our roof. We’ll pay for everything. Your mother is happy to handle the wedding plans since you both are in school and Harper is, I’m sure, busy with her son.”
“You’re not serious.” I stare at him like he just suggested decimating an entire population.
“I don’t think February is too soon,” Dante says. “We’ll let you pick the date.”
How fricking generous of him to let us choose our own wedding date. “Great,” I grumble.
When the conversation is done, I head toward the library, finding Nova curled on the sofa reading under the lamplight.
“Have enough room for two?” I ask.
She holds up a finger, finishes her page and then slides a bookmark to keep her place. Nova keeps her voice low and quiet. “Have you heard anything about Rhys?”
“Your bodyguard? No, why?”
“I haven’t seen him since my birthday party,” Nova says. “He won’t answer his phone when I call him. Don’t you think that’s weird?”
“Caden hasn’t been around either,” I point out. But we both know why he isn’t under my father’s roof anymore.
He was murdered.
“So, you do think something happened to Rhys!” Her eyes widen and then she covers her mouth, realizing that we have to talk quieter or take this conversation some place else if we don’t want anyone to eavesdrop.
The last time we snuck into the hall closet, we got caught. At least out in the open, we’re less suspicious, just two siblings hanging out together.
“I don’t know, Nova. Maybe he has another assignment that’s keeping him off the compound for a while. Did you ask your father about it?”
“Yeah, he told me to stop asking questions and then he assigned Nico as my personal security detail. Not that Nico does much. Since Mom and Dad gave me a car, I don’t have to depend on one of their goons to drive me around town. Sometimes he comes with me, but he’s not very friendly.”
