Finally I go still, and I stare around the darkened room, my panting breaths filling the silence as I wonder what the hell just happened. Cum is glistening on my knuckles.
I reach for a tissue and clean myself up. Then I stand and pace to the window. The city spreads out toward the horizon,dark and full of secrets. Somewhere out there, Adora is sleeping. Or maybe she’s awake too, haunted by my nighttime visit.
I feel a gnawing need to see her again. To touch her and make that dream real.
I push my hand through my hair. Christ, I’m losing my mind.
I turn back to the desk, to the two pieces of jewelry still sitting there like questions. The ring. The necklace. Revenge or redemption?
An idea begins to form in my mind, dark and calculating.
What if it’s not one or the other?
What if I can have both revenge and Adora?
I need to see her. Not break into her room like a criminal or corner her when she’s vulnerable. I need to take her out, and Agnello needs to know about it.
On a date.
It sounds absurd, going on a date with the woman who helped her father slaughter my family, but it’s perfect. Strategic. It’s not a real date because I’m using it to discover how to truly devastate Don Agnello. I’ll figure out what he loves most, and I’ll grind it under my heel. I’ll make him suffer for what he did to my family.
Then I’ll kill him.
Seeing Adora again, making her smile at me instead of cry because of me, showering her with the attention and affection that she’s not getting from her father, will help win her to my side and infuriate him. Adora is the key to getting closer to Don Agnello and figuring out his weaknesses.
The plan is strategic and calculated.
It has nothing to do with the fact that I can’t close my eyes without seeing her face.
7
Adora
Ifind the note tucked behind a wiper on my windshield after class.
One of my bodyguards reaches for it, but I snatch it before he can. The name scrawled on the folded piece of paper clearly saysAdora. I may not have my freedom, but I’ll be damned if I can’t read my own mail.
When I unfold the letter, I instantly regret my eagerness. Black ink flows confidently across the page, and my heart lurches into my throat.
Doe,
We need to talk. Shall we try meeting somewhere there hasn’t been a murder?
I’ll pick you up at eight.
Your future husband,
Vincenzo
P.S. Lose the bodyguards.
My eyes widen at his sign-off. I stare at those three words until they become a blur.Your future husband.Is that a taunt? A threat? A promise? The man who destroyed my most precious possession is signing notes like we’re in a formal courtship.
I don’t think I can bear to look at Vincenzo after what he did last night, but I doubt I’ll be given any choice in the matter.
I stare at the note so long that the bodyguard at my elbow shifts on his feet. “Miss Montoni?”
Resigned to my fate, I hand him the note. “When we get home, please give this to my father.”
