“With what?”
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “Getting Henry back.”
I blinked at her. Confusion setting in. “Why would he do that?”
Maddie shrugged. “I told him no.”
I reached across the table and took her hand. “Oh, Maddie, why?”
“Because I can’t disrupt his life. He doesn’t know me.” She paused and looked out the window. “I went to the park, but he had already gone home. I missed seeing him. I should have gone there first.”
A tear slipped over her cheek, and I wondered if something else was bothering her.
“Honey, what is it?” I asked. “You’ve missed him before and not been this sad.”
She pulled her hand from mine and leaned back in her chair. “I spoke to someone. Or rather, he spoke to me.”
“Who?” I asked. I could already feel my back straightening, knowing that if someone hurt her, I would go to the city I hated and pound on Illyria’s front door. They had no cause to treat my daughter this way.
“He was one of Maxim’s men.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“No. He...”
“He what, sweetheart? What did he do?”
“He didn’t do anything. He told me that Henry had already gone home.”
“Then why are you upset, Maddie?”
I didn’t care what my brother said; if one of Maxim’s men had hurt my little girl, I would go to war with the Bratva myself. Everything I’d done in my life was for her. To keep her safe. I wouldn’t change that now.
“I felt something,” she whispered, as if she were afraid to say it out loud.
“What do you mean?”
She stood up and walked to the window. Her arms held her stomach as if she were in pain. All I could do was wait. I wouldn’t push her to talk, but suddenly everything fell into place, and I understood exactly what she was afraid of.
“Maddie, it’s okay to fall in love again,” I said carefully. “He wouldn’t want you to be alone.”
She shook her head but didn’t turn around. “He was my everything. He was my life. No one can take his place.”
“Oh, honey, of course no one could take his place. That isn’t what I meant. Salvatore has been gone for three years. He would want you to be happy.”
“It’s not enough. It will never be enough.”
I stood up and walked to my daughter. I wrapped my arms around her and stared at her reflection in the window.
“You are a beautiful woman. Both inside and out. You have so much love to give. Salvatore wouldn’t want you to be alone for the rest of your life. If he loved you as much as you loved him, he’d want you to find love again.”
“I’ll never find a love like that again,” she cried.
“No, baby, you won’t. You’ll find a different love. One no less magical, no less consuming.”
“What about you?” She sniffled.
“What about me?”
