“My father isn’t exactly sane sometimes. He thinks he’s much more powerful than he actually is. At least, that’s the impression that I’ve always gotten.”
“Thank you, Sera. I am aware.”
I nodded, then allowed Enzo to take my arm and escort me out while Luca called Tristan and asked him to join them. When we reached the door, Enzo took my hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss to my knuckles before lowering it to my side again, but he didn’t let go.
“I’ll come find you as soon as we’re finished here.”
“Okay.”
“But first, give me back the pen that’s in your pocket.”
There was no condemnation in his eyes when they met mine. “I was nervous.”
“I know.”
Reaching into my back pocket, I handed it over, then I gave him a small smile. I left Luca’s office with a slight glimmer of hope in my chest for the first time since Enzo had told me he knew who I was. Perhaps Veda was right.
Maybe they were coming up with a plan to free me from my father’s prison.
I could only hope he would be smart enough to take the deal, or I had a very real fear this meeting would end up bloody.
CHAPTER18
Enzo
When our meeting was over, I went searching for Sera. I’d gone through the entire upstairs before I began to panic. My heart raced and my hands shook as I rushed down the stairs, nearly running over Lisa in the process, who was heading upstairs with a pile of clean sheets in her arms. “Have you seen Sera?” I practically yelled at her.
“Yes.” She smiled and pointed toward the patio doors. “She’s enjoying the heated pool. I told her I’d get her a towel as soon as I made up the bed in Luca and Veda’s room.”
My head whipped around to the patio doors, and I could see ripples in the water at the end of the pool closest to the house. “I’ll get her towel for her. But thank you.”
“Of course.” With another smile, she continued on her way.
In the laundry room, I opened the cabinet where Luca kept extra pool towels and grabbed one that was large and soft, white with blue stripes. Then I strode across the great room to the patio doors and quietly opened one and slipped outside.
My eyes found her right away, floating at the far end of the pool with her arms crossed beneath her chin on the side of the pool, staring out at the yellows and oranges and pinks of the setting sun that highlighted her pale skin. Her bright pink hair hung down her back, darkened by the water, and her legs kicked with lazy strokes beneath the water. I wished I could watch her all night. But darkness was coming, and the temperature was dropping. “I brought you a towel.”
She gasped and spun around in the water, nearly sinking beneath the surface before she caught herself with one hand on the edge. “Enzo! You scared the hell out of me!”
I set the towel down in a chair and stuffed my hands into the front pockets of my slacks as I strolled over to her. “Are you ready to get out? Lisa will be starting dinner soon.”
“No,” she said. “This water is so warm it’s like a giant bathtub.” She hesitated, then said, “Why don’t you come in with me?”
“I don’t have a bathing suit.”
She looked at me with an expression of complete innocence. “Neither do I.”
My cock swelled at the thought of nothing touching her skin but the warm, silky water, even as anger heated my blood that she may have put on a show for anyone who could’ve been watching. The hypocrisy there didn’t escape me, but at the moment, I didn’t give a fuck. I glanced toward the glass doors, but no one lingered in the great room. “What are you fucking doing? What if someone saw you?”
“All the menfolk were locked away in Luca’s office. The only ones who might’ve seen anything were Veda or Lisa. And they didn’t.”
“What about the soldiers patrolling the grounds?” I ground out.
Her gaze was challenging as she said, “It’s nothing they haven’t seen before.”
“Sera.” There was a strong warning in my tone. I was not in the mood.
She rolled her eyes and shrugged, one smooth, pale shoulder lifting from the water. “I don’t think they can see up here. And if they can, well, they can consider it a bonus.” A naughty grin spread across her face until it grew too wide, pulling the scrapes on her face. She winced, and the smile slipped away.
