He holds it while I lift the lid.
And I gasp, looking up at him.
“You can thank Bella.”
The sight of my purse and phone knock the breath from me.
These small, ordinary objects feel like oxygen after drowning, as if I’ve been offered pieces of my life back.
He gives me a wry grin.“She was rather…insistent.”
That I can believe.I love her fierceness, and I couldn’t be more grateful that she is who she is.
I don’t know if there is a catch, but I snatch up the phone.
Has he wiped the data, scrubbed every contact and message that once connected me to my father, to Chiara, to the world I once ruled from the shadows?
He closes his hand on mine.“We need to talk.”
ChapterTwenty-Three
Valentina
“Talk?”I tip my head to the side.
“You want updates.You’ve earned them.”
For a moment I simply stare at him.His words in my chest where relief and suspicion twist together in uneasy partnership.Updates.As though my life has become a situation report delivered at the discretion of the man who now controls every wall around me.
Still, the promise of answers pulls at me with undeniable force.
“You’re willing to share them now?”I ask quietly.
His hand still rests over mine, warm and unyielding where it holds my phone between us.
Up close I can see the faint shadow of fatigue beneath his eyes, the subtle tension in his jaw that never quite disappears even when he’s smiling.
“I said we need to talk.”
“And you’re choosing this moment to become generous?”
Something flickers in his gaze—amusement, perhaps, or the faintest hint of admiration for the challenge in my voice.
“We’ll talk downstairs.”His mouth curves slightly.“Lucia, our chef, has prepared lunch for us.”
I realize I’ve barely eaten anything since he stole me off the rooftop.This morning’s coffee and bubbly weren’t exactly a breakfast of champions.
I nod.
He releases my hand, and the sudden absence of his touch leaves my skin strangely aware of the space between us.
While he turns away to reach for a pair of dark jeans, I open my phone.Not surprisingly, the battery is almost dead.
But Moretti has not deleted my data.
I couldn’t be more shocked.
Quickly I scroll through the missed calls.
