I squeeze her hand tighter and lean in closer.“Chiara.It’s me.You’re all right.You’re awake.”
Her eyes finally stay open after one more fluttering try.And I see immediate recognition in them as she fixes her gaze on me.Fear and happiness.Relief maybe.Which all turns to pure angry hate as she spots Matteo next to me and sees his arm around me.
“They’re not to be trusted,” she says hoarsely, her voice breaking more than not.“None of them.Ever.”
The monitor tracking her heart rate and blood pressure starts beeping louder and louder.
The doctor comes up to the bed, instructing the nurse to administer something.
“That’s enough for the moment,” he says.“Your sister still needs her rest.”
The nurse starts ushering us out of the room and Chiara is once again falling asleep.But she’s fighting it.
“Don’t trust them,” she says loudly, as the beeping intensifies even more.
“I’ll be back soon,” I tell her, wondering why I can’t just say, “I won’t ever trust them.”
But I do know, painful as that knowledge is.Matteo might just be the only person I can trust.The only one I can lean on.And as much as I want to deny it, as much as I don’t want it to be the truth, it is.
Chapter43
MATTEO
We’re riding backto the mansion and Goldie’s cheeks are still flushed from the fight she put up when I told her we’re leaving.But we both need showers and a change of clothes, and Chiara needs rest.She understood all that.But I still had to practically carry her from the hospital to get her in the car and she’s still not over that.
Meanwhile, my cock’s been rock hard since I held her writhing body in my arms and it’s not going down.No matter how hard she’s ignoring me or how fast I’m driving.I’m going so fast that the world outside the windows is just a blur—grey, blue, and finally green as we near Ferro’s mansion.
“I don’t want to be locked up anymore,” she says as I park in front of the house.Twilight is beginning to fall, but there are still some gold specks in the foliage and grass cast by the dying sun.
“I don’t want you to be locked up anymore either,” I say and get out of the car to open the door for her.A little chivalry goes a long way, my grandmother used to tell me.I thought she was just old-fashioned, and the advice was useless, but Goldie takes my hand and lets me help her out of the car, so maybe Nonna knew what she was talking about after all.
“So just let me go,” Goldie whispers as I led her to the house, still holding her hand.
“Yeah, no, I can’t do that.”
She pierces me with her eyes, soft yet hard somehow, the color of chocolate and melted gold.I think she knows I mean that I, personally, can’t do it and not that it has anything to do with Ferro and my other plans.
Other plans?
I can’t even pinpoint the exact time the revenge plans that had kept me alive for the past ten years and were all I lived for, took the back seat in my mind, but that’s definitely where they are as I escort her up the stairs.
Ferro pokes his head out of his study, looking at us questioningly through the wooden railings of the stairs.
“The doctor says she’s getting better by the hour,” I tell him.“I’ll give you a full update as soon as I’m showered and changed.”
“By all means, take your time,” Ferro says, and I can’t tell if that’s sarcasm or him being genuine.
“Look at him trying to pretend he cares,” Gianna whispers to me as we resume our walk to the third floor.“Acting like he’s not the one who shot her.”
“He did take her to the hospital though,” I say.“Risked a lot doing it.”
She scoffs.“You all think you’re good guys, don’t you?What a bunch of delusional psychos.”
We’ve reached our bedroom on the third floor, and I lead her inside and slam the door behind us.“You know, I liked you a lot better when you were the sweet little princess trying to be my friend.”
She shoots me a look that cuts like the sweet edge of a whip and I wonder if what I just said is actually true.
“Yeah, well, I liked you a lot better before you kidnapped me.”
