After Maria left, Rodrigo pulled Giana to her feet. "Have a break and show me your new masterpiece."
"I hope you like it," she said, planting a kiss on his jaw.
They walked through the villa together, past rooms being replastered and windows being reglazed.
Giana had started painting again in the days since their return from Vincenzo's villa. Small pieces at first, almost hesitant, like she was relearning a language she had forgotten. The canvases had grown larger, bolder. Darker too, but threaded with light. She had given him a beautiful new camera, which had made him choke up, and they were determined to decorate the villa walls together.
Giana's newest painting depicted a woman standing at the edge of a cliff, her back to the viewer, facing a storm-dark sea. She wasn't cowering or falling but leaning into the wind, arms slightly raised, as if daring it to try and move her.
"It's you," Rodrigo said quietly.
"It's who I want to be." Giana leaned against his side. "I'm still working on it."
"You're already there." He pressed a kiss to her temple. "You just haven't realized it yet."
They made their way back through the villa, and Rodrigo paused at the terrace doors. Outside, the evening light had gone golden, painting everything in shades of amber and rose.
Beneath their balcony, Dario sat at the wrought iron table with Frederica, a bottle of wine open between them. Their body language had shifted in the past week. Still combative, still sharp, but differently so.
"If Serapis has been collecting artifacts for decades, my father might have supplied more than just the ring," Frederica was saying. "He has all these records of other jobs and other buyers who used aliases. I have to go back to Rhodes to get the rest out of him because he can be cagey about his past jobs, and it's easier to sweet-talk him in person."
Dario leaned closer, their shoulders nearly touching. "So we get the list out of him and track them down. We need to cut off Serapis's arsenal before he can use it against us again."
Frederica looked up at him, surprise flickering across her face. "We?"
Dario shrugged, and Rodrigo caught a hint of his brother's old smirk. "What? You think I'm going to sit around here watching Rodrigo moon over Giana while you go have all the fun?"
She actually laughed, the sound bright and unexpected in the evening air. Something sparked between them, visible even from this distance.
"That's going to be either the best thing that ever happened to Dario or a complete disaster," Giana murmured beside Rodrigo.
"Probably both," he agreed. "And I don't moon over you."
"No? That's a shame. It would probably be more fun than the brooding," she teased, and he tickled her side in retaliation.
They watched for a moment longer before slipping away, leaving Dario and Frederica to their planning and their wine.
Back in their room, Giana curled up on the window seat while Rodrigo loosened his tie. He caught her watching him, a soft smile playing at her lips.
"What?" he asked.
"Just thinking about how lucky I am."
Rodrigo crossed to her, kneeling so they were eye level. "That's my line."
"Too bad. I claimed it." She reached out, her fingers tracing the line of his jaw. "A few weeks ago, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. Now I have a desk in your office and paintings on the walls and a family that actually feels like one."
"Our office," he corrected. "Our walls. Our family."
Her smile widened. "Our."
He pulled her close, breathing her in. "You ready for tomorrow?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. Leo's been texting me every hour with increasingly panicked questions about flower arrangements."
"I don't think the flowers matter, do they?"
"Apparently, they do. I'm just glad Leo is taking care of them instead of me." She pulled back slightly, her eyes dancing. "Can I see your suit?"
