“Vitale’s funeral is this week, and all Cosa Nostra Capos and their seconds are expected, so Nero and I will attend. For now, I’ll keep working my end and wait for Alessio to make his move so I can end the fucker. She’s not going to him; I don’t care how many wars it’ll start.”
In that, he and I are in agreement.
“I love you, Vanessa, but my trips to Moscow will be limited for the time being, so they don’t track me there. I’d prefer not to tip him off as to where she’s hiding.”
Vanessa pouts but replies, “Makes sense.”
“As for Sera,” he continues, his voice weighted, “we’ll stick to the plan. Lev, be on the lookout.IfAlessio figures out she’s there, I’m uncertain if he’ll encroach on Bratva territory.”
“He seems stupid enough to try,” Ana mumbles.
If only I went back to the party after settling her in my bed. If only I ended his life in that room. Then, none of this would be happening.
I should have. For her.
“Maybe we lure him here,” I suggest, staring at my Pakhan, who’s already shaking her head. “In our territory, we have reasons to attack, end his life before he goes near her.”
“Don’t tell her anything,” Zeno continues. “I’d rather not stress her out.” He says a few more things, more to Vanessa than the rest of us, before hanging up.
“Fuck.” Vanessa echoes all our thoughts.
I leave them to finally shower, trying not to consider what this all means. If I do, I’ll never rest. And if Zeno wants to keep Serafina in the dark, then Ican’tbe thinking about it.
More lies. I hate lying, especially to her.
At the top of the stairs, she’s lingering outside her door, eyes wide. It makes the bold blue of her irises darker. That’s when I notice the tear sliding down her cheek.
With it goes my control, the very little I was clinging to, to prevent me from making a huge fucking mistake. I can’t keep walking, no matter how much I want to. How much I should.
“What is it?”
She waves me into her room and shuts the door, but I linger beside it, not daring to venture into the area. Already, her perfume permeates this place, making it the four walls I’ll never ever step inside again. Not during her stay, and maybe not even afterwards.
“I went downstairs looking for…well, it doesn’t matter. I heard you all in Vanessa’s office. I didn’t mean to listen, but then you said my name and—” Her hands snap to the bed’s footboard, bracing herself. “Zeno couldn’t break the engagement. I’m fucked, aren’t I?”
“No.” This isn’t a lie, no matter how much it isn’t a guarantee. “You will not marry him. No one here will let you go.”Myself included.
“Zeno might not have a choice. If he prevents this, it’ll spark a war, which I refuse be the cause of. My freedom isn’t worth the death it’d bring to his soldiers—to him.”
“Not worth it?” I all but growl, wanting to shake her. But getting close, especially now, won’t end well. Not for me, for her, or for my sanity. The familiar static kicks off in my head, grounding me. “Your happiness, yourfreedom, is worth it, and don’t think otherwise. You’re trying to not be burdensome, but that’s the furthest from anyone’s minds. I should have killed him. If it comes down to it, I swear, I will.”
Her curtain of hair slips to the side as she twists. “You mean that?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
She turns fully, resting on the footboard. It makes the shorts she’s changed into since supper ride up higher on her thigh, revealing soft skin my hands retain the memory of touching when undressing her. “What now?”
“Nothing’s changed.” She’ll return to school, Vitale be damned.
“Everything’s changed.”
“Nothing you need to worry about. He won’t dare enter Bratva territory. It’d be his death.”
“Is Zeno planning on telling me any of this?”
“He doesn’t want to stress you out, so keep this between us.”
She nods, chewing on her bottom lip but seeming calmer than earlier. She’s stopped crying, at the very least, and that alone eases my head. I shove off the doorframe and open her door, breathing in the hallway air that isn’t tainted by peach and vanilla.
