I dragged the bag along with my heartache and headed for the front door. Alfarez’s ride would be here by now, and everything would be all right.
Safe.
“Going somewhere?”
Chapter21
Enzio
As soon as Bianca spun to face me, I uncrossed my leg and leaned forward in the armchair nestled in the far corner of the hall. “What do you have in the bag?”
She blinked once. “Some things I needed for tonight. I thought I’d grab them before I went to the cemetery so I wouldn’t be…” Suddenly she darted into her bedroom and locked herself up.
I jumped after her and kicked the door. The room was empty when I stormed in. I didn’t bother to check the bathroom. She must have hidden in the dressing room.
I had to give it to her. In frightening situations, Bianca didn’t panic. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Fear complemented life preservation. Like when a snake was wrapping around your feet, slithering its way up, fear would make you freeze. That would stop the snake from squeezing you dead. It’d walk away, and you’d get to live another day.
Bianca wouldn’t freeze. She would do something as stupid as mumbling some lies and locking herself and her baby in a room with no exit.
Staring at the pin code panel, I grabbed my gun. “Come out, Bianca. Don’t ruin things more than they already are.”
I listened for her movement. There was some shuffling and a muffled thud. Whatever she was doing, I didn’t like it. “If you don’t come out, I’ll shoot the fucking door open.”
One. Two. Three. No answer.
Cazzo. I didn’t want to use a gun around Mario, but I had no choice. “I’m coming in,cunt. You’d better back out. If he gets one fucking scratch, I’ll kill you myself.”
I fired twice, my bodyguards dashing in. I nodded at them to stay in the bedroom as the door swung unlocked. Then, arm stretched, finger on trigger, I walked into the dressing room.
Flanked by the storage units that still held my brother’s clothes, I listened for her breath or Mario’s baby sounds. Passing the dressing table, I turned the corner where a safe gaped open.
Then I saw her, sitting on the floor under some shirts and jackets of Cosimo’s, Mario in the carrier cooing, the duffle bag unzipped next to them.
I put the gun down and set the safety back on. Her eyes lifted toward me, sad and vulnerable—and dangerously adorable—like those of a lost puppy you had to take home and take care of even if you never wanted a dog.
Those weaknesses of hers were also her strengths. They brought a merciless king like Cosimo to his knees. They made a man like me want to do things I never liked. They made me question vows and laws engraved in my head and heart.
They made a man like me feel. They made me hate her for it more than I already did.
Hating Bianca wasn’t as driving and invigorating as hating any other enemy of mine. It was tiring, and it jumbled my brains. It was time I stopped hating her. Time to be indifferent about Bianca Zanetti.
But how when she looked at me like that? Clawed at every instinct in me? Bit on my every nerve?
“Why are you always testing me?” I asked.
“I had to do something.” She shrugged, eyes tearing up—for the first time in my presence—at Mario. “At least, I tried to save him.”
For some fucked up reason, I couldn’t stand her tears. They were too real to ignore, and they tugged at something in me that resembled…guilt. “Mario is safe with me.Youare safe with me.”
“If you really want to save us, you’ll let me leave with my son.”
“You know I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not? Everything is yours now.”
“You mean Mario’s.”
“I’m still his parent. I’ll sign anything that gives it all to you. Just let us go.”
