“W-what? What do y-ou…” I stammered.
“I meant Leo.” She laughed. “You must miss him. I’m so sorry about your wedding. You must be devastated.”
My lashes fluttered. “Yeah. I am.” Right?
In all honesty, I was more scared than devastated. I didn’t care about the wedding or the marriage as much as I cared about Leo’s life. And mine and Nicky’s.
I was so foolish and naive to care before, but after what happened, after I saw it with my own eyes and felt the pain and the damage we’d caused to ourselves and others…
Guilt buzzed through me. I had to apologize to Tino. I’d put him through a lot. He didn’t deserve that, especially not from me.
Arancia got a basin and sponge and did the awkward job. Then she helped me brush my teeth and put on the cotton dress she’d brought earlier. I wasn’t allowed underwear yet. Only when she was sure I could go to the bathroom all by myself and the swelling on my body was gone that I’d be allowed panties and bras.
I stared at my reflection in the wardrobe mirror. “What about my nipples?”
She chuckled. “Scusi?”
“This is a cotton dress. My nipples will show. Tino doesn’t like it when…” I bit my lip, embarrassed to share something like that with a stranger. A stranger sleeping with him. “Never mind. He probably wouldn’t notice.” Not when she was here.
As I spun, the door was slowly pushed open, and Tino appeared, fully dressed in a white dress shirt and black slacks. As if on cue, my treacherous nipples hardened. Those attention sluts.
I crossed my arms over my chest, but I noticed his smirk. He did see. As always. “Buongiorno,” he said.
“Buongiorno,” I said in a terrible accent.
“You look nice. How are you doing today?”
“A little better. Catheter free.”
“That’s always a blessing.” He looked at Arancia and said something in Italian. When she replied, he extended his arm toward me. “Have breakfast with me on the beach.”
I dropped my arm and took his hand without a thought. So what if he saw? I was like a daughter to him now. And he was a good father.
As we left the house and walked to the breakfast table already set on the beach, I realized the house was a two-story beach villa, and my room was downstairs. The place was beautiful, sunny, calm. Being rich did have its perks. Arancia didn’t sit or eat with us. There was no one else but Tino and I as far as I could see.
I drank some orange juice and glanced at the chocolate crepes and biscuits. “Who prepped this meal if it wasn’t the housekeeper?” She was with me all the time before he came down to the room.
He drank his coffee. “I did.”
“Wow. Thank you, Tino.”
“Anything for you, Angelina.”
Mocking and blame dripped off his voice. He was here, taking care of me, protecting me, unwillingly. Last time he was getting something out of it. This time, he was just stuck with me. “Leo told you to bring me here, didn’t he?”
“You mean like he told me to bring you to the mansion?”
“Yes.” Because I’d always be that girl. The fragile, little girl that always needed a babysitter. Someone to take care of her. To save her.
He downed his coffee and stood, his jaws tight.
“Did I say something wrong?”
He spun fast and leaned in over me with more aggression than I’d ever seen from him. I jumped, leaning back as he blocked the sun, squeezing the edges of the back of my seat. “Everything you’ve been saying since he got into your head is wrong.”
His face was scary dark yet hurt. It terrified me, but I felt so guilty that I’d hurt him this much.
“You think Leo or anyone tells me what or what not to do?” he fumed.
