His hands drop lower, carefully, stopping just short of touching.
“The baby?”
“I’m okay,” I whisper. “We’re okay.”
His whole body loosens with that just for an instant. Then the steel comes back.
He turns to one of his men. “Get the doctor here. Now.”
“Already on it.”
Lorenzo nods, then looks back at me. There’s something in his face now beneath the rage. Something so raw it nearly undoes me all over again.
“I got here as fast as I could.”
I nod, but tears are already burning. “I know.”
He glances once at Federico’s body, then back to me.
“I need to tell you what happened.”
The words settle between us, heavy and final.
I swallow hard. “Tell me.”
He takes my hand and leads me to the sofa, away from the blood and broken glass, though one of the women is still on the floor and I can’t stop looking at her.
Lorenzo kneels in front of me anyway, forcing my attention back to him.
His hands close over mine.
“It was Federico,” he says. “He ordered you moved in Italy. He paid Cesaro to do it.”
My stomach twists, knowing how hard that must have been for Lorenzo to find out.
Lorenzo keeps going, because if he stops, maybe he won’t start again.
“Cesaro admitted it before I killed him.”
My head jerks up. “You killed him?”
“Yes.”
A shiver moves through me. He sees it and tightens his grip on my hands.
“Elizabeth, listen to me. Federico wanted you gone because he knew what you were to me before I did. He wanted to preserve the marriage. Preserve his status.”
I let out a broken laugh. “That worked out well.”
“No.” There’s a pause. “Fran knew some of it. Not all. She knew you were meant to disappear. She did not know what Cesaro would do until it was already happening.”
“She came to warn me,” I admit.
I look into his eyes, knowing there’s still one more thing to ask. The worst one.
“Dante?” I whisper.
Lorenzo’s expression changes. Not harder. Worse. And I know deep in my gut that this isn’t going to be good news.
