“But he might?—,”
“There is a restraining order in the works, and an alert on his passport, in case he ever tries to leave the country. The local police are satisfied with the explanation. This is dealt with; finished. You are free.”
She lifted her hands to her lips and held them there. “You can’t be serious?”
“I don’t know if I have ever been more serious about anything in my entire life.” He grabbed her face then, something surging through him he couldn’t explain. “I need you to promise me something,cara mia.”
She blinked up at him, the tears in her eyes—he hoped—ones of relief. “Anything.”
“I do not care where life leads you, and who it takes you to. No matter what, no matter when, if you ever feel unsafe, or worried, or scared, or for some inexplicable reason do not feel you have money for what you need, you are to call me, immediately. You are to ask me for help, always. When we are no longer married, this will still always be my duty, do you understand? I need to know that you are safe. That you are well. I need to know that you are happy, Allegra. My happiness depends on that. Can you promise me?”
She staredup at him with a heart that was being ripped to shreds even as he also stitched it into shape.When we are no longer married…How easily he accepted that. How easily those words slipped off his tongue.
She closed her eyes against his words. On some level, they were a balm. A promise that she was not alone. That she never would be again. In all the ways that mattered, Luca would be there for her.
But not in the way she wanted.
Finally, she accepted what she’d started to suspect at Valentino’s villa.
She was in love with Luca. She was completely, heart-stoppingly in love. And he was planning for a life without her.
But she couldn’t think about that, now. Not when he had manoeuvred the pieces to protect her, so swiftly, so perfectly. She wrapped her hands around his waist, and held him tight, listening to the beating of his heart and wishing, on every star in the heavens, that it would beat like this for her. Just for her, always for her.
Allegra wokethe next morning to the sound of a helicopter’s whirring blades.
She shifted a little, looking for Luca. He was not in the bed, but his book was resting on the bedside table. She smiled to herself as she saw it, then her smile dropped as she wondered if Luca was in the helicopter. Going somewhere? No, it had sounded like the helicopter was coming closer. Landing, at the villa.
She sat up, the trauma of the previous afternoon like a tentacle at her throat. What if Luca had been wrong? What if that was the police, coming to arrest her? Or someone from the loan shark’s operation?
Except, he hadn’t been wrong. Luca’s confidence was unmistakable, his authority quiet but impossible to deny. He had dealt with this, just like he’d promised.
A noise drew her attention across the room. Luca emerged from the bathroom, a towel slung low over his hips, his hair wet and flopping a little over his brow.
He crossed to the window and pulled back the blind, eyes narrowing. “My grandfather,” he explained.
Ally’s brows lifted. “Were you expecting him?”
He turned to face her. “Definitely not. I thought we were done with that for a while.”
She lifted her shoulders. It no longer felt strange to play the part of Luca’s wife. In fact, the idea ofnotshowing how much she loved him was stranger still. That was the bigger problem she faced: how to conceal her feelings for the next eleven or so months?
Luca would not welcome them. And if he knew, he would probably end this, no matter what. To protect her. Just like he had the night before.
“I should get ready,” she said, pushing the sheet back.
Luca turned to face her, a glint in his eye as he reached for his towel. “There is no rush,cara.My grandfather will have to learn that it is not polite to arrive unannounced in the house of newlyweds…” and he walked towards her, his intention obvious, and her heart lifted into her throat as he kissed her. She kissed him back with all the love running through her, saying with her body what she never would her words.
“The police were here.”
Luca’s brows shot up. “It’s in the press?”
It was early, and in a break from his usual habits, he hadn’t so much as thought to check in with the day’s news, yet. It was Allegra. In his bed, on his mind, under his skin. An obsession he didn’t know how to shake.
“Not that I know of.”
Luca shook his head. The bloody staff. “Rosa?” he queried, guessing—correctly, going from Valentino’s reaction—which of the housekeepers had reported the prior day’s events to Valentino.
“What’s going on?”
