Page 336 of Valentino

I open the door just a crack.

Anna’s face comes into view.

Three years since I’ve seen it, three long years. She’s even more beautiful than I remember.

“Carlo,” she whispers as she looks left and looks right. “Hurry up, let me in.”

I open the door and she jumps into my arms. Our lips crash against each other’s as she kisses me. Her legs wrap around my waist and we fall back into the house.

“I’ve missed you.” She smiles against my lips. “I missed you so much.”

Fuck.

Our kiss is frantic, out of control, and I slide her down my body to stand in front of me.

“My God. I’ve been in hell without you.” Her eyes search mine. “You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to get to you.”

“You’re here now.” I kiss her again. “It’s okay.”

“Can we take a shower?” she murmurs against my lips. “I need to get naked with you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

VALENTINO

I come to a stop up the road and turn the car off so as to go unheard.

There’s no hiding in the Ferrari, this car is as subtle as a Mack truck…not ideal in a situation like this.

Actually, I pull back out onto the road at speed and do a U-turn, I’ll circle back to the row of restaurants I passed and park the car there.

Pulling into the parking lot, I glance at the time and turn the engine off.

10:05 am.

10:05…on what may be my last day on earth.

If she’s with him…my stomach twists at the thought…the thing is, I already know how this story ends.

My nightmares have been telling me for years.

But they did leave out one detail, a plot twist that not even I could have predicted.

After I kill him…and then I kill her.

I will take my own life.

Because what the fuck do I have to live for anymore.

My mother is gone, my father is gone…and she loved him.

I check my two guns are loaded, tuck them into the band of my jeans and pull my shirt down over to cover them. Feeling under my seat, I locate the hunting knife that’s strapped beneath it and I take that too.

I sit for a moment and stare through the front windscreen.

A man is walking along holding hands with a small child, the baby is young and barely able to walk on its own. The father is balancing the child as he helps it along.

I always wanted a little girl.