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“What do you mean?” Her cold voice cuts into me, making me feel small and shitty for doing this to her.
I finally raise my eyes to meet hers, and my heart breaks. I can see her insides shattering, disbelief battling with understanding in her mind.
“He knew all I cared about was you,” I explain softly. “To the point where nothing mattered to mebutyou. He used that to make me disappear.”
“You actually believed he was going to kill me?” she cries, anger flooding her face. “His own daughter?”
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me,” I say, trying to keep the accusation out of my voice. “But I knew what your father was capable of and how his pride and stubbornness engulfed everything else. If he didn’t see you as a suitable heir, he made it clear he’d find another one. That’s partly why I left without saying goodbye.”
Valentina shakes her head. “He’d never—” A flicker of realization crosses her face, but she shakes it away. “My father can be very convincing, especially with his threats, but he’d never harm me for such a petty reason.”
“You are his heir, the head of the Rossi family. A weak man by your side would mean you are weak too. And so is the rest of the family. I couldn’t come to you without making a name for myself—proving to him that I wasn’t a weakling he could toss away.”
She looks at me, her eyes glassy with tears, and opens her mouth—perhaps to deny what I said again, or maybe to ask if I took over the Romanos just to prove her father wrong.
But she doesn’t say anything.
I want to hug her.
I want to stroke her hair and whisper soft, kind words into her ear while she cries on my chest, but I don’t. I just sit in my chair and sip my whiskey like a damn coward.
Because I know that if I touch her tonight, I won’t be able to let go again.
CHAPTER NINE
Valentina
“Rememberwhen you had to hide under my bed that time the maid busted in on us?” I ask, choking on laughter as I stumble out the back door at Lita’s, my head a little woozy from the whiskey.
“I’ll do you one better.” Enzo chuckles, holding me steady. “Remember when I camped in your treehouse because your dog caught me trying to climb into your window and chased me across the lawn?”
“You’re so fucking ridiculous,” I say with a grin. He laughs, his dimples deepening and making me melt. The whiskey runs through my blood, making me bold and carefree. “But I love it.”
I lean in, pulling him closer by the lapel. His breath ghosts mine, and my insides shimmy and vibrate at the thought of kissing Enzo again after all these years.
“What the…”
I pull away, my face flushed with embarrassment.I’ve misread all of this—he doesn’t want me anymore.
“I’m sorry, Enzo,” I stammer. “I thought?—”
“No, Lenny, look.”
I follow the line of his finger to his car. It’s covered in a fine layer of snow from the storm we encountered driving to Lita’s. But the snow isn’t what he’s pointing at.
I gasp and rush forward, pulling him along with me. Someone’s drawn a heart on the windshield of Enzo’s car.
“What the fuck?” he growls, glancing around.
“E + 8,” I read. “Enzo + 8? Like The8?”
My hand immediately slides to my holster, and I slip my gun out. We cover each other’s backs as we scope out the parking lot, our guns ready, but we’re alone out here.
Enzo checks the backseat and the trunk before we climb inside his ridiculously overpriced car.
“They must have followed us,” I say, glancing nervously out the window.
“Or there’s a tracker on the car,” he counters.