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“Love?” I echo.
He nods. “Yeah. You’re in love, Roman. I know you don’t know what it looks like, but you are.”
I don’t answer right away—not because he’s wrong, but because the truth settles too heavily on my chest to refute it. Because, somewhere deep down, I know he’s right. And maybe I’ve known it longer than I’ve been willing to admit.
He chuckles heartily, patting my shoulder. “It’s fun to see, I have to admit. Before Isabella, you were the most rigid person I’d ever known. Now, you’re a lot more human. Prone to sympathy and mistakes too.”
Is that why I haven’t found Marco?
I’ve never strayed off course until I met Isabella. Before I walked into that cathedral, the plan was simple.
Find Marco Ricci’s only child. Take her as my wife. Use her to find her father. Make her the mother of my child so his accursed bloodline ends with him.
It was simple, like every other plan I’ve made before, until I started thinking about all the ways she made my blood run hot and my emotions bleed into logic.
“It only sucks when you fight it,” Leo comments. “Embrace it, Roman. It’s my advice to you as your best friend. Embrace love.”
Not when it makes my chest feel like it might explode.
“I might have a lead on Marco,” I say gruffly, changing the subject. “Billie called on the way back. He said something about a safe house disguised as a laundromat. He’s not sure which,” I add before he can ask.
“Is the source reliable? We both know what Billie did to your father. What’s to say he’s not screwing you over the same way?”
“Because my father would’ve spared his life,” I say coldly. “But I won’t. If he fucks me over, he won’t find the sympathy you seem to think I have.”
“Fair.” He purses his lips. “What’s your plan, then? I could have someone look into the source if you want. Keep an eye on him and Billie in the meantime.”
“Do that.”
“You got it.”
I start to walk back into the house, but I stop a couple feet away from the door, turning to Leo again. “What are you doing here, by the way? Since Isabella got here, I’ve seen you in my house more than I have my entire life.”
His shrug is nonchalant. “Maybe you weren’t fun to be around? You happened to marry an amazing woman, and for some reason, Polina’s meals improved after she showed up. So maybe your housekeeper didn’t like you that much either.”
“That’s it,” I say, pointing in the other direction. “You can go home now.”
Leo crosses his arms. “I think I’ll hang around and see what’s for dinner. I’m getting a little tired of takeout. And if Isabella?—”
“Nope.” I give him a shove. “Home. I won’t let you spend more time with her than I do. Goodnight.”
His laughter follows me as I walk away, and the implications of what Iactuallysaid dawn on me as I walk through the door.
I sounded possessive. Like a man ready to defend something he can’t bear to part with. My steps slow down as I reach the stairs and pause at the bottom, lifting my eyes upward.
Leo was wrong about one thing. I might not have experience with love, because I never thought it existed for me, but I can tell what it feels like.
Because I’m falling in love with Isabella.
I lean back,my eyes narrowed and trained on him as Billie walks into my office the next morning.
“Wait,” I say out of the blue, and he halts abruptly. “Where’s your confidant? Your source of information? The deal was that you had to bring him to me.” I tap my fingers on my desk. “Where is he?”
He shakes his head, eyes wide. “I don’t—I don’t know.”
“Don’t know?” My mouth tightens into a scowl. I let out a sharp breath. “Of course. You picked an unreliable source who bailed at the last minute. So why are you here? To tell me how hard you tried to convince him?”
Billie’s hands shoot up defensively. “No. It’s nothing like that. He was desperate to come with me, I swear. I called him this morning and was supposed to pick him up from his apartment, but he was gone when I got there. Place was trashed.”