Page 92 of Blind Devotion

“That was before. This is now.”

“So you think I should ignore everything that happened before?”

“This isn’t about us, is it?” Her question lingered between us like a bad taste. With our history, I wasn’t sure how much information to give, and yet with all she’d done to get Adrien and me back together, maybe she wasn’t how I remembered her. “Yes. Ignore it.”

“If I can’t?”

“Then you’re a fool.” The phone started ringing in the background. “Adrien lost my father’s respect in order to keep your family together. He did it for you, and he suffered for it. Don’t think that losing you wasn’t the hardest thing he had to do.”

The phone kept ringing.

“What do you—”

“Hello?” Renzo answered on the other line. My breath caught at the sound of my brother’s voice.

“Why do you think your brother was never tried for Yannick’s murder?” Alizé continued. “Adrien stepped in, and it almost cost him everything.”

“De Villier, this better not be you calling again,” Renzo rasped sharply.

Again? Alizé and I spoke in French, so it was disorienting to hear Renzo speak in English.

“Renzo,aspetta un attimo.” Hold on a second.

“Persetta? Is that you? Persetta?Rispondimi.” Answer me. I zoned him out and dropped the hand holding the phone down along my leg.

“I need to speak to my brother, Alizé, but I really would like for us to continue this. I meant it when I asked you to come with me to Lyon.”

“Some of it’s not my story to tell,” Alizé replied. “But I’ll come with you. Even if it’s just so he knows you didn’t go alone.”

“Thank you.”

“But if we go, we go my way. You ride in the back of any car we get into. Four guards with us from my mother’s and my detail. No arguments.”

“None. I’m not trying to sneak out.”

“Good. However, we might need to, considering how obsessive Adrien’s been about you. I left a couple outfits on the bed. Have Marie pack them for you.”

“Wait,” I called after the clip of her heels. “I have to know. Is Yannick’s death why your mother hates me now?”

“No, not Yannick’s. I think she always knew what he was. But my father…He took Yannick’s death hard. His strokes and subsequent heart attack happened within a year of it. For that, no matter how irrational, she blames you and your family.”

“Persetta,” Renzo screamed. “Pick up the phone!”

“It’s silly and illogical,” Alizé continued, “but you can’t rationalize emotional responses. She’ll get over it…with time. Once she sees how happy Adrien is with you. It’s what she really wants.” She sighed. “You should get that before he has a coronary. I’ll come back later for my phone.”

I didn’t wait for the door to snick shut on her way out before lifting the phone to my ear. If anything, I half expected her to spy and report back to her brother.

“Persetta, I swear to all that’s holy, if you keep ignoring me, I’ll—”

“You’ll what? Send me halfway across the world in a sex trafficking ring? Babbo’s got you beat on whatever you could think up.”

“Don’t joke about that!”

“Would you rather I fall to pieces?” I asked gently, smoothing my hands over the selection of outfits. “It happened. Nothing you say, think, or do will change that.”

“It shouldn’t have.”

“The world doesn’t live on should haves,” I whispered, picking a ball of lint off one of the outfits Alizé left behind.