Page 26

26

RAFFAELE

“ Y ou’re allowed to be angry.”

“Angry?” Adelina pulls herself away from gazing out the window at the passing nightlife and fixes me with a confused squint. “What do you mean?”

“At your father.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widen as if she’d somehow forgotten about the trip we’ve just had to visit her sick father.

Maybe she’s more exhausted from the long journey than I realized.

“I’m not angry,” she continues after a second of thinking. “I just feel…” Trailing off, she shakes her head and sighs softly. “Italy was beautiful.”

It was. The trip was only supposed to take a few days, but seeing how well Adelina was doing after everything that happened to her, I extended the stay for a few weeks. If I’d had my way, I would have delayed returning until the end of summer so she could have a few decent months of relaxation and bliss.

Already, the weight of reality is settling back over her. Her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes, she’s toying repeatedly with the hem of her skirt, and despite the sun-kissed glow on her skin, it’s like she’s beginning to withdraw again.

That can’t happen.

“I’ll send over a medical team to make sure your father is alright.”

“I don’t think there’s any need,” she replies, flashing me a tired smile.

I let the silence linger, giving her the option to continue and tell me more if she wants to.

“It’s just… on the phone, he sounded so sick. Like deathly sick. Suddenly, I was a kid again and listening to my mom tell me she was fine when I could see she wasn’t. So all that driving and flying just to come here and see him sniffling with the cold or the summer flu, it's just…” Her hands ball into a fist and her lips repeatedly press together as she searches for the right words. “It’s just not fair.”

We share a similar wavelength of thought, but while Adelina is concerned for her father’s health, I’m more concerned about why he played up his sickness to get us back into America.

“Plus,” she continues, glaring out the window, “he was so insistent that I stay with him as if the whole reason I’m not with him isn’t any of his fault. If he wanted me to care for him, then he shouldn’t have—” Adelina catches herself and looks over at me with the corners of her mouth downturned. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.”

“I take no offense.” She’s right. If her father hadn’t sold her to me, she would have been by his side, caring for him like he suddenly wanted. Given everything she told me about her mother, I would have let her stay if she had asked, but she chose to come with me.

That lifts my heart more than I care to admit.

It also heightens my suspicion. “It won’t be Italy,” I say as I pull out my phone, “but I can make the transition back into regular life a little smoother.”

“What are you doing?” Adelina strains against her seatbelt as she tries to glimpse at my phone, but I tilt it away with a small smile.

“I’m making our holiday last a little longer.”

The Scarlet Pearl Hotel is one of the few hotels in the city where you need to be a member to even make it in the front door. Luckily, my family has been a member for a few years now. As a child, I’d walk past hotels like these and wonder what kind of obnoxiously rich person would stay at a hotel this exclusive.

Now, as an obnoxiously rich Mafia king who dragged his family up out of the dirt, I understand it. It’s a status symbol in many ways. Walking through those doors puts you on a certain map where the people who run the hotel also offer various other services. There’s anything from weapons and women to drugs and contraband of the highest quality. When I got my membership, I tried to see if I could buy the hotel but quickly learned that the hotel remains somewhat neutral amid the family turmoil that runs these streets.

And they have enough money to back it up.

“Wow,” Adelina gasps as she gazes up at the hotel’s signature gigantic ruby-red chandelier hanging in the foyer. “I’ve never seen something so beautiful.”

“I have,” I remark smoothly, affectionately squeezing her hand.

She makes a show of rolling her eyes, but I catch the pleased smile that dances across her lips.

“I’ve driven past here so many times and never imagined walking inside. My father used to say a place like this was for the worst of the worst.”

“I am terrible, it’s true.”

It takes no time at all to check in and secure the penthouse. As we take the outside glass elevator upward, Adelina presses against the glass and gazes over the city.

“Thank you for taking care of me.”

“It’s the least I could do.”

“No… you could have just cast me aside. Or written off what happened to me as my own fault, but you didn’t.”

“I’m not that terrible.”

She narrows her eyes slightly. “You know what I mean.”

Something about the dip in her tone catches my attention so I step closer to her. “What’s on your mind?”

“Spending time in Italy was amazing. Meeting the children you helped was also unexpected. I’m not asking for an explanation, but these past few months have been such a whirlwind that I’ve neglected my own children.”

My heart skips a beat. “Excuse me?”

“At the hospital. I haven’t painted in a long time because I felt like some dark hole was opening up inside me. I was married off to a stranger, assaulted, lost a fiancé and a best friend. I feel like I stopped being me for a while.”

“No one can hold that against you,” I reply softly.

“I know. But I sort of feel like I can be me again, if that makes sense. I want to paint again. I want to go back to the hospital and see all the kids I used to spend time with and make sure they’re okay.” She presses a hand to her chest. “I hope they’re all still there. And…” She tilts her head, sending her auburn hair cascading over one shoulder. “I want to help them.”

“All of them?”

She nods. “When I was a kid, I had no one. I just sat with my mom and watched her waste away because my father was too busy or he couldn’t handle watching the woman he loved fade before his eyes. But the nurses did everything they could to make me feel cared for, and I had been doing that for the kids. But with your money, I think we could make a real difference. So many of those families can’t afford the best treatment for their children, and I know we can’t help everyone, but that hospital was like my home for a really long time.”

“Our money,” I correct.

“Huh?”

“We’re married, remember? It’s our money. You can do what you want with it.”

Adelina looks as if the thought never occurred to her before. “You wouldn’t mind?”

I skim my fingers up her bare arm to her elbow and gently draw her into me. “If this is the next step that feels right for you, to get you back on track, then I’ll buy a hundred hospitals if I have to.”

“Wow,” she breathes in awe, lazily draping her arms around my shoulders. “My mom would be so happy I married rich.”

We laugh, and Adelina melts against me as I draw her into a slow, passionate kiss just as the elevator gently arrives at the penthouse.

Knowing where her heart lies, I’ll make it my mission to make it happen for her. She placed so much of herself on hold after the wedding, mostly because of me, and even more after her attack. Watching her stride into the penthouse with wide eyes and utter glee at the luxury surrounding her, I know she will be okay.

Her chin is high and determination is back in her heart.

“I can’t believe a place like this exists.” Adelina laughs as she kicks off her shoes and runs across the thick, fluffy carpet.

Tall windows stretch from the floor to the ceiling, lining one wall with a gorgeous view of the skyline. A fireplace burns in one corner behind safety glass, surrounded by a cozy sitting area that leads into an open-plan kitchen where several menus are laid out for us. A spiral staircase leads upward to the bedroom and luxury bathroom. Adelina immediately discovers the door that leads out onto the balcony and she runs back inside with a grin.

“There’s a hot tub?”

“There’s everything.” I chuckle. “Although, you look exhausted. How about a bath first?”

She contemplates my words while chewing on her lower lip, then she nods. “I am tired.”

“Bath it is, then.”

Placing my hand against the small of her back, I guide her upstairs where she once again giggles in awe at the large bed and then the massive oval bathtub. She sets about filling it with water and an alarming amount of bubbles, all while chatting away about the painting ideas she has for the children and the art class she can run for them.

Watching her is a delight. Her father may have been rich in the eyes of an everyday American, but he’s nowhere near as rich as me and she deserves to be spoiled.

I stay with her until she sinks deep into the bubbles and discovers the massage jets, then I kiss her damp forehead and retreat downstairs.

The air is colder here and suspicion is back in my heart. Vito is my first call.

“How is being back Stateside?” Vito snorts over the phone.

“Makes no difference to me,” I say, wandering out onto the balcony. “But it’s already smothering Adelina’s light a little. She wasn’t ready to come back. Not really.”

“Anything I can do?”

“The hospital she spent so much time at? Get me the list of patients from the department in which she volunteered. And make sure Caterina is up to date on the building and all routes to and from. She wants to go back there, so I want to make sure she’s safe.”

“Will do. Anything else?”

“Put everyone on high alert. And get out of the manor.”

Vito’s voice changes immediately. “Understood. Any reason?”

“Would you trust me if I said it was a feeling?”

“Yes,” Vito replies. “But I’d ask for elaboration.”

“Pascal.” Tension pulls across my forehead, and I try to chase it away with my fingers. “I can’t put my finger on it, but I don’t trust him. He sounded so violently ill, but when we got here, he just had a fucking cold.”

“You think he wanted you back here for a reason?”

“Maybe. Either way, I don’t trust the prick. So get out of the manor. Tell Caterina we’re at the Scarlet Pearl and she should come here. I sent her to get some rest when we landed, but I want her back.”

“Understood. Anything else?”

“No, that should be all.”

The call ends and a cold breeze flashes across my face, carrying the subtle scents of the city below. If it were anyone else, I’d have used my fists by now and the truth would be as laid bare as their blood on the stone.

But Pascal is Adelina’s father.

I have to be careful. And confident.

Acting too soon could destroy the bond that’s finally forming between us, and I can’t have that.

She’s quickly and unexpectedly become the most important person in my life, so if I have to play the long game with her fucking father, I will.

“Raffaele?”

Hearing her call to me makes adoration swell in my chest. I turn away from the dazzling skyline and walk back inside. Adelina is at the top of the stairs in a silky negligee with her damp hair hanging in curls around her face.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Come to bed with me?”

I am powerless to resist.

Taking the stairs two at a time, I wrap my arms around her and soak up the lingering warmth from the bath. “Do you feel better?”

“Much.” She yawns widely. “I’m so tired, but I’m excited to get back into my art.”

“Worry about that tomorrow,” I say, kissing her brow. “Tonight, just rest.”

Adelina cups my jaw with one hand, staring up into my eyes as she caresses my cheek with her thumb. “You’ll stay with me, right?”

“Of course.” I’m not sure why she feels the need to ask. Maybe it’s because we’re back in New York, and things already feel different, but if she needs assurance, I will give it.

We collapse into bed together, and the exhaustion from worry, travel, and the flight catches up with us instantly. Adelina’s barely cuddled into my arms before we fall deeply asleep.

I wake at six in the morning to a text from Vito.

The manor has been attacked.