Page 61 of Intrigue
The truth slams once again into me like a physical blow. I shove away from Sandro, screaming until my throat burns raw. “I just can’t believe he would do that to me! It all makes sense now. All those times I wondered why he treated me that way. When he talked down to me. Made me feel like I constantly had to try so hard to meet his expectations. Everything... everything finally makes sense. Gosh, life really doesn’t give me a break does it? My father... you... these past five years...”
“Selene.” Sandro reaches for me, but I back away.
“Don’t!” The gun shakes in my grip. “I’m not even sure what to think of you. You let me believe you hated me. For years! I hate you for leaving me. Then hated myself for the longest thinking I did something wrong. That just like with my father, I’d never be enough.”
The flames roar closer. Sandro’s composure finally cracks. “I had to, Selene. It was the only way to keep you safe. To keep you alive, I had to take you out of the picture so he didn’t get suspicious. Being with you was too dangerous, he would have killed me and you without blinking an eye.” His voice breaks. “Do you think it didn’t kill me every single day?
“Everything I did was for you,” Sandro continues with intensity. Heat from the surrounding flames makes sweat trickle down my neck. “Every mission, every sacrifice, every moment I had to watch you from afar.”
My finger tightens on the trigger. “You could have told me somehow. Found a way.”
“They watched your every move. Even while with your aunt. I couldn’t even take a plane in that direction.” He takes a careful step forward, hands raised. “One slip, one wrong word, and the Don would have known. I couldn’t risk it. Not with your life.”
Cassian laughs fulling sitting upright now. “Such devotion. Tell her the rest, Sandro. Tell her how you stalked her for months before making your move. How you memorized her schedule, her habits...”
“Shut up!” I kick him hard in the ribs, satisfaction coursing through me at his grunt of pain.
“He’s right.” Sandro’s admission freezes me in place.
“So that time in my dad’s office when he said you’d looked familiar to him. It was true?” I ask.
Sandro nods. “Yes. We did meet once. He found me watching you after dropping you home one night. Asked me who I was but I did well to threaten him to never tell you if he wanted to see the next day.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. So, Sandro knew where I was all along? He never really abandoned me.
“I just knew I had to see you. Even if it would probably lead to your dad finding out. I had to take that chance. I had a mission in Africa that needed me to take a year to profile a client. I finished it without hassle under two and stayed the remaining months watching you. My life meant nothing until I found you. I couldn’t even function knowing the way I left things. I’ve always known where you were. I watched you paint for hours in that studio close to your aunt’s street, even though you were terribly bad at it. I don’t understand why you even kept going.”
I laugh. “Hey, I had limited things to pass for entertainment.”
“I noticed. I also saw that despite the menace you were for your aunt, you helped that homeless woman every Tuesday with groceries. Noticed how you always ordered your coffee black but added three sugars when no one was looking.”
I clean snot from my nose. “That’s... that’s creepy as hell.”
“I know.” He runs fingers through his ash-streaked hair. “I know I didn’t deserve to look for you. To even search for you like you were still mine to watch over. I know what I did to hurt you was wrong, is wrong. But everything about you has always pulled me in. I would do anything so long as I get to make you happy in the end. Your strength when your father tried to break you. Your kindness when the world gave you every reason to be cruel. The way you still see beauty everywhere, even in this darkness we live in. Your snarky but very true remarks about everything that crosses your eyes. You always give a piece of your mind, no matter the consequences. How you never let your challenges be an excuse to hurt people you care about. How despite being alone in your corner you show up when you’re supposed to, and never let it derail you from finding your own happiness.”
The gun lowers slightly. “Sandro...”
“I love every piece of you, Selene. The terrible artist. The fighter. The woman who can’t cook to save her life but tries anyway. The one who feels so alone but never stops trying to form connections with people she senses are like her. I love your rage and your compassion. Your scars and your smile. Everything.”
Tears blur my vision as flames dance at the edges of my peripheral vision. “Even the broken parts?”
“Especially those.” He steps closer. “Because they mirror my own. We’re both shattered, but our pieces fit together. I know I do not deserve a second chance but if you would let me show you just how beautiful our messed-up lives can get, I’ll never stop trying to prove it to you.”
The gun clatters to the ground. I stumble forward into his arms just as multiple vehicles screech to a halt nearby. Doors slam. Footsteps thunder toward us.
Sandro’s phone then beeps with a message and I feel him reach for it to check. “Your father’s men, Moretti's men will soon be here,” Sandro mutters against my hair. “At least fifty.”
“We’re trapped.” The fire has spread, blocking every exit.
He tilts my chin up, eyes reflecting the inferno around us. “I brought them here so we can put an end to this. I’ve been able to turn them against each other. We face this together this time. No more lies. No more separation.”
Heavy boots approach. Multiple weapons cock in unison.
I press closer to Sandro’s chest, feeling his heart race in time with mine. “Together,” I agree as flames and armed men close in from all sides.
The truth about my life may have burned everything to ash, but from these embers, something new ignites. Something real. Something ours.
Chapter 20