Page 17 of Legacy (The Sovereigns #2)

Angelo

M y phone buzzes sharply on my office desk. I don’t need any more issues.

The lights cast a sterile glow against the stark white walls, contrasting with the matte black high ceiling overhead.

I barely glance at it before answering.

“Amato.”

“I gave her your number,” Luciano Castillo’s voice drawls.

Fuck.

Scarlet.

With this war. I almost forgot I married her on paper.

The Armenians ruined everything. But we finally have them—date, time, location. My brother’s team has done their job. We’re taking them down.

I was going to call for Scarlet to come.

I was.

“Alright,” I answer.

“She’s pissed the fuck off so this will be my one and only courtesy call, she’s your issue now.”

Luciano ends the call.

I stare at my phone.

Scarlet.

I’d promised myself I wouldn’t think about her until the war was over .

Easier said then done.

She’s all I thought of for the last five years.

Now she’s mine.

And I’m focused more on this war than my wife.

I don’t need this shit right now.

My phone buzzes again, this time with a text message.

My heart pounds against my chest as I see an unsaved number.

“We need to talk, when can I call?”

A shuddered breath escapes me.

Her.

I don’t wait. I call her; because I need the upper hand, or maybe just to finally hear her. The phone rings twice before she answers.

“Angelo?”

Fuck.

That voice.

Her voice.

It melts all the bravado I had.

How did I not realize how much I’ve missed that voice?

Suddenly I’m twenty six again, wrapped up in the sheets with her in my arms. The faint sounds that came from her lips as she whispered my name like a plea, my only salvation.

My mouth goes dry.

“Scarlet,” I manage to get out.

The word sounds foreign echoing off the maroon shelves lining the walls. Like warmth bleeding in to my memories.

“A-Adriana,” she says softly. “Call me Adriana. I wanted to talk about this… marriage.”

I wait for her to continue.

My heart beating so hard I can hear it in my ears.

“Am I going over there or am I staying here? I’m waiting to take the bar there, but if I’m not moving—”

“You’re moving. ”

I cut her off a little too firm. I clear my throat.

“You will be here when the war I have going on is over. I’ll send the plane.”

She goes silent.

The silence stretches, like a void between telephones, I can hear her soft breaths on the receiver throwing me back to our time together, when her lips were my home.

She exhales.

“Why?”

It’s so quiet I almost miss it.

“Why what?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady, ignoring the painful clenching in my chest.

“Why now, Angelo? After all these years...”

Her voice trails off and I can hear the hurt and confusion in her words.

I exhale slowly, shutting my eyes as I lean back in my chair.

“It’s...complicated.”

That’s all I can say.

I can’t explain anything to her right now.

Not over the phone.

“I see,” she replies, her voice hot with rage.

Damn it.

“Well then, when it becomes uncomplicated, let me know.”

The line goes dead and all I’m left with is a hollow feeling in my chest and the echo of her voice in my ears.

Even angry, her voice pulls a shiver down my spine. I’ve missed her. Dio, I want her here.

But I can’t have her. Not until the blood dries and the war ends. Until then, she’s the echo I carry.

The sin I haven’t earned back.