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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Valentina

I hum a pop song softly, rocking Matilda in my arms. Her crying has died down now, and she’s staring blankly at the wall, processing everything she witnessed tonight.

The sun has started to rise, illuminating the tiny cabin we’re hiding out in, and my gaze drifts toward Alessia again.

I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s so delicate and tiny, even being a year older than Matilda by my calculations.

Like a little bird.

“Alessia,” I whisper, and her eyes meet mine. “Would you like a hug?”

She closes her eyes again, not answering me, and I wonder if she might not speak English. Alexandra went to school in America, though, so that’s probably not the case.

I sigh, accepting the fact that it’s going to take more than the offer of a hug for her to open up.

“Mama,” Matilda whispers, glancing up at me.

“Yes, honeybee?”

“Can Alessia come stay with us?” she asks innocently, glancing at the girl. “She told me her mama isn’t very nice to her.”

So she does talk—just not to me.

“We’ll see about that when we get home, okay?”

The door creaks open, and all three of us tense, ready for the next layer of hell, but Enzo’s exhausted face appears in the doorway instead.

“Hi, girls,” he breathes, slipping into the cabin and falling onto the floor. He’s covered in scratches, bruises, and bite marks like I am.

I beam at him, convinced that I’ve never seen him look as beautiful as he does now.

He saved us. My golden boy.

“Hi,” I whisper back, grinning at him.

“Everyone okay?” he asks, appraising us for immediate injuries. When he’s satisfied that everyone is relatively still intact, he settles in beside me on the floor.

I lean into his warm chest, savoring how safe and precious he makes me feel, even when I’m half-naked and covered in blood.

I turn around and sneak a quick kiss onto his chin to show him how much I appreciate him. He smiles, nuzzling into my hair.

“I should find a working phone,” he says quietly. “Apparently, one of those goons was also maneuvering this thing, and with him… gone, we’re just free floating in the ocean right now.”

“You mean the great Golden Ace doesn’t know how to drive a yacht?” I joke, biting back a giggle. It feels wrong to laugh after everything we went through, and my eyes instantly well up with tears.

“A man can’t be good at everything.” He laughs, winking at me. “Good thing I’m good at the important stuff, huh?”

“When we get off this damn boat, you’ll have to remind me.” I wink back, blushing at our outrageous flirtation in the face of what happened here tonight.

“Let me find a way to make that come true faster then,” he says, gently scooching away from me and heading back onto the deck.

Although I don’t want to let him out of my sight ever again, I nod and pull Matilda closer. He disappears down the deck, and I can’t help thinking about how funny life is sometimes.

Years ago, he was pulled from my life, shrouded in secrets and mysteries I never thought I’d figure out. And now, just like that, he’s back, and it’s like no time has passed.

Matilda sits up, surprising me, and eyes Alessia. I can see the thoughts churning in her mind, trying to make sense of this.

“Mama?” she asks, still staring at Alessia. “The lady said Alessia is Enzo’s daughter, didn’t she?”

“Mmhmm, that’s right,” I agree, eyeing the girl myself. I’m still in complete shock that Enzo had not one, but two secret daughters he never knew about.

What a mess his mind must be right now.

“So, if Enzo is my dad,” she continues, drawing connections in the air with her finger, “that means… Alessia is my sister?”

“Yes, honeybee,” I say gently. “She’s your half-sister, which means one of your parents is the same.”

“So, since we’re sisters,” she asks, her eyes widening in wonder, “are we gonna all live together? With Enzo, too?”

“Would you like that?” I ask softly, stroking her tiny nose. Her bright green eyes light up, and she clutches her hands to her chest, nodding emphatically.

“I always wanted a sister!” she cries, a smile spreading across her face.

Like a bullet, she’s off my lap and nudging Alessia gently.

“We’re sisters! Did you know that?” she says, plopping down near Alessia’s curled-up body. I watch their interaction intently, praying that Alessia might at least open up to someone her own age.

She slowly opens her eyes and pulls herself into a cross-legged pose across from Matilda. “We are?”

“Yes!” Matilda grins. “Do you want that?”

Alessia hesitates, glancing at me, and I smile encouragingly. Before she can reveal her answer, a piercing shriek makes me leap into the air. I study the deck, seeing no movement around us.

Shit. Alexandra.

“Girls,” I rush to explain, already backing out of the cabin, “I need to go see if everything’s okay. Matilda, lock this door and don’t open for anyone except me or Enzo, got it?”

She nods firmly, trying to be brave, but I see the fear flooding into her face again. I quickly swoop down and kiss her forehead, assuring her that everything will be fine.

Once I slip out, I stop to hear the click of the lock and then hightail it down the stairs to the main cabin.

My mind is racing as fast as my heart, terrified of what I’m about to stumble into. I don’t know where Enzo ended up, but I hope it’s nowhere near Alexandra and that shriek.

He might not have been able to kill her, but I sure will if she lays another hand on someone I love.

I burst into the dining room. My skyrocketing panic levels, and the frigid winter air has me gasping for air before I even realize what I’m looking at.

I sink down onto the steps, dropping my head in my hands, and for the first time tonight, I allow myself to cry real tears.

They stream down my face, springing from my eyes in big, fat, salty drops. My entire body shakes with grief as I give in to a moment of weakness.

A commotion at the top of the stairs grabs my attention, and I whip around to see Enzo struggling with the door while trying to load a gun.

He spots me sobbing on the stairs, and the blood drains from his face. Slowly, he finishes loading the gun and closes the door behind him.

“The girls?”

“They’re still up at the helm,” I breathe, wiping my snotty nose on the back of my hand. “Thank god.”

“Lenny, come on,” he urges, pulling me up from the step. “You don’t need to see this.”

“I do, though,” I say firmly. “I’m the reason she did all of this.”

“You’re not,” he growls, pulling me to him roughly.

I bury my face in his chest hair, grateful to have something to block my view of Alexandra’s lifeless body bleeding out onto the floor.

“She had problems. She was very, very sick. I won’t have you blaming yourself for any of this, do you understand? It’s enough that she almost killed us—I won’t have her haunting you for the rest of your life.”

I nod softly against his skin, my tears making it feel slick and hot. He pulls away a bit, trying to see around me, but I can’t let him go.

“Lenny,” he whispers, “let me just confirm that she’s dead. Go back up to the girls.”

“No, I’m staying with you.”

“Fine.” He shakes his head, mumbling into my hair. “Always so damn fucking stubborn.”

“I’m a Taurus,” I retort, not knowing why that even matters at this moment.

“I figured.” He snorts and gently pushes me aside.

I climb to the top step and sink down, watching him approach Alexandra’s lifeless body. The scene is so gruesome that I struggle to look.

Good thing I haven’t eaten in forever, or I’d be throwing up.

Alexandra’s arms and legs are covered in shallow, bloody cuts at strange angles. Several smashed wine bottles around her share the same blood.

Pieces of glass litter her body, sparkling like jewels in the morning sun.

“She must have tried to stab herself but couldn’t,” Enzo explains, slowly approaching her body. “Her arms were bound.”

He kneels beside her, placing his fingers on her throat to check for a pulse, but it’s useless. She’s very much dead, her neck bent at an unnatural angle and her eyes wide open.

“She jumped, didn’t she?” I wonder, glancing around the room. “From the table?”

Enzo clears his throat and straightens up. I watch as he gathers the wine-soaked tablecloth, wincing at the broken glass under his feet, and drapes it over her body.

“I don’t know if death was her end goal,” he says, resigned and exhausted. “Maybe she just wanted to cause a scene, maybe she wanted to lure us back here, who knows.”

I bury my head in my hands, unable to take any more. I just want to get off this fucking boat and away from this horror show.

“The maids are still here,” Enzo says, appearing in front of me. His heavy, warm hand strokes my hair absentmindedly, and I sink into his touch. “They hid down in the kitchen when they heard the gunshots. They have nothing to do with her, just employees for whoever rents out these yachts, but thankfully, they all had phones.”

“So, someone’s coming for us?” I ask with relief.

“Yeah, Lenny.” He smiles down at me, his eyes so full of love and hope. “My girls are safe now.”

“All of them,” I whisper back with a small, hopeful smile of my own.