I have to remain calm.
I have to be collected.
The children can’t see how I’m about to burn this city to the ground and everyone with it if anything happened to their mother.
When I pull in front of the bakery, I reach for my gun, and Alvize grips my arm to stop me.
“I can go in, Luca. You stay here with the kids.”
“No. If anything happened to her, I want to be the one to find Camilla,” I whisper so the kids can’t hear. “I want you to take them to get ice cream. I’ll expect you back in twenty minutes, not a second longer. Understand?”
“Yeah, no problem.” He looks in the rearview mirror and smiles. “Who wants ice cream?”
“I do! I do!”
“Me too!”
They scream in happiness, and not even their cheer is enough to lessen the worry.
I climb out of the car, and shouts of protest come from the backseat.
“Mr. Luca, you aren’t coming?”
“I wish I could, Oliver, but I’m going to help your mom with your bags. Everyone is coming to stay with me for a little while. How does that sound?”
“Yay! A sleepover!” Olivia claps her hands.
“That’s right. So Alvize is going to go get you ice cream, and I’m going to help your mom get ready.”
“Okay. Bye, Mr. Luca.”
“See you soon.” I close the door, and in two steps, I’m in front of the entrance leading to her apartment.
I take two steps at a time and then pound on her door. “Camilla! It’s me. It’s Luca.” I continue to knock, but there’s no answer. I try the handle and jiggle it, but it’s locked. “Good girl,” I mutter. “Camilla?”
“Luca?” her weeping voice comes from the other side.
“Yes, Beautiful Girl. It’s me. Open up.”
She swings the door open, and immediately, the moment I see her face, I see red. There’s a red handprint on the side of her face. Someone hit her so hard that they left their touch behind.
I kick the door shut and cup her face, darting my eyes up and down her body. “Who did this? Do you know? Who do I need to kill?”
“I don’t know. They were all black and this weird…” she circles her hand over her face. “He wore a digital eye mask, you know, the ones that blink. It reminded me of a digital clock. And he kept wanting to know where the fortune was. I didn’t tell. I fought him. I kicked him in the face and hit his mask, which caused it to be crooked. I peppered sprayed him and kicked him in the balls,” she rambles so fast between tears I almost didn’t catch that last part. “I was so scared. I just kept thinking of Oliver and Olivia. I wish I didn’t know where the fortune was. I don’t care about it. I don’t need it.”
I gather her in my arms and give her a gentle hug, but it also helps hide the fury on my face. I’m going to have every runner I have prowling the streets tonight. Someone who got pepper sprayed can’t hide that very well.
I’m going to kill him. Slowly. I’m going to torture him for putting his hands on her.
“Are you packed?”
She nods. “I’m almost done with the kids.”
“We will buy whatever else you need, and I’ll have it delivered to the estate. You aren’t staying here for another moment.”
“Luca.” She places her hand on my chest and tilts her head back, staring at me with those big brown eyes I’ve fallen in love with. “Thank you for being here.”
I brush stray hairs out of her face and kiss her forehead. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. Come on, let’s get packed.” I take her hand in mine and go into a bedroom on the left.
There are two bunk beds against the wall and toys everywhere. Without thought, I begin tossing a bit of everything into each bag, grabbing a few stuffed animals, so they are comforted at night in a place they don’t know.
Camilla leaves the room, and when she’s in the doorway, she’s standing there with her own bag in her hand, and her purse hiked up her shoulder.
“Where did the attack happen?” I ask, coming out of Oliver and Olivia’s room.
“Around the corner. He came up from behind me and put his hand around my mouth, then dragged me around the building into the woods.”
“It happened here?” I raise my voice slightly, wondering how my alarms didn’t trip and signal something was wrong. I have cameras around the building. I should have been alerted.
Someone tampered with them.
“I’ll have a detective come by—”
“—No!” she rushes to say. “No. Let’s just leave it. I don’t want a detective to know. It’s one more person questioning that stupid fortune.”
I nod, tugging her close to me by slipping my finger into her belt loop. “I’ll find out who did this. I have men everywhere, men who won’t ask questions, and they will do the dirty work. Okay?”
“Okay,” she whispers, leaning her cheek against my chest.
“Come on. Let’s get you home and washed up. I’ll take care of you now, Camilla.” I open the door and allow her through first. Her shoulder brushes against my chest, and I mutter low, “The question is, are you going to let me?”
Her big brown eyes stare up at me as she stands on the stairs below me. “I’m going to try,” she replies.
“Good.” I close the door behind me, and we make our way down the steps.
Alvize is leaning against the car when we come outside, and he walks around to the back of the car to open the trunk. I toss the bags in and slam the trunk closed. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I glance around, wondering who is watching me.
The bookstore is sitting there, looking abandoned, but the open sign is lit up. I’m not fooled. I know it’s Taylor, but I don’t know how to prove it. Whoever he is, or whoever they work for, they are good.
“Mommy!” Olivia shouts as soon as Camilla opens the back door.
“How are my two favorite people in the whole world?” she asks, scooting into the seat between them.
“I’m fine. A little thirsty. What about you, Luca?” Alvize jokes and the kids blow raspberries at him.
“She wosen’t talking to you,” Olivia scolds, shaking her finger at him.
“Wasn’t,” we correct her simultaneously, and Camilla’s eyes catch mine in the rearview mirror.
“Mommmmy,” Oliver and Oliva moan in annoyance at the same time.
“What? Someone has to teach you to speak properly.” Camilla takes one of their hands in each hand as we drive home.
The ride is silent, but it isn’t awkward. I reach behind me and place my hand on her leg to stop it from bouncing, and she sighs a long breath to relax.
When we get to the iron gates of my estate, Alvize presses a button on the wheel and they open. I suppose my taste is more Victorian Gothic in a sense, to describe my home. The estate resembles a small stone castle, but the inside is very modern and up-to-date.
“Oh my gosh. I’mma be a princess!” Olivia kicks her little legs as she stares out the window. “Mommy, Mommy! Look.” Olivia points to the tower.
It does look a lot like the ones in Disney movies.
“You’re already a princess,” Camilla says.
I lean my elbow against the middle console as Alvize pulls around to the front. “I want extra security. I want someone to go look at the security system in her building too. I want answers.”
“You got it,” Alvize says as we climb out of the car at the same time.
I open the back door and help Olivia out first, then take Camilla’s hand as she climbs out.
“Wow, Luca. This is beautiful.” She stares at the estate with miles of the forest behind us. Every bit of land I own is fenced with a ten-foot iron gate. If anyone gets past that, well, my men will have a fun hunt on their hands.
Predators do not only walk on four legs.
My men take shifts, combing every part of the forest to make sure no one gets any clever ideas.
“You’re safe here,” I reassure her. “Much safer than the apartment. No one can get through these gates.”
“I know. I already feel better being here.”
“I’m glad.” I wrap my arm around her waist and feel something between us shift, something vital.
She’s letting me in.
She’s giving me the control to care for her, and there is something so beautiful and serene about it that it takes my breath away.
The kids screaming ruins the moment.
“Alvize! Alvize! You want to build us a playground?” Oliver asks.
“Oh, and an ice cream booth. We neededed ice cream on the playground, Oli,” Olivia says to her twin.
“Sure, whatever you want,” Alvize agrees, and Camilla tsks at his decision to say yes.
“What?” he asks as the twins run up the stairs to the giant wooden door.
“Now you have to do it. You can’t agree to something to get them to stop talking. They are going to ask again.”
“Nah, they will forget.”
Camilla shakes her head. “Good luck with that, Alvize.”
“This door is so heavy!” Olivia tugs on the door but can’t get it open.
“It’s locked, silly girl.” I press my thumb against the fingerprint scanner, and the locks slide and clank, the door opening automatically as if we are about to walk into a vault.
That’s exactly what this castle is, a vault.
“Woah,” the kids ‘ooh’ and ‘aww’ as they take in their new home. They won’t ever be going back to that apartment again. “It’s so big.” They tilt their heads all the way back to look at high ceilings. There are cherry pine beams stretching from either side of the wall. The floors are original hardwood slabs from the 1800s, and there is a wood-burning fireplace in the middle of the living room.
Okay, so maybe not everything is modern on the inside. I love a classic wood-burning fireplace, and a wood-burning fireplace is cozy.
“Do you want a tour?” I ask, and while the kids scream, Camilla doesn’t seem to want to.
“I think it’s time for bed for two little cuties,” she tells them.
“Mommy,” the groan, then proceed to pout.
“We can take a tour in the morning. Okay? You need to get to bed.”
“I agree. Come on. I’ll show you your rooms.”
“We have our own rooms?” Oliver shouts, and his voice echoes throughout the house. “We’ve never had our own rooms.”
“Wait, will we be far away from each other?” Olivia’s eyes water, but the tears don’t fall.
“No, what’s really amazing is the rooms you have next to one another have an adjoining door which means you can keep it shut, so you have your own space, or you can leave it open, and it is like having one big room.”
They both gasp. “Cool!” And with that, they dash up the stairs, excited to see their new space.
“You’re really good with them,” she says, sliding her hand on the rail to follow them.
“They are easy to be good with. You’ve done an amazing job.” I walk next to her, hands in my pockets to keep myself from touching her too much.
She’s quiet until we get to the top of the stairs, and from the sound of it, the kids have already found their room.
“Luca—”
I grab her by the arms and spin her to me. “Camilla, don’t worry. I’m so happy to have you here, where you are safe. The kids are more than welcome. I don’t want you to worry about that.”
“It isn’t that—”
“—And when it comes to their father, it’s okay. I’ll do my best not to try to take his place, but that will be my goal. I consider you mine, Camilla. I have since your birthday at the club. Those kids, they are mine, if you will let them be.”
“Luca, that’s what I want to talk to you about—”
“Mommy! Come look at our room. It’s so big.” Olivia peeks her head out from the doorway of her new room.
“We will talk later.”
Olivia is impatient and stomps down the hall to grab Camilla’s hand, then drags her to her room. “Come on. You’re taking forever,” Olivia moans with an eye roll.
When Camilla gets to the doorway, she gasps. “Oh, wow. How…how did you?” she turns to me with confusion.
“I had the rooms redone. I wanted them to feel at home.”
The room is painted a light pink, and the bed has a pink canopy over it. There’s a dollhouse in the corner, and her closet is already full of clothes.
“You have to see mine!”
Camilla walks through the adjoining door and places a hand over her mouth as she takes it in. Oliver’s room is space themed. There are glow in the dark stickers on the ceiling, and one wall is painted with a mural of a galaxy. His bed is a rocket, and there’s a button near his head that, if he presses it, will announce a countdown.
For bedtime, of course.
“I can’t believe you did this. This is so much, too much, but I can’t be mad because you’ve made them so happy.”
“I can make you happy too,” I say, wrapping my arms around her waist, then nestling my chin on her shoulder.
Her hand slides against mine, and we stand there together to watch the kids running back and forth, smiling, giggling, and it’s the most noise this house has ever heard.
It’s a home.
They’re my home.
