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“I can’t.” I looked at Rosa and tried for a smile, but it fell just like my life. I had grown to love this woman even though we hardly understood each other. “She’ll walk soon.” My voice shook. “You’ll have to childproof.”
The only relief in all of this was that Cora was too small to remember me. Only I would. Remember the joy she had brought every day to my life.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
ANTONIO
Ididn’t know how long I stood there in that rundown warehouse in Palermo, clenching my phone to my ears, trying frantically to reach my wife.
The only thing I knew was in that time, what felt like hours, I wanted nothing more than to rewind to two weeks ago when I was back home. I had known she was upset, but I hadn’t pushed to find out why. I didn’t do feelings, and I had difficulty keeping up with hers. Now it was back to bite me with regret.
I had left in my bed a happy wife, and by night, she was distant, visibly putting barriers in between us, getting ready for the cold war she was so fucking good at. Except this time my gut feeling had told me it was much more. I had known her to be mad and throw a fit, as well as be cold and distant. But this time, it felt like she had just given up. Still, I had left. Cosa Nostra always came first. But here I was now, doing the unthinkable, handing the reins over to a shocked Marco and catching the first flight back. Carlo could put a hole in my head for all I cared. I was going home.
Why had Armando not stopped her? He could have easily called in my men and locked her up in our room. No one fucking left the family. She should have known that.
On the flight home, I mulled over my frantic calls to Rosa and Armando, neither of whom seemed to know what the problem was. Only that Rosa had found her crying and she had immediately packed up and left. Just like that. Not even a goodbye to Cora. Or to me.
Anger boiled inside me, sending acid to my stomach. It was that easy for her to put an end to our life together.
But I wasn’t going to make it easy for her. I would find her wherever she thought she was going to hide. I would find her, and I would drag her back and lock her in my room if that’s what it took to keep her there.
The eleven-hour flight with a stopover stretched my patience. But it was not all in vain because I had results at the end of it. Going through the security images had delivered a hint of information. I had watched an exchange between Divya and a woman I didn’t recognise. But a quick search had resolved that.
By the time the flight landed, I had a massive headache from clenching my teeth for most of the day.
I needed to find her. Angelo had already gone over to her apartment and found it empty and uninhabited. I didn’t know where to look. I called him as I strode to the car.
“He hasn’t seen her since the last time,” Angelo said.
“I don’t care. Keep him with you till I get there.”
“Antonio—”
I hung up on him. I didn’t care to hear his opinion. I was fucking done sharing. I would put a bullet through Harris’s head just because he had once fucked my wife.
I felt like a man split in two, in excruciating pain and lost without my other half.
Hopping onto the car, I made Remo drive me to Roberto’s offices, where I was shown into a private room with the bitch with the death wish, as I had requested. Roberto, though, was a nuisance I didn’t want to deal with. He inserted himself into the room.
“I am not trusting you alone with her,” Roberto muttered.
I ignored my cousin. He shouldn’t. I had never thought I would have to hurt a woman, but I was not sure I was beyond it.
I watched the girl on the chair wilting under my stare. Charging over to her, I put myself in her face, put my hands on the armrest, and confined her.
“Who sent you to my wife?” I asked softly, my voice in complete control in comparison to the boiling anger burning inside me like a scalding iron.
She tried to drop her gaze, which was the wrong move as far as I was concerned.
I snatched her face tightly with my hands and turned her towards me. “Who fucking sent you to my wife,” I yelled in her face. It better not be my mother.
“Your mother… sir.” Her voice quivered.
“What did you show her?”
“The fi—files for the custody case…”
“What else?” I bellowed, making her jerk away, her eyes wide with fright.
