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I hand him a glass of wine and take my own, making sure I don’t mix them up. “So much has happened tonight. I could use a drink and thought you might like one too...”
“Sure,” he mutters, “let’s sit.” He refers to the couch, where we both get comfortable. As we sip our wine, I ask him how he managed to drive away Rafaele’s men.
He begins to explain, but a few seconds later, he tells me he’s feeling a little too tired. I help him to bed and watch until he’s lost to the world.
I lean over, kiss his forehead for the last time and whisper, “I love you,” through the wretched tears that refuse to be held back, before grabbing my coat and escaping through the dumbwaiter.
Chapter 41
Fiero
The door to my bedroom door slams open, and I feel like I’m in a dream, unable to move. The world goes dark again from the pain radiating in my head.
“Boss, Boss,” a voice booms in my ears. I try to open my eyes, but my entire body feels like it’s been hurled into a brick wall.
“Boss!” the voice calls for me again, and someone’s shaking me awake. My eyes flutter open, light filters in, blurring my vision a little.
Rico’s face looms over me. This isn’t a dream.
I take a few more breaths and extend my hand for Rico to help me up.
He pulls me up, and I sit against my bed, motioning at the jar of water. Rico pours me a glass and I take a few sips.
“You okay, Boss?” he asks with concern.
“I don’t know, Rico. My head,” I try to shake off the painful fog.
“Here,” he reaches into my nightstand and hands me a painkiller. I gratefully take it, but before I can even swallow them down, Rico tells me the reason he came bursting in.
“Romola stole the diamond last night, Boss."
Suddenly, I’m wide awake. The room spins for a moment before settling into sharp focus. "What are you talking about? That's impossible. Romola’s right…” here is what I want to say, but as I look around the room, her clothes are gone.
I jump out of bed, put on my robe and run to the bathroom. She’s not there. I phone her. Straight to voicemail.
I peek out into the hallway. “Romola? Romola?” I call out loudly.
No response.
I get back into my room, and Rico avoids my gaze, shifting his weight on his feet.
“I swear Rico. She spent the night.”
A flash of sadness passes Rico’s face. “This morning, Boss, I was checking security logs to ensure we have no weaknesses in our system, just to safeguard against another attack. I reached the treasure room and saw two entries. One was which you validated, and I thought nothing of it. But the other…” he walks over and shows me a screenshot of the entry log. She entered alone while Rafaele waged war outside. There’s no doubt. The truth is right in front of my eyes.
“No!” I gasp, falling back on the closest chair. Everything feels surreal, like a nightmare. Romola, sweet Romola, stealing from me? I can’t wrap my head around it. Why would she betray me in such a way?
From the very start, I thought what we had was special. That once-in-a-lifetime, rare thing that puts other lovers to shame. How could she? What happened? Did she love the diamond so much when I showed it that it overwhelmed her sense of self? Or was this planned… from the start?
It couldn’t have been planned ahead because no one except Rico and Sybil knew of the diamond. I wish I hadn’t shown her the wretched thing.
My mind keeps going back and forth between believing Rico is mistaken and believing Rico is right. I say nothing.
“We checked the security footage. She entered the vault during the attack," Rico adds, trying to ease me into the truth that is staring me right in the face.
"You must be mistaken," I retort, but a pit forms in my stomach. Romola, my heart, my world - how could her greed be stronger than the bond we shared? Didn’t I make it clear to her in the few days we’ve known each other the lengths I would go to for the person I love?
If she’d stayed and had gotten to know each other more, she could have simply asked me, and I would have given her that god-forsaken diamond out of sheer love.
