I push away the thoughts about why he thought Eva was a threat. Why he made her leave knowing she was carrying my child.
I thumb through more photos as Dominic handles the payment. Eva at the piano teaching Mirabella, both of them laughing. Mirabella napping with her fairy dolls. This is the family I’d wanted but thought I'd lost.
Alessandro's suspicion is the only dark cloud.
He watches Eva like she's a bomb about to detonate.
Maybe she is.
She's still hiding something.
I'm not stupid enough to miss that.
But I'll get it out of her eventually, on my terms.
Whatever it is, we'll handle it.
"We're done here," Dominic announces.
"Good." I pocket my phone. "Let's move."
We're back at the compound forty minutes early, and I don't give a shit who notices my hurry. I've spent four years thinking Eva was dead, missing every moment of my daughter's life. I'm not wasting another minute.
I find her in the garden, sitting on a stone bench watching Mirabella chase butterflies. For a moment, I take in the sight of them both. The scene is so fucking perfect, it makes my chest ache in that way that feels like at any moment, it’s going to be taken from me.
Three weeks they've been here. Each day, I grow closer to my daughter. Each night, I hold Eva, memorizing every inch of her body like it might vanish again by morning.
But something's off. I see it in the way Eva's smile sometimes freezes, the way her eyes dart to exits when she thinks I'm not looking.
The way she flinches at unexpected sounds.
She’s fearful, and I get why.
Alessandro is a scary dude.
But I see calculation in her eyes as well. As if she’s planning her escape.
Last night, she left our bed, and for a moment, I thought she was making her move. I don’t know where she went or what she did, but she returned to my side. I want to believe it means her behavior is just a reaction to Alessandro and not that she’s planning to leave.
I approach, and Mirabella spots me first.
"Daddy!" She races toward me, arms outstretched.
I scoop her up, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "How's my little fairy princess today?"
"I almost caught a butterfly!"
“You know, if you sit still, sometimes they’ll come and sit on you.”
Her eyes widen. “Really?”
“Really.” I set her down and she trots off to sit at the edge of the flower garden, her hands in her lap as she sits still, her eyes watching the butterflies.
When she's out of earshot, I sit beside Eva. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." She leans against me, but there's tension in her shoulders. "Everything's perfect."
"Eva. I know when something's wrong. Talk to me."
