Emotion makes people sloppy. Gratitude makes people confused. Fear makes people reach for the nearest solid thing and call it something it isn’t.
I know better.
I have seen it before.
Principal and protector. Crisis and attachment. Adrenaline turned into intimacy because survival can rewire your brain, and nobody thinks clearly when death has just missed by inches.
That is exactly how mistakes happen.
I don’t make those mistakes.
Especially not with her. Especially not now.
A sound finally comes through the wall.
A footstep.
Then another.
She is awake.
I turn my head toward the wall without thinking, listening.
A moment later, I hear the sound of her door opening, though she’s trying to be quiet.
Every muscle in me goes tight.
She’s leaving her room.
My hand finds the edge of the mattress, fingers curling into the sheet as I brace to sit up.
Where the hell is she going?
The hallway is secure. The house is locked down. My men are outside. Her family is under the same roof. None of that means she should be wandering around alone with this fear stillworking through her system, and half the family too exhausted to think straight.
“Damn it,” I mutter.
Pain blooms hard in my side as I start to move.
Before I can swing my legs over the edge of the bed, my doorknob turns, and the door opens silently.
A thin wash of hallway light slips across the floor.
Caterina stands in the doorway, one hand still on the knob, hair loose over her shoulders. The rest of her is silhouetted by the light behind her, but I can make out a simple T-shirt and a pair of sleep shorts.
She looks smaller like this. Less like the Conti daughter in charge of a casino empire and more like a woman who almost died a few hours ago and can’t sleep.
She hesitates.
I don’t move. My side is on fire from the aborted attempt to get up, a hot, radiating reminder that Dr. Alfonsi was right and I might be an idiot.
She takes a small step into the room.
“Are you awake?” she whispers into the dark. The words are so quiet they’re almost swallowed by the stillness.
I consider pretending to be asleep.
It would be the smart thing to do.
