A sniffle turned into a teary gasp, and then Sabrina put her head in her hands and sobbed. She cried for her parents, for her sister, for everyone she thought would stay and didn’t. She satwith her pain as it rose from her gut and constricted around her chest.
Sabrina had the passing thought that she hadn’t cried at all when her parents had died, hadn’t cried when Brooke had left, and hadn’t fully cried over anything since.
It all seemed to come out now.
She vaguely heard someone knocking on the front door, but her sobs had become uncontrollable, and she had no intention of letting anyone see her this way.
She registered the sound of footsteps coming down the hall just as her bedroom door opened, and Cesare Lombardi stood in the doorway looking like the picture of distinguished wealth in a custom made suit and tie. The nerve.
“Why does everyone always leave?” She gasped out, looking up at him; tears streaming down her cheeks. “Why do they never stay?”
Cesare’s expression looked almost as heartbroken as Sabrina’s. “I’m not leaving you.” He muttered, shrugging out of his suit jacket and folding it over her chair. Underneath his jacket, he wore a leather shoulder holster that held a handgun against his left side.
Sabrina went still; the visual of the weapon centering her in the present and sobering her emotions. He pulled the handgun out and placed it on top of her nightstand. The cold thud of metal on wood echoed in the room.
Cesare shrugged out of the holster, muscles flexing, and laid it over the suit jacket. His silk tie and a polished leather belt soon followed.
Sabrina swallowed as Cesare unbuttoned his shirt, as tears continued to silently streamed down her face. She attempted a shuddering breath. Cesare placed his leather shoes and woolen socks by the bedroom door before closing and locking the two of them within the quiet confines of her room.
Sabrina watched silently as he slowly, methodically stripped down to his underwear in front of her. Instead of feeling any of the lust from earlier, the air between them tonight was fragile, vulnerable, and tender. Cesare took off his Rolex and placed it on the nightstand beside the firearm.
“I am not leaving you.” He repeated calmly, his voice so tender it was heart-wrenching.
Sabrina, unable to stop the tears that continued to fall, helplessly, wordlessly, lifted the covers in invitation as Cesare advanced towards the bed.
He joined her under the covers and wrapped his strong arms around her shaking frame, squeezing Sabrina’s soft body tightly to his chest. His lips pressed the softest of kisses against her forehead.
“You are mine. My treasure. My tesoro.” He whispered. “Death itself could not take me away from you. I would simply return to you as a ghost. Your ghost.”
Sabrina didn’t speak. Cesare’s whispered promises continued, and she fell asleep as the words washed over her; settling into the painful cracks of her heart; filling up and soothing each one with the promise of a future right there in his arms.
Sabrina woke up halfway through the night to the sensation of him grinding against her from behind.
“Cesare?” She asked hoarsely.
He had one large hand cupping one of her breasts, and another hand pressing against her pussy, effectively keeping her ass pinned against the front of his hips.
He gave no sign he could hear her, and continued to grind his growing erection into the cleft of her ass cheeks, and she moaned with a combination of arousal and sleep exhaustion.
“Mine.” He growled in his sleep.
Cesare tightened his grip on Sabrina, nuzzling into her neck. “Mine.” He whispered again before settling back into the world he was dreaming.
Sabrina closed her eyes, soaking in the warmth of being in his arms, and succumbed to sleep once more.
At some point she had a vague sense of an alarm vibrating, and a kiss against her lips. Sabrina registered Cesare’s scent; the sound of a belt buckle being fastened and a weapon being holstered. The whisper of a coat jacket being put on, and the ghost of a kiss across her forehead.
Sabrina woke up with the sun to an empty bed and a note on the desk.
In court today without my phone. If you need anything, call Monty. I will call when I can. Be a good girl and keep the front door locked, tesoro.
A phone number, presumably Monty’s, was written below. Sabrina picked up her phone.
Sabrina: If you’re in court, you may not see this till later, but thank you for
Sabrina bit her lip, at a loss for words. She deleted the text.
Sabrina: Good morning, Cesare. Good luck in court.
