Isabella lies at my side. Her golden hair drapes over her naked shoulders and shifts in time with her breathing.
Evidence that she is alive despite the darkening bruise around her neck.
I’m so grateful for each of those breaths. For a moment, I just lie there, counting them, letting them bring me no end of comfort.
But the slow headache begins to build, and I know it won’t leave until I’ve had some caffeine. With a sigh, I disembark and head toward the kitchen, content to busy myself with the mundanity of making coffee.
By the time I return to the room, Isabella is awake and propped up against the headboard.
Her expression relaxes when she sees me. “Is that for me?” She nods toward the second mug in my hand.
I hand it to her wordlessly before getting back into bed. It’s oddly domestic when I crawl back under the covers, and she instantly curls into my side, humming happily as she sips her drink.
Then she freezes slightly. “Is this…”
“A skim latte with two pumps of vanilla? Yes, it is.”
“You know my coffee order.”
I smile as I press a kiss into her hair. “What kind of psycho stalker would I be if I didn’t know that?”
“You’re a bit of a freak, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Definitely.”
She hums again at this, a sound that is quickly becoming one of my favorite things.
For a few short, blissful moments, we just lie there in comfortable silence, neither of us wanting to be the first to ruin the moment, but both knowing that it is inevitable.
Eventually, Isabella puts her empty mug on the side. “We have to fix everything today, don’t we?”
“Sounds a bit impossible.”
“I enjoy a challenge,” she says lightly, but when she turns to face me, her expression is devoid of humor. “But where do we even start?”
I grimace back. “The beginning, I suppose.”
“So what, we need to cover almost a century of our family feuds? The Vitales and the Natalis have been at each other's throats for generations.”
“Okay, so when did that start mattering to you?”
She thinks about this for a moment. “Well, I suppose, when they stole the casino from my mother and killed her parents.”
“Tookthe casinoback,”I correct automatically.
“Teo.”
“Fine. Okay. For argument's sake, let's say both our families have equal claim on the Prince’s Hand casinos.”
“Sorry, did you just say plural? There was only one casino the last time your family stole it.”
“Tookitback,”I mutter. “And had my family remained its custodian, we would have twice as many locations as you do.”
“That’s unverifiable.”
“But is this really the point?” I say, already wanting to smash my head against the wall. “This is personal because my grandparents killed yours, correct?”
Isabella looks at me strangely. “You don’t care about the casinos, do you?”
