CANDI
There was sucha sense of finality in the way Armani touched me last night. He was slow, purposeful, gentle. Utterly focused on my pleasure, barely interested in his own. I was so caught up in the moment that my intuition didn’t start tingling until I woke up this morning and realized: he didn’t fuck me last night. He made love to me.
Like it was the last time.
Like it was goodbye.
Now, I can’t shake the fear that he’s about to do something very dangerous.
If not for Juliana asking me to meet her at Frankie’s house ASAP, I would have stayed by Armani’s side today. But he’d insisted that I go see Jules, said he had a bunch of important work meetings to deal with anyway, and swore he’d see me later tonight. The thing is, I don’t believe him. Not for a second. I’m not even sure he’s going into the Bellanti offices at all. I wish I could send a security team to follow him today and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.
When I get to Frankie’s, Juliana meets me at the door and silently leads me to the sitting room with an urgency that does nothing to ease my mind.
“Sit down,” she commands once we’re in the room.
I drop into a chair, a sense of dread washing over me. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head. “Everything.”
“Okay, fair, but what’s so urgent? You’re scaring me right now.”
Taking a drink of her coffee first, she turns the mug in her hands nervously and then looks back up at me and blurts, “I have to go back.”
My limbs go cold. “What? No. You can’t. Jules—”
“There’s no other way to stop what’s coming.”
Desperate, I get up and kneel in front of her chair, taking her hand and pressing it to my heart. “Please. I need you here, Juliana. And in a few months, you’re going to be an auntie, and this baby needs you, too. We all need you. We’re yourfamily.”
She smiles, just a little.
“I still can’t believe you’re going to be a mom,” she whispers. “And believe me, there’s nothing I want more than to be a part of your baby’s life…but if I don’t do this, none of us will survive to see his or her first birthday.”
“There must be some other way. Maybe we can broker another truce, or—”
“How well did that work out last time?” she points out. “It won’t stick. Sergio completely disregarded the contract he signed before, and if he’s forced to sign something again, he’ll break the terms again. Nothing is going to deter him from executing his plan to take out the Bellantis. He thinks it’s the only way the Brunos in Italy won’t have him killed. And he’s probably right.”
My stomach sinks. “I’m not agreeing with you. But what are you thinking?”
“I have a part to play. Unless we want all the Bellanti casks to be filled with blood, or worse, I need to go back to Maxim and pretend I don’t know anything about my true identity. I’ll just slap on a smile, go along with Sergio’s plans for this wedding, and figure it out from there.”
I rock back to sit cross-legged on the carpet. I feel sick. As much as I hate what Juliana is saying, I can’t come up with an alternative course of action that seems like it would actually work better than what she’s suggesting.
Not only that, but I know my friend all too well, and when she’s set her mind to something, there’s no stopping her. She’s going to do this with or without my blessing.
“We should talk to Armani first,” I tell her.
“Pfft. Are you kidding? The guy’s in overprotective big brother mode and he’ll never let me leave this property if he knows what I’m planning. I need to do this without his knowledge. Once things have settled down, I’ll reach out and explain it to him. I’m sure he’ll be pissed, but too bad. I can’t just sit back and let the Brunos tear apart my family for the second time.”
“I don’t like this. You’re throwing yourself to the wolves.”
“There’s no other way,” she says. “I’ve made peace with it. Once I’m officially Maxim’s wife, I’ll try to sway him to leave the Bellantis alone. Maybe even convince him to turn the Russians against the Brunos. Sergio’s not the only one who can break an agreement.”
The plan is iffy, at best. We both know it.
We lapse into silence, both of us lost in our own heads. I feel her anxiety taking up the most space in the room. Like a true Bellanti, she’s not afraid to sacrifice herself for the greater good of her family. Even if she only reunited with that family less than 48 hours ago. Amazing.
Finally, I let out a long breath.
