Vittoria rolled her eyes. “Fine. I wash my hands of the two of you,” she huffed.
“You know you love us too much to do that,” I protested.
“That’s the only thing that stops me from running from this house screaming,” she mused.
“I feel the same way.”
“Ditto,” Audrianna echoed.
After clapping her hands together, Vittoria said, “All right. We need to get out of here and let Drea get her beauty sleep.”
She kissed me on the cheek before staring intently at me. “Raphael has kind eyes.”
“You think so.”
Nodding, she replied, “This marriage could be a blessing.”
Since I didn’t want to shatter her hope, I merely nodded. “Maybe it is.”
There was a small part of me that wished that maybe it would be.
CHAPTER FOUR: LEO
As I scowled out the jet’s window at the sprawling cityscape of Philadelphia, I was so fucking pissed it wasn’t Sicily. I wanted to be on the ground in Palermo searching for Caterina. My fists clenched at the prospect of annihilating those who had dared to hurt one hair on her head.
But vengeance wouldn’t be mine today. Instead, I was buckled into a seat on Caruso’s private jet. Our family plane carrying Father and Gianni had landed only an hour earlier. There was still no word on Caterina’s safety or her captors.
After we exited the jet, the Carusos had an SUV waiting for us on the tarmac. While Milos and Guilio handled our luggage, Rafe and I got into the back. With eyes gritty from lack of sleep, my body felt I’d taken a good beating.
Despite quickly packing last night, I hadn’t been able to fall back asleep. Every time I closed my eyes, Caterina’s terrified face appeared before me. Once I’d actually fallen asleep, I’d been plagued by nightmares of her screaming my name to save her from physical torture or rape.
After the second time waking up in a sweat, I didn’t try going back to sleep for fear of what else I might dream.
Instead, I’d called an upperclass escort service, so I could work off my tension.
Despite fucking my favorite girl through the mattress, it did nothing to clear my head.
I hated feeling so fucking helpless. It wasn’t a feeling I experienced very often.
To get my mind off Caterina, I turned to Rafe. “Did you do any research on your bride last night?”
He gave me an odd look. “Nope.”
“So, you’re still going into this blind?”
Shrugging his shoulders, he countered, “Yeah. Why?”
“I hope you’re a better actor than me. I wouldn’t be able to contain my shit if some Quasimodo-looking chick came lumbering up to me as my future wife.”
A laugh burst from his lips. “Fucking Quasimodo?”
I shuddered. “A truly hideous female version.”
“As vain as he is, do you actually think Father would broker me an unattractive bride?” Rafe countered.
He had a point. “True.”
“Not to mention if he actually went rogue and negotiated a hideous bride for me, Mother would never allow it,” he mused.
