“Embrace me to rectify the issue, yes.”
His frown remained, but he stepped closer until his arms were firmly planted around my body. He was stiff at first but soon relaxed with a sigh into my shoulder. It was pleasant. I would suggest we did it again soon.
“How do we get Sicily back? You saw all the guards and the fence outside their house,” he mumbled, still holding onto me.
It was then that I felt his overwhelming emotions too. He loved Sicily, not as much as I did, but close enough. Her absence was disruptive to him too.
Cesare and Brenno had guarded their family well, so well that it would be impossible for us to get anywhere near Philadelphia, let alone near the house. Our faces would be the first they would look for, and it would be entirely counterproductive to burst into Philadelphia and attempt to rescue her despite the temptation to do so. The thought of leaving my wife there caused a pain worsethan the one I had inflicted upon the agent, but it was necessary to be methodical.
I let Adriano go and stepped toward the table. I took the camera footage photographs into my hands, studying them for answers that were not there. “We cannot go there, but others can.” I thrust them back onto the desk. “Send Otto and Oratio Gioffre. One has a stolen bride, and one wants to be an enforcer. They are capable and their faces are unknown.”
“Are you sure they’re the best idea?” Adriano frowned.
I turned to leave, though I did not desire to return home to a house that had no Sicily. It was far from home without her. “They will not follow the rules, but I do not care. If they hurt someone and my wife returns alive and well, they will be commended. I no longer care who becomes ruined to get her back, not even if that is Fiorella Bianchi or Cesare Fera. They willalldie if it means I get Sicily back.”
23
SICILY
I curledmy body toward Milan’s side of the bed, my hand snaking over and tapping the mattress gently to find him. He always got too hot and turned away, but I didn’t mind because it meant he woke up a little, enough to drag me back into the warmest, safest arms. He smelled of sleep and our shampoo, sticky warmth and the last hints of his cologne. He smelled of him, ofus,and that was where I belonged.
But this time, my fingers stayed empty, and I tapped along a barren mattress and a cold pillow.
I shot upright and winced at the scolding hot pain in my head.
These bedsheets were white; these walls were colored in wallpaper that had apple trees and held sconces with yellow light pouring from them; these windows didn’t have my pink curtains.
This bed was empty.
This house wasn’t home.
Milan wasn’t here.
I looked down at myself through blurry eyes. My body was warm from the thick quilt, but a chill flushed through my body as I noticed the clothes I was wearing. A short, silk and lace,silver nightdress, one that I’d seen so many times but had never worn because it was my sister’s.
My…sister’s?
“Hi, Cily.”
A startled gasp left my throat as the white wooden door creaked open slowly, and my little sister stood there looking more grown than I’d ever seen her under our parents’ roof. She sighed as she closed the door behind her and lowered herself onto the edge of the mattress. She wore warm clothes, a knitted sweater, jeans and boots, but her face looked tense, her eyes red from lack of sleep or crying, I didn’t know.
What had Cesare done to her and when had he kidnapped her too?
I lunged for her, wrapping her in my arms, but she winced, startling almost, and my rage simmered beneath my skin, ready to pounce when Cesare returned.
I’d kill whoever had made her this timid.
“Are you okay?” I cried, stroking her hair. She smelled sweet, clean, so at least they’d given her a way to bathe and look after herself. “Milan will be coming for us, Fiore, I promise. We just need to do what he wants until then, okay, we need to?—”
She pulled away, gulping roughly, taking a stand instead of her seat on the bed. “I’m so sorry about what he did.”
I frowned, blinking at her.
“It’s not his usual behavior. Even Brenno and Bella had no idea he’d do anything like this.” She held a palm to her head, sighing. “We’ll of course take you home as soon as we can.”
We?
I didn’t understand. I couldn’t understand. Fiorella was at home with Mom and Dad, she wasn’t standing here like this was familiar and calling herself and the Feras awe.
