Bella was pregnant. Cesare’s child was there.
Something akin to the sensation of happiness and pride flashed in my chest, but the growing crimson wet patches on her jeans set the lightness into darkness once more.
“Take a deep breath,” I instructed calmly.
She did as she was told, and she struggled, but she eventually calmed.
“Good.” I squeezed her shoulder. “I will get our doctor to look after you. Francesco will stay with you; you know him, yes?”
She nodded, her sniffling decreasing.
“This is not your fault.” I was unsure of what a human in this scenario would need to hear, but Sicily had recently informed me that something I blamed myself for was not my fault, and this seemed appropriate in this scenario.
She wiped her eyes with her fingers as she whispered, “Sicily’s okay. She was sleeping when I left.” She sighed into her wet sleeve. “Cesare just wants you to destroy the contract. He’s terrified of having this looming over him when the baby’s born, and he wants Brenno to have a new start when he and Fiorella get married, and?—”
“What?” I frowned, interrupting her rambling, my jaw gaping open uncomfortably.
“Oh.” She sniffled. “Yeah, they’re getting married. It’s exciting, right?”
No, it was not exciting. Fiorella Bianchi had betrayed me, but I did not care for that; I cared that she had betrayed my wife, that Sicily would experience significant sadness and loss over this.
Bella appeared to be a girl who people only showed their best side to, and I doubted that Brenno and Cesare would hurt my wife in front of her. I also doubted that Fiorella would display her true character before her either, but now that she was gone and in my possession, my wife was fair game, and I had to save her before we lost.
24
MILAN
Bella wasa pleasant house guest despite the fact that she was not a guest and my unexpected hostage. I ran a hand down my face at that, but soon returned to staring at the blank computer screen in my office.
The Feras had not contacted me while Adriano, Francesco, and I strategized with the Gioffres on how to save Sicily. The silence was jarring. It was almost preferable at this point that they burst into my home to rescue Bella. After all, Adriano had shut down her phone all for the location tracking I had told him to keep active, and they had still remained distant.
It had only been days without my wife, but those days had created a divide between me and my feelings. I did not notice the darkness until I was gasping in it in the middle of the night. I did not appreciate the brightness of the skies until the sun was blinding me. All I saw was the lack of herin everything I did.
A quiet knock startled me from the plaguing thoughts of how the Feras were destroying me, and I looked up to find Bella. She had rosy cheeks and damp hair, evidently from another bath which she had informed us she enjoyed. The doctor had told us that she was fine, the fetus too, and that she simply required nothing but rest and care. I did not inform him that I wouldattempt this, but that Bella was my captive, and she may find relaxation a difficult task given this unfortunate fact.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, frowning at her presence here.
“Fine.” She smiled sadly, stepping in and closing the door behind her. “I just wondered if?—”
I shook my head, anticipating her question because she asked me multiple times a day whether Brenno or Cesare had said anything. She was desperate to return to her home, to her crazy husband and her family, and though I did not understand how she could wish to be around Cesare, I could not blame her. I, too, craved the comfort of my other half; these walls did not make up my home without Sicily, and everything was cold.
Bella had stopped crying at night, and I wondered if she had stopped hoping they would come for her, but then she would speak of the boys, and it became clear again that, despite all of their flaws, this woman was incredibly loved. It was not hope she had, butknowing—knowing that they would not simply leave her here.
She slumped into the chair opposite my desk, drawing her knees to her chest to make herself small again. She did this often, and I wondered if she still feared me to some extent. “Are you sad?”
I frowned. I had not been asked this question before because the answer had not been clear, but I found myself filling my lungs with air so that my heart did not sink as I replied, “Incredibly.”
She nodded, looking away as though this answer saddened her too.
Human emotions were exceptionally disruptive.
“Brenno said that you can’t feel, but it seems like you can.”
I shook my head. “I should not be able to feel, he is correct, but I can, and it is problematic.”
“Why?”
“Because sadness is a weakness and happiness is a larger one.” I sighed, clicking nothing on my computer so that I did not have to look at her sad face and be sadder.
