Page 84 of The Masked King

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Worry me?” Her voice has gone from accusatory to shrill in a heartbeat. There is no middle ground with Bianca; never has been. “You think that’s something a mom switches off when her kids are taken away from her, huh? You think I don’t lie awake at night afraid that some fucker will get to them before I can tell them I love them?”

I stand up, overturning my cup and spilling the dregs over the counter. I don’t want her here. I want to get her away from Meggie and the children and the apartment they call home before it’s all tainted and bloody and a sitting target for Dmitri fucking Malevsky.

“Not here, Bianca.” I raise my hands to placate her, but she shoves me in the chest, ignoring the blood on my suit jacket.

Behind me, Meggie gasps, and I hear her get up and walk around the counter to step in.

But Bianca doesn’t notice. Or perhaps she’s too angry to care. “Don’t you dare fucking tell me where and when to talk about my own kids. If they’re in danger, I want to know about it, do you hear me? I’m their mom. If anyone can keep them safe, it’s me.”

“Bianca…” Meggie begins, but I flash her a warning look to let me handle it.

“They’re safe,” I say, turning back to my sister. “I won’t let anyone touch them, I promise.”

Her voice lowers, but her eyes are still hard as wet shiny pebbles. “Don’t make a promise you can’t fucking keep, Enzo.”

She’s right. Mateo Esposito spoke to Sofia. He got about as close to her as I am to my sister right now and turned her head with the one thing he knew would make her forget security and bodyguards and family legacies. He promised her Hollywood glamor. He made it look fucking easy, and I’m stone-cold sober as the realization sinks in.

The Fish found Megan and Amber.

Malevsky found Sofia.

Keeping them safe isn’t my promise to make, and who’s to say that we’re doing a better job than Bianca would, given the choice and the resources?

“I’m sorry, Bi.” I step closer. “I should’ve told you. But I didn’t want to jump to conclusions until I spoke to them.”

“Are they…?” She leaves the question hanging between us.

“They’re okay.” What more can I say? They’re beautiful kids, sis, you should see how tall they’re getting, and what great human beings they’re becoming with the education Gio is paying for. “They’re doing well.”

It’s a copout, but Bianca clings to my words like they’re carved in stone. Her eyes fill with tears. “Did they… Did they ask about me?”

I can’t lie to her, but I also can’t tell her that they stopped asking about her a long while ago. Instead, I fold her into my arms and hold her while her body is racked with sobs. My sister can morph from a strong upright woman with a spine made of steel to this vulnerable bird-like creature who folds her wings around herself like a protective suit of armor when her children are involved.

How differently her life might’ve turned out if she’d turned toward the sun and nurtured her strengths for the good of the family, instead of skulking in the shadows and feeding her bitterness until it replaced the love with something cold and tarnished.

We don’t speak. When Bianca finally pulls away, she wipes her eyes with her fingertips and plasters the brave smile back on her face.

“I made coffee,” Megan says from the kitchen. “You probably need something stronger, but Enzo has already drunk more than I’m comfortable with.”

Bianca’s gaze barely meets Megan’s. She tilts her chin to the ceiling and straightens her shoulders, stepping back into her Bianca the Untouchable role. “I’m not staying. I only came to deliver a message to Enzo.”

The skin on the back of my neck prickles. If the bullet in my shoulder wasn’t the message… I already know I’m not going to like this.

“The Bratva has Demi.” Bianca doesn’t create any fanfare; she blurts it out like it’s been burning a hole on the tip of her tongue.

“What? Where?” Megan reacts while I’m still processing Demi’s name and her connection to the asshole who is hiding Nyx. “What do you mean they have Demi?”

“You have twelve hours to find her, Enzo.” Bianca ignores Megan and addresses me directly. “Before they sell her on some closed auction platform.”

“How did you…” My thoughts are spinning too rapidly for me to grab one and slow it down enough to articulate. “Why Demi…”

“Why do you think? They were always coming for you.” There isn’t a hint left of the Bianca who broke down in my arms. The barriers are raised, and she’s the cold calculating woman who never knew when to turn around and cut her losses while she still could.

“Where is she?”

“I don’t have that information, Enzo. I’m the messenger, not the bad guy.”