AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Safe?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand what’s going on. Why would someone attack me?” She turned to look at him, her face ashen. “It wasn’t a random attack. Not some junkie.”
Carlo agreed, but he kept his expression neutral. “What makes you say that?”
She pulled a face. “Who would hit someone over the head, render them unconscious, and yet still take the time to break into the house, leave the weapon on a bed, but take nothing?” An hysterical laugh bubbled inside her. “What in the world would possess someone to do that?”
Carlo’s guilt was a butterfly, flapping its wings in his stomach, brushing him with shame and culpability.
“What did I do? I haven’t hurt anyone. Not a soul. I don’t understand.”
You married me, he thought with a roll of desperation. And I am the son of a vicious, notorious mob boss.
The certainty that someone was trying to hurt Carlo, by attacking Jane Lang, was now as obvious to him as the London sky was lead grey.
Unfortunately, his wife had no knowledge of his father’s criminal associations. She had no knowledge of Carlo’s long-running animosity with that underground network of society’s dregs. Was it any wonder she had been left surprised by the violence against her?
Carlo settled back in his seat.
One thought, and one thought only, gave him comfort. He would never let any further harm come to her. He would keep her safe, no matter what that cost him. Obviously the security measures he’d put in place to protect her had not been sufficient. Which left only his personal protection. And he would wrap it around her as a bulletproof shield. For as long as it was necessary, he would protect her. Jane Lang was too valuable, too pure, to be sacrificed to his father and his father’s enemies.
“No one will hurt you, Jane. I intend to make sure of it.”
Jane nodded, but worry and fear were forming a stone in her throat. “Carlo…,” she looked at him, her eyes enormous in her pretty face. “I’m scared.”
He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his chest.
He would hunt down the man, woman or beast who had made his wife’s face pale like that, and he would make sure they could never hurt her again.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Not here.” She shook her head obstinately, her feet planted firmly in the paved footpath that ran along the front wall of his Roman villa.
“Si,” he grunted, shouldering open the gate and waiting for her to follow him.
Jane eyed the elegant building with distaste. It was stunning, of course. Just the kind of home a man like Carlo Santini would own. Set on the outskirts of Rome, in the premiere Residential district, it had spectacular views over the whole city. She could see the Forum, and the Colosseum, and the spikes and turrets of the Vatican. The view had enchanted her, initially. But now it brought back too many vivid memories of long evenings, alone, looking out and wondering where her husband was. And who with.
The villa itself was grand and imposing. Set behind a tall, red brick wall, the house was four stories high and rendered in a pale brown.
The roof was original – small terracotta squares that spoke of an ancient time in Roman history.
She ran her shaking fingertips over the fence, but did not step inside the gates.
The twelve months she’d spent as mistress of Villa Vista had not been happy.
“Jane,” Carlo said quietly, his eyes beseeching. “The villa is the most secure place I could think of to bring you.”
It was the first property he’d bought. Then, in the beginning flush of obscene wealth, and with the certainty that his father’s past could reach out and ruin everything, he had needed somewhere safe and secure. Villa Vista was a fortress. Discrete cameras hooked into the roofline captured every angle of the property. Their footage was reviewed by an independent security agency, as well as an automated system constantly scanning for unusual activity. The property was alarmed; the windows were bullet proof, the front door impenetrable, and there was an enormous safe room that could be accessed from his bedroom.
Faced with a need to protect Jane as he was presently, this had been the only option.
“I swore I’d never come back,” she remarked bitterly, her eyes drawn again to the house. The black wrought iron balconies that stepped out from each bedroom on the top two floors were like bulging, black eyes. She stared at them, and wrapped her arms tight around her middle.
“You used to like it here,” he said, quietly interrogating her.
“Maybe at first. But not for a long time.”
“You were happy in Rome,” he pushed, scanning her pale face with renewed curiosity.
Jane seemed to close up before his very eyes. She squared her shoulders and shot him a look of obvious disbelief. “That you thought so shows how little you knew me.” Still, what choice did she have? If someone was actually targeting her, until she knew who and why, she was wisest to stay away. And whatever threat was out there, she felt safe with Carlo. At least, safe from others. Not safe from the fires of need that seemed to flare between them.
