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Neo squeezes my hand. “Angel, you have to breathe. It’s going to be okay. We’re going home. I’m going to look through the camera feed from her room and find out what’s going on.”
“What camera feed? There isn’t surveillance in that penthouse, Neo.”
He flinches, then pulls his mobile out of his pocket and dials someone. He doesn’t put this call through the car speaker system. He holds the phone to his ear instead as he fires off instructions to God only knows who to go to the penthouse and retrieve that camera he saw on the ceiling. There shouldn’t have been a camera in that bedroom. I should have known it was there. How the hell did I miss that?
I let myself get distracted—that’s how. I can’t believe I let this happen. I’ve been blinded by my stupid infatuation with a certain made man. Yanking my hand out of his, I reach into my backpack, pull out the laptop, and fire it up. I connect to the internet on my phone and open the program I’ve used many times. Within minutes, I’m scrolling through the Four Seasons’s security feed. In particular, the cameras in the penthouse lobby and the elevator that leads up to that floor.
I left Izzy in her room alone at ten p.m. So I skip straight to that time stamp. I fast-forward and note that there’s no movement on either feed. A sense of relief starts to wash over me. There’s no one there. Maybe Izzy saw a shadow? Then it happens. I see him. A man I can’t identify steps into the view of the camera. He stops at the door to the penthouse and pulls out a card from his pocket. He swipes it and is granted access.
The time stamp reads three a.m. We were all asleep… I should have woken up. I can’t believe I let a threat get past me.
My stomach churns as I watch the shadowy figure enter the penthouse. Then nothing. I hit fast-forward again and see him leave ten minutes later. He was in the penthouse for ten whole fucking minutes.
“I’m going to rip his eyes out and shove them up his ass!” How dare he think he can watch my daughter sleep. Thoughts of what could have happened—what a man entering a little girl’s room could do—play out in my mind, further igniting my rage.
I reach for my phone and Neo yanks it from my hands. “Who are you planning on calling?”
“My father.”
“You can’t. You know as well as I do about the plans in Italy. What if this is connected? That would mean someone other than that fucking rat from your father’s organization is involved.”
“I can’t just sit here and do nothing, Neo,” I hiss.
“I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you to trust me. Trust us. Do you honestly think that anyone is going to get past the both of us.”
“Someone already did. I can’t believe I let him get that close.” I shake my head.
“Angel, this is not on you. We’re almost there, okay? I just need you to hold your shit together for a few more minutes.”
“I can’t—Neo, what if…”
“Don’t finish that thought. It’s going to be okay.”
We pull off onto a dirt road. It’s only now that I notice it looks like we’re in the middle of the woods. “Where are we?” I ask.
“I told you. We’re going home.” He smiles at me, a huge wide smile that lights up his whole stupidly handsome face.
All I can see is a long dirt road and trees, so many trees. How we can be in such a deserted spot after just leaving the bustling city, I have no idea. Neo takes a sharp left turn, and an ornate pair of steel gates opens as we approach. When we pass through the gates, there’s a large clearing and an even larger house. If you could call it a house. It’s a building. All sharp edges and lines. And some kind of architectural design made to look like art.
“This is where you live?” I ask, having trouble believing that Neo, the underboss of the Valentino Family, lives out here in the middle of nowhere in some kind of modern mansion. I pictured a penthouse bachelor pad. Not…this.
“It’s the only place I get peace. No one comes here other than my immediate family,” Neo says.
“And Theo, apparently.” I nod towards my brother, who’s standing outside with his wife.
“How the fuck did he beat us here?” Neo mutters under his breath.
“Izzy, you need to start carrying around a curse jar. You’re going to be a millionaire before you know it.” I watch my daughter’s eyes light up at the prospect.
“Okay, I’ll make one,” she agrees.
“Hate to break it to the both of you, but we’re hardly starved for cash. Izzy’s already a millionaire many times over,” Neo says, jumping out of the car.
I know my family has money. I have money. And I know it’s in the billions not millions. And one day, my father’s successor will inherit it all. Now that Theo is around, I’m hoping it’ll be him. I don’t need my family’s money. I have enough stashed away in foreign accounts for Izzy and me to live very comfortably for the rest of our lives.
Neo comes around and opens my door, then does the same for Izzy. “I hope you like purple, Bel.”
“Purple is my favorite color! How did you know?” she asks him.
