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Amadeo’s eyes meet mine. It’s clear he knows as much about this as I do.
“Was she scared of you?” Vittoria asks.
I shrug a shoulder. “Maybe. I don’t know. I told her I was bringing her to you so maybe not.” I was surprised the girl didn’t startle when I showed up at the therapist’s office. Surprised when she set her hand in mine so easily.
“She’s afraid of men. Our father… she was terrified of him. And Lucien.”
“She’s a smart kid, then.”
Amadeo wraps a hand around the back of her neck possessively. He turns her to face him. Her cheeks flush when she meets his eyes, and something ugly gnaws inside me to see them like this. To be on the outside.
“Go to bed, Vittoria. She’ll wake up soon enough, and you need to get some rest.”
She makes a point of looking around the room. “No oaf to escort me?”
“Oaf?” Amadeo asks.
“A soldier. I’m guessing you don’t want me wandering around your big house.”
“You won’t do anything that would put your sister and her nanny in jeopardy.” A very subtle warning. Maybe it was smart to bring the little girl. “Go to bed. You’ll see her when she wakes up.”
She nods, and when he drops his hand from her neck, she looks up at me. Something passes between us. Not gratitude but something else. Then she’s gone, and my brother and I are alone.
“You should probably get some sleep too. Doesn’t look like you’ve had much,” I tell him.
He sits down at the table instead and looks at me expectantly. I take the seat opposite his.
“I’m glad you’re home safe, brother.”
I nod because he is genuine. I know that.
“Everything is signed. I have control. Once the will is read and her inheritance transferred to her name, we’ll own half of Russo Properties & Holdings.”
“Marriage is consummated?” I hear myself ask it and hate myself for it.
He nods once, watching my reaction. I get up and grab the whiskey from the cupboard, along with two water glasses. Nothing fancy in here. I pour us both some.
“She’s ours,” he says when I sit back down.
“You did what you needed to do. I get that. I don’t need to hear about it.”
“That missing year, she was at some clinic. Told me the name of the doctor, and Bruno already—”
“I don’t care.” I swallow my drink and shove back from the table to stand.
He stands, too, and blocks my path to the door. “Bastian.”
“What?”
“We knew what needed to happen going in.”
“Yeah, well, it’s different when it happens in front of your fucking eyes, I guess. You two cozy now?”
“It’s not like that.”
“I saw how you looked at her. How you held her.” I take a breath. “It’s fine, brother. I get it. Spoils of war go to the king.” I shove past him, but he slaps a hand on my chest. “What? I’m fucking tired.”
“I did what I had to do. You know that.”
