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The note slips from my fingers the moment I have moved it aside.
It flutters down to land on the table while I just stand there, staring into the box.
A silver necklace sits there on a small blue cushion.
Thenecklace.
I draw in an unsteady breath as I reach in and trace my fingers along the delicate chain and then over the small silver circle whereIsabellahas been engraved.
A sob tears from my throat.
Gently gripping the necklace, I hold it up. It glints in the warm light from the lamp above.
I stagger over to the counter, throwing out a hand to brace myself. But it’s not enough.
My knees buckle and I slide down the front of the counter until I hit the floor. With my back pressed against the cabinet door behind me, I draw my knees up to my chest as another violent sob escapes my chest.
Clutching the necklace in my hand, I press that closed fist hard against my chest. Cracks are forming all over my heart now. Like brittle glass underneath a sledgehammer.
I tighten my grip on the necklace as I hold it over my heart. As if that can somehow stop if from shattering behind my ribs.
Another broken sob rips from me.
I slap my other hand over my mouth.
My shoulders shake. My whole body shakes.
I can’t even remember the last time I cried like this.
But I cry now.
I cry so hard that my chest aches and my hands go numb. I cry until I fear that I will never be able to pick up all the broken pieces of myself. I cry until I can’t feel anything at all anymore.
Because Rico gave me the necklace.
He gave me the beginning of the dream that can never be mine.
28
RICO
When I walk into my grandfather’s mansion, the tension is so thick that I could’ve cut it with a knife. Andrea didn’t even let me walk in alone this time. Instead, he left the car at the curb and escorted me all the way to the upstairs study. Only when he had knocked on the door and announced us did he finally leave.
I watch him retreat down the hall while Federico calls through the door for me to come inside. Narrowing my eyes, I turn back to the door and push down the handle. I have a bad feeling about this, but I still walk inside with a confident posture.
“Enrico,” my grandfather says. He is not smiling this time. “Have a seat.”
God, I have a really,really, bad feeling about this.
Federico is sitting behind his grand mahogany desk, his back straight and his hands steepled before him. I cross the room and then lower myself into the chair opposite him.
“You’re moving back here today,” he announces without preamble. “As soon as we’re finished here, Andrea will return to the house you share with the Hunters and retrieve all your belongings.”
I jerk back in my seat. “No.”
“It’s not a discussion, Enrico.”
“No, it’s not. Because we’ve already had this discussion weeks ago. And we agreed that it was better if I stayed at Blackwater, because this house is the first place they will look if they come back—”
