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‘Your brother has kidnapped my baby sister.’ He spoke the words slowly and deliberately. The pain in his voice was evident. ‘Yet another woman who wouldn’t do as she was asked,’ he added, but I chose to ignore the statement.
‘I don’t understand.’ I shook my head, but in the back of my mind, I remembered his promise on my wedding day. ‘Oh, Dante,’ I whispered.
‘He feels I’ve done wrong by your family, and perhaps I have. He’s holding her, he says, until his two sisters are safe.’
‘We are safe.’
‘You are… you are safehere. That’s why I need you to stay.’ Salvatore bent his knees to come down to my level.
‘No, Salvatore. I’m only safe when I’m with you.’
‘You will stay here, Serafina.’ He nodded. ‘I’ll leave Aldo with you,’ he added.
‘No. You need Aldo and I need to be with you.’ I gripped hold of his forearms and looked at him. ‘Together we can find and deal with Enzo.’
‘NO!’ he shouted, and forcibly removing me from his body, he stepped around me to walk away.
I twisted around, checked the vestibule, and found it to be thankfully still empty.
‘Don’t force me away, Salvatore,’ I threatened. Slowly, I watched him turn back towards me. His slumped shoulders straightened under my perusal and his head rolled around his neck as he attempted to release the stress. As his neck clicked, his eyes found mine through the longer strands of his hair. His gaze travelled through me, uncovering what was between us and I carried on. ‘I understand what you think you need to do… but it won’t help. Losing your mama has made you believe you can only protect those you love by forcing them away.’
‘Don’t you see?’ he shouted.
‘I see you, Salvatore. That’s all I see,’ I answered calmly.
‘Look closer, little bird… Look closer.’ My heart lifted as he involuntarily closed the distance between us. ‘I’m the devil, Serafina. It’s proven to me time and time again. I deserve no one. Everyone I care for gets hurt or taken away.’
With that he turned on his heel.
‘Look at me!’ I implored. ‘And see me.’
He stopped walking and abruptly turned.
‘I see you,’ he all but whispered, as his eyes found mine.
‘Am I hurt?’
‘Our baby was taken from you.’
‘He was. But that was no one’s fault.’ I sniffed as my emotions got the better of me again. ‘He wasn’t well enough to survive our world.’
Pain took over Salvatore’s features and he hung his head, breaking our eye contact.
‘You weren’t responsible for your mama’s kidnap,’ I carried on, desperate to get his attention and to make him understand what I was trying to say.
‘I was born.’ His head snapped up and I saw tears caught in his eyes before he blinked and cleared them.
‘You were and I thank God for that every day. I love you, Salvatore De Luca. I couldn’t live on this earth without knowing you existed somewhere.’
I watched him shake his head, but his eyes remained on mine and I knew I’d broken through the anger and hurt he so often used as his mantle. He was listening and I understood I had minutes to make it count.
‘Dante has taken Gi, because of the long-term situation between our families. He won’t hurt her.’
‘I’ll kill him if he does.’
‘And in doing so, you’ll effectively kill me.’
‘No.’ Salvatore gently shook his head as though he was trying to shake off a nightmare. ‘I can’t lose you again.’
