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As soon as we arrived back at my house, Fabi was on the doorstep ready to greet us, his expression serious. I breathed in deeply as I opened the door to the car and made eye contact with him. His penetrating glare said it all. What the fuck have you done now?
I stepped around the other side and opened the door for Elle. Flo came running outside and straight up to us with a beaming smile.
“Oh, you are back! Look at you both; so tanned! Was it beautiful?” she grabbed Elle’s shoulders pulling her in for a hug as Elle giggled.
“It was amazing. I wish we could have stayed forever,” Elle replied as I waited for them to pull apart. I leaned down and kissed Zia’s cheeks in greeting and she looked at me with knowing concern when she read my face.
“Let’s go inside, I need to speak to you and Fabi,” I said sternly and she nodded. Once the four of us were in the living room, Zia and Elle sitting on the sofas while Fabi stood solidly behind them, they all stared up at me expectantly.
“I have to go and see my papi now. Fabi, if you don’t hear from me or I haven’t returned within three hours, I want you to take Elle out of the city. Call Giovanni and arrange for him to come and get her—”
“What! No!” Elle suddenly shouted, standing up from the sofa.
I closed my eyes briefly and sighed, “This is only the worst-case scenario, Elle. You need to be prepared. Fabi?”
“I understand, Boss,” he nodded solemnly, knowing exactly what I was implying.
“Alessio!” Elle stormed towards me, grabbing my biceps. “Let me come with you. I might be able to help. I could—”
“No,” I held her gaze as her bottom lip trembled, but fire blazed in her eyes. “It’s not safe. You have to stay here. And if Fabi tells you to leave, you have to listen. No arguments.”
She dropped her forehead against my chest as I lifted my chin and fought back my own emotions.
“I will do everything I can to make it back to you, Elle. I promise,” I whispered and a soft sob escaped her lips. I wrapped my arms around her as my eyes connected with Fabi, who nodded at me silently. I pulled her from my chest, grabbed her face in my hands and kissed her lips, allowing myself one more moment with her before I quickly turned and stormed out of the house. My feet wanted to drag along the floor and force me back, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t be able to leave if I saw her face one more time.
“Alessio!”
I froze with my hand on the car door at Zia’s angry voice. It was too much to say goodbye to her as well.
“What is going on? Why are you acting like you might not come back?” she snapped, grabbing my arm and spinning me around.
“Because I might not,” I replied softly, staring into her worried eyes. They dilated and her mouth dropped open when she realised that I had done something that had put my life in danger. “Zia, I need you to promise me something.”
“What?” she whispered.
“Make sure Elle is safe. I trust Fabi, but if he believes I am dead, who knows where his loyalty will lie. Go with them and make sure she is given to Giovanni. Take Stefano too.”
She nodded slowly as a single tear slid down her cheek, “What have you done, my boy?”
I smiled, pulling her into my arms quickly, “Nothing I wouldn’t do again.” I leaned down and whispered in her ear, “If I die for loving her, I’m good with that.”
She burst into tears as she looked up at me, “I knew it. She’s the one. The girl you told me about all those years ago, isn’t she? Your princess?”
I smiled in understanding and nodded. A week after that night at the Buccini’s, I had confided in Zia that I couldn’t stop thinking about a girl. A princess that I could never have but wanted to protect. She had wanted to know more details, but I never gave her more than that, much to her frustration.
“Look after her, Zia,” I turned, opened the door to my Jaguar F Type and climbed into the driver’s seat. Zia stood there on the driveway, watching me drive away as I moved my gaze from the rear-view mirror to the road ahead, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
I pulled up outside my father’s palace and turned off the engine as Isabelle stood up from the marble steps of the entrance, her dark eyes set on me. I inhaled deeply, before I opened the door and climbed out. She was bounding over to me with concern and confusion written all over her perfectly made-up face.
“What is going on, Alessio? What have you done?” she started before I had even shut the car door and turned to face her.
“Not now, Isabelle.”
I started walking towards the entrance, but she grabbed my arm, pulling me back.
“Papi and Elio are pissed! Papi has deteriorated dramatically since you left! He is in his fucking death bed, unable to get up! That’s how much whatever you have done has affected him. Alessio, I’m worried for you!”
I halted on her words. Guilt tugged at my chest. Regardless of everything, I cared about Diego Barbieri. I respected him and admired him. And I didn’t want him to die. He was the only family I had ever known. The only father figure I had ever had.
