Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 118245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
He couldn’t be gone. He just couldn’t be. Shock wouldn’t allow me to accept it.
For as long as I could remember, Alfonso had been my closest friend. Always supporting me, no matter what, with solid, quiet determination and his own brand of dry wit.
There wasn’t a single stretch of grass over all the Cavalieri lands that we hadn’t trodden together a thousand times, side by side.
And now he was gone.
And nothing would be the same again.
I swiped at my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt. Through a haze of tears, I saw Amara sprinting toward us. Catching her against my body, I pressed her close and stroked her wet hair.
“I know, dolcezza. I know,” I murmured against her temple as I moved my hand in circles over her back, letting her sob against my shoulder.
Matteo followed closely behind her. He stared down at Alfonso’s body in silence but the pain in his eyes spoke volumes. He curled his hand into a fist and turned first to Benedict, then me. “This wasn’t an accident. The fire was deliberate.”
My arms tightened around Amara’s quaking shoulders. “This means war,” I growled.
CHAPTER 46
MATTEO
Clawing past my grief, I searched for Ella.
A primal need to protect and shield her drove me.
She wasn’t there.
The villa grounds were filled with fire vehicles, villagers' trucks, and countless people still sloshing through the mud created by the narrow rivers of water streaming over the cobblestones away from the drenched, charred trees.
It was chaos… but silent chaos.
The whole scene was muted. As if I had cotton wool in my ears. There were no distinct sounds, just warbles and thumps. Everyone moved as if suspended in molasses. Which made the sympathetic glances I was getting, as word of Alfonso’s death spread, seemed to last forever, making them that much more painful.
Where was Ella?
I needed to find Ella.
I needed Ella.
Shouldering my way through the crowd, I searched every face.
I finally spotted her standing under a far-off tree. There was an unnatural stillness about her form.
Terrified she was injured, I bolted down the small hill and across the enclosure until I reached her side.
Her unseeing eyes didn’t even blink at my approach. My hands wrapped around her upper arms. “Ella? Baby? Are you hurt?”
It wasn't until I gave her a little shake that she finally blinked and stared at me.
The moment she did, her face crumpled as she used her forearms to break my grasp. Her head shook from side to side and tears fell down her cheeks. “It’s all my fault.”
I reached for her. “Baby, no.”
Holding her palms up in defense, she backed away. “Yes, it is. Fino said he would burn it to the ground. I didn’t take him seriously. He warned me if I told you anything, he would burn it to the ground.”
She clutched her head and fell to her knees. Rocking back and forth, she sobbed, “That nice man is dead and it’s all my fault.”
Goddammit.
The harder I tried to shield her from all the evil surrounding us, the more it dragged her down.
It seemed as if a storm of cold air swirled around her, sucking the heat from her body. No matter how hard I held on to her, no matter how much I shared my body’s warmth, she seemed to slip further and further into the grips of icy darkness.
She was too vulnerable, too sweet, too naive to survive in this treacherous world alone.
If I let them, her family would slowly strangle my little dove until there was no light or love left in her.
Fuck that.
I wouldn’t let that happen.
They couldn’t have her.
They had already taken too much from us.
They weren’t going to get her too.
I bent down to scoop her into my arms. Her wild and unfocused eyes turned on me. “No!”
With bent fingers she clawed and fought my embrace. She slapped my face, then pounded on my chest. “Why didn’t you let me leave? Why? Why?”
I fought past her flailing arms and snatched her to me. Then I grabbed her thighs and lifted until her legs wrapped around my waist. My arms enclosed her.
If it were possible, I would have ripped open my ribcage and tucked her inside my body close to my heart just to keep her safe and warm.
Her tears wet my neck as she clung to me.
Ignoring the trauma around us, I carried her into the villa.
In my own shellshocked mind, I had only one single purpose—to get her warm and clean.
She was covered in the filth of another’s treacherous deed.
In my helpless desperation, I vaulted up the stairs two at a time, as if she weighed nothing in my arms.
Storming down the deserted hallway to my suite of rooms, I marched straight into the bathroom. After stepping into the glass stall still fully clothed, I used my fist to turn the shower lever on full blast.