AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll try to remember.” He chuckles and shoots me a wink before he darts out of my office.
Coglione.
My phone rings, drawing my attention away from my philandering brother to the familiar face on the screen. I stare at the haunted look in her eyes for a long moment before I finally slide my finger across the call answer button.
“Ciao, Mamma,” I mutter.
“Nico, perché non rispondi alle mie telefonate?”
“I’m sorry I haven’t called you back.”
“E perché non parli in italiano?”
“It’s just easier for me to speak in English, Ma.”
She sighs dramatically, but continues in English, nonetheless. Despite her thick accent, she speaks it as well as I do. Vague memories of her drilling my brother and me on vocabulary as we waited at the airport in Rome zip to the forefront of my mind. “I sent you and your brother to America to have a better life, not to forsake your blood.”
“That’s funny, Ma. I’m pretty sure my blood forsook us the moment our father rejected Marco and me.”
“Your father did what he could.”
“Right…” A ding lifts my gaze to the computer screen, to the new email from a name I was certain I’d never see again. I click on the unread message as Mamma chatters on defending the man who’d deserted us. If I wasn’t so distracted by the email, I would’ve been furious. I still couldn’t understand how she could stand up for Umberto Valentino even after all these years.
I scan the message, and ice ripples down my spine.
She’s even more beautiful than I remembered. Thank you for reuniting us, Nico. I’ll be forever in your debt.
Jasper
I double click on the attached image, and Maisy’s face fills the screen. Her eyes are closed, and soft light illuminates her perfect features. Waves of auburn hair are splayed out like a halo across the now-familiar floral cushion of her living room couch.
“Fuck.”
Panic frosts my veins as I fully digest the picture. It’s much too close and the image too sharp to have been taken from anywhere other than inside Maisy’s house. Reaching for my phone, I flip to the security app I’d hacked into which allows me unfettered access to her home.
Swiping through the video feeds with my heart rammed up my throat, I stop on the direct shot of Maisy’s living room. She’s sprawled across the couch with her laptop propped on her thighs. Her eyes are closed, and that fear claws at my insides, shredding me to bits. I zoom in until the camera focuses on the faint rise and fall of her chest.
She’s okay.
The panic recedes, replaced by something far more powerful. I scan the rest of the townhouse, and once I confirm it’s empty, I grab my jacket and jump out of my chair. That asshole got into Maisy’s house right under my nose.
How?
As I race out of the office, I shoot a message to Max to meet me downstairs. My thumb hovers over Maisy’s number as I contemplate a text. Before I compose the dreaded message, I shove the phone back in my pocket. I hate the idea of scaring her, especially now when she’s in such a vulnerable state.
I’m coming for you, little fox.
CHAPTER 15
STAY
Maisy
My cell phone buzzes beneath my arm, drawing me from an uneasy sleep. I let out a yawn and force myself to sit up. My laptop is still perched haphazardly across my legs, and my sleepy gaze chases to the dozens of unanswered emails on the screen. Ugh. How did I fall asleep when I was supposed to be working?
Those dang nightmares are killing me.
Grabbing my phone, I recognize Palestra’s phone number and send it to voicemail. The last thing I need is my boss hearing my raspy, I-just-woke-up voice. Forcing myself off the couch, I hobble to the kitchen with my crutches, turn on the faucet and splash some water on my face. A dozen orchids fill the space, the riot of colors brightening every corner of the room.
