Page 94 of The Art of Ruin

“I’m fine,” she says, softer this time. “Thank you, Adriano. I don’t know if I’ve said it, but thank you for staying and taking care of me. It means a lot.”

“You never have to thank me for that, Casey. I was doing what was needed.”

Her head tilts, her hair falling over her shoulder, and I’m reminded of how silky the strands felt as they fell through my fingers earlier.

“Regardless. I’m grateful.”

I nod gently and don’t push it.

I hate the idea that nobody has ever looked after her before, and vow to ask Isabella about it when I get the chance.

Aspen hitsyou all at once. The cold, the light, the way the air feels sharper the second you step out of the plane, clean enough that it almost stings.

She exhales beside me, her breath visible in the air, her shoulders lifting slightly as the temperature settles in.

“Still happy you came?” I ask.

She glances at me, a small smile breaking through. “Ask me again when I can feel my fingers.”

“That seems fair. Wait until you taste the hot chocolate here. It’s as close to heaven as it gets.”

Her brow arches and she smiles again, and I find myself wanting to earn more of those. “Are you telling me you’re a hot chocolate fan? I did not expect that.”

“Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know. You strike me as black coffee, hot and strong like your heart.”

I place my hand on my chest and feign woundedness. “I’m wounded, Casey.”

“Are you saying you don’t drink black coffee?”

“Of course I do. I have a reputation to uphold and a black heart to nourish.”

Her smile is wide and I can’t help but return it. “I knew it.”

We make our way across the snow toward the car, the crunch underfoot loud in the quiet, and I slow my pace without thinking about it, matching hers instead of expecting her to keep up.

She doesn’t comment.

But she doesn’t rush either. I take that as a win.

The house is exactlyas I remember. We bought it a few years ago, between the three of us, not because we couldn’t afford to buy one each, but because we wanted a place that was for family so we could reconnect as brothers, and now that includes Isabella and her family.

Warm light spills through the huge windows, movement inside makes something in my shoulders ease, the sound of laughter carrying faintly even before we reach the door.

It opens before we knock.

“Finally,” Nico says, already stepping back to let us in. “I was starting to think you’d decided not to bother.”

“I considered it,” I reply, stepping inside, the warmth hitting me immediately.

“Rude,” Isabella says from somewhere behind him, though her attention shifts almost instantly to my left. “Casey—”

She doesn’t get to finish her sentence before I hear—

“Daddy!”

Letty barrels toward me like she hasn’t seen me in weeks instead of days, and I catch her easily, lifting her up as she wraps herself around me.