The next morning, Kayden assures me that the man in the restaurant was just a creep of the average variety and as I dive into another day of training, the creep fades from my mind. For the next two days, we live a similar schedule of training and practice, all without any news on Gio or the Blue Owls.
Wednesday morning, one day before the meeting, after a good hour looking around the store, which is remarkable compared to my old store in New York City. There is also lots of chatting with Ella and Marabella, but not too much. I’m ready to be back with my man. “I’m going to head upstairs,” I announce. I start to leave but find myself hesitating, my focus on Ella. “Any buzz on Gio, or anything, for that matter?”
“There’s nothing,” she says, walking me toward the castle door. “Right now, it’s as if Donelle has no nefarious connections, when we know he has a past with your father.”
“I’m confused. I thought we were certain the Blue Owls would show?”
She punches the code in to lift the door between the store and castle. “Honestly, we’d rather deal with them after your big reveal. But if the Donelle visit is uneventful, I’d be shocked. Either way, this ends for you soon. Maybe not immediately. The press will buzz about you after the reveal but by Christmas, I’d say you’ll be old news.”
It’s a wonderful sentiment, but one that doesn’t offset the absence of answers. Eager to discuss my concerns with Kace, I head to our tower and to the stairs that lead to the dance studio where Kace should be practicing, but I hear nothing. Hurrying up the steps, I’ve just passed an office on the left when I hear Kace say, “Holy fuck. When? No. Right. No. I don’t give a damn about the music right now.” He’s silent a moment, and then longer. I decide the call has ended and hurry up the stairs.
I enter the dance studio where he practices to find his violin on a stand nearby, while he faces the wall, his hands pressed to the hard surface. “Kace,” I say softly.
His head lowers just a little further to his chest, as if my voice punches him in the chest, and then he turns. “Hey, baby.”
There are white lines around his mouth, his jaw so tight it looks like it might pop. My heart squeezes with fear and I close the space between us, stopping in front of him. “What happened?”
He stares down at me, his eyes heavy-lidded, seconds ticking by before his hands come down on my arms and turn me to the wall. “I know nothing about Gio. And yes, I’m upset about something, but don’t ask me today. Not before the meeting tomorrow. Not until after. Then I’ll tell you. I need you to understand and do this for me.”
The torment in him, the urgency, cuts me and I am bleeding because he is bleeding. I want to ask for more. I need to know what is going on, but this man has been unselfish in every way. I cannot deny him one of his few requests. “After,” I say.
Relief bleeds into his eyes. “After,” he promises and then he pushes off the wall and walks to his violin and picks it up. He starts to play and I slide down the wall and sit, knees to my chest, to listen to the wicked notes of his tormented music. Music that is dark, my damaged man bleeding through the notes. And there is a story in those notes, and it’s not a fairy tale. Whatever troubles him is not small, nor will it be gentle for him to speak or hold onto in silence. But neither is my love for him small. Nor his for me. And that’s what I hold onto in the way I plan to hold onto him.
***
That night, the anticipation for the next day’s meeting is thick in the air, and it’s hard not to allow nerves to get the best of me. Kace is reserved, far from himself, and since we aren’t talking about why, not just yet, the edge of his mood is best dealt with just me and him, alone. We eat in our room, treated to Marabella’s lasagna, and do so on the rug in front of the fireplace, and with wine in our glasses, we talk about all the new people in our lives: Savage, Adrian, Ella, Kayden. We talk about holidays of the past and the future. We laugh and smile and forget everything but us. We head to bed early, and I snuggle in beside him, my head on his chest, the lights off, the fire glowing. It’s a perfect, cozy night, but as I doze, there is something niggling at my mind and I drift into a memory.
“Wake up, Aria. Wake up.”
My lashes flutter and I find my mother leaning over my bed. “We need to go. Get up.”
I sit up to find her throwing things in a suitcase. “What time is it?”
“Time to go. Your father’s gone. He’s gone.”
Gio appears in the doorway. “Mom, what is this? What’s happening?”
“Your father’s gone.” Her hand goes to her head. “They’ll come for us. He made mistakes. We will not make the same mistakes.”
“Who, Mom?” I ask, dropping my legs to the side of the bed. “Who? You’re scaring me. Where’s Dad?”
“Get up!” she yells. “Get up now.”
Fear tears through me and Gio rushes over to me and pulls me off the bed. “Put on your clothes, now.”
“Now!” Mom screams before she rushes out of the room.
“Gio,” I sob. “What is happening?”
He kneels in front of me. “Dad’s gone. I don’t know what happened, but Mom says he’s gone for good.”
“Dad?” I sob harder. “I want Dad.”
Gio shakes me. “Don’t cry now. Whoever took him will come for us. That’s what Mom said. We have to protect each other. I will protect you always, Aria. Okay? I promise.”
“I’ll protect you, too.”
“Yes,” Mom says from the door. “We have to protect each other. That’s what Dad would want. Now come with me.”
Gio drags me from the room, and I turn to grab my daisy doll Dad gave me, the one holding daisies in her hand, but I can’t reach her. She’s lost. I’ll never see her again and it only makes me sob again. We load up in the car and then we’re in the dark, on the road, and Mom is crying. She’s crying so hard. “I can’t believe he’s gone,” she whispers. “I can’t believe I let him deal with this alone.”
I gasp and sit up to find daylight breaking in the window and Kace missing. “Kace!” I call out. “Kace.”
He rushes around the corner with shaving cream on his face and a towel around his waist. “What is it? What’s wrong, baby?”
I grab his arm. “I thought you left.”
“No. Of course not.”
I twist around to face him. “I have to go with you.”
“We talked about this.”
“I remembered something. The night we left Rome, my mom was crying. I heard her say that she couldn’t believe she let Dad deal with this, whatever this was, alone. I need to do this with you. We protect those we love.”
His hand comes down on my face. “Baby, I was alone before I met you, so damn alone. I am not alone now. I am not doing this alone. But you are right. We protect those we love. And I love you. I’m going in alone.”
“Kace, please.”
“I love you, Aria. I will be fine. I’ve got this. And I’ve got you. Now, I’m going to kiss you and get shaving cream all over you.”
“No, I—”
He kisses me and shaving cream smears all over me. The next thing I know he’s in bed with me and we have shaving cream all over us. I don’t fight the passion that follows. In fact, I kiss him and hold him more fiercely than ever. I’m scared of losing him. That’s the message in every kiss and touch I share with him this morning.
When it’s over, and we’re laying on the bed side by side, I whisper, “I don’t want to have the same regrets as my mother.”
“You won’t, baby. You’re doing something. You’re creating freedom for you, me, and your brother.” He rolls out of the bed and takes me with him. “Now, let’s go own it.”
***
Kace dresses like his rock star self for the meeting in jeans, a T-shirt and a tan leather jacket. I settle on an emerald green sweater dress with knee-high boots because, in some part of my mind, I’m still going to convince Kace I should go to meet Donelle with him. I’m not, of course, but I’m prepared if he changes his mind.
We meet Kayden, Ella, Adrian, and Savage in a giant room with a round table, a hawk in the center. The War Room, Kayden calls it. Sasha is there as well, as are several other men working for Kayden. “Donelle lives in a mansion in the Parioli district, a wealthy area of Rome,” Kayden informs us. “We’ve already got men watching the place and have for days.” He eyes Kace. “We actually have men on the property so we’re close if you need us.”
“There’s no sign of the Blue Owls?” Kace asks.
“None,” Kayden replies, “but we’re at the core of my operation. If word got back to the Blue Owls that you’re with me, they’ll back off. We may have a quiet day.”
“Then why set a meeting with us inside our core area at all?” I ask.
“The answer should be in the meeting,” Ella replies, her attention back on Kace. “Kace, you’re going in alone, but we’re going to wire you both. We want Ella to be able to hear the conversation in case there’s something that stands out to her. If there’s a red flag, we’ll come in.”
“You should go in armed,” Kayden adds.
I press my hands to my face and Kace’s hand comes down on my back. “I don’t like this,” I say, turning to him.
“I know how to handle myself and no one wants me dead,” he reminds me. “I have half the formula in my head, remember?”
“About that,” I say, “we need to be sure and say that at the museum and in the press release. We’ve forgotten that Sofia has my father’s journal. It told her that you and I had part of the formula puzzle.”
“We’ll talk that out tonight,” he promises. “Right now, let’s get this over with.”
***
Thirty minutes later, I’m in a luxurious house that is apparently owned by one of Kayden’s many contacts, just a block from Donelle Bianchini’s sprawling mansion. There are actually video screens set-up on the kitchen table that show various angles of Donelle’s property. For now, it’s just me and Ella, while the rest of the team takes field positions. “How did you even manage to pull this off?” I ask, settling into a chair at the table next to Ella, “and so quickly?”
“We knew about Donelle from Blake,” Ella states. “We had already set-up surveillance before you arrived.”
“And he had no Blue Owl visitors?” I ask.
“None,” Ella confirms. “I still feel like something is going to happen today, but Kayden doesn’t.”
“I do,” I say. “I believe something is going to happen.”
Kace arrives at Donelle’s property in what is supposed to be a hired black sedan, which Adrian is driving, and after stopping briefly at the gates, they are allowed to enter. Once the vehicle halts, Kace exits and heads to the door. He rings the bell. Ella pulls a black box between us. “This is the audio that’s in your ear. It will be easier to hear this way.” She punches the button.
My heart is now racing a million miles an hour. The door opens and Kace is greeted by a doorman. “Mr. Bianchini will be so pleased to see you, Mr. August,” the man says.
Kace enters the house and the doorman, who is in a suit, leads him inside, where we don’t have a visual. Kace speaks, but I can’t make it out. I turn to Ella. “Why can’t we understand him?”
“His audio is malfunctioning. It can happen.”
I stand up. “Then how are we supposed to know what’s going on?”
She tugs me back down. “Shhh. Give it a minute and see if it comes back online.”
Someone else speaks, and it’s just as jumbled. I stand up and walk behind my chair, holding onto it. More jumbled speech follows. “I have to go in. Then we can hear with my audio.”
She stands and grabs her phone. “Give me a minute.” Her phone rings in her hand and she answers, listening before she says, “We’ll be right there.” She hangs up. “You’re going in.”
I’m not sure what I feel in that moment. Fear. I feel fear and not for me: for Kace and with good reason. Kayden doesn’t want me to go into the meeting against Kace’s wishes for no reason. He’s worried, too.