Chapter 29 #2
Not because I did not recognize the signs. I am not an idiot. I know what attachment feels like. I know what desire feels like. I know what protectiveness feels like when it crosses into something less professional and more dangerous.
I just did not expect it to happen to me like this.
With her.
With a woman I was hired to protect. A woman who argues with me about windows and security protocols, who orders flowers because her nieces love yellow roses, who can reduce a boardroom to silence with one sentence, who laughs like this only when she forgets to guard herself.
I love her.
The words sit inside me, completely undeniable.
I do not know what to do with them.
So I do nothing.
Which would be a better plan if I were not openly staring at her.
I realize it too late.
Caterina is still laughing, unaware for the moment.
Teresa is not.
Of course.
Her eyes are on me from across the table.
She catches my gaze and lifts one brow. Knowing.
I pick up my glass of water and drink.
A normal action, just a man taking a drink.
A brilliant cover, if the person watching me were not Teresa.
Her eyebrow remains raised.
I set the glass down and look toward the camera feed because that is safer than looking at her.
I know that look.
She is going to corner me at the first opportunity. She is too smart, too intuitive, and too invested in things that are none of her business.
Now is an excellent time to check security.
I set my napkin beside my plate and start to push back. “I’m going to step out for a perimeter update.”
Caterina turns to me immediately.
Damn it.
Teresa smiles pleasantly. “Why don’t you just send a message?”
I pause.
She takes a sip of wine, eyes calm, expression innocent.
“I really should—"
“I’m sure they can handle it without you until dinner’s over,” she adds.
Vito’s mouth twitches, clearly recognizing the signs of being maneuvered by Dr. Teresa Donato.
Caterina places one hand lightly on my forearm. “She’s right. Send a message.”
Her touch is gentle, her eyes are not.
She knows I am looking for an exit. She does not know why. Or maybe she does, which is worse.
I sit back.
“Fine.”
Teresa looks satisfied.
I hate psychologists.
I pull my phone from my pocket and send a message to Andrew, who is lead for my people tonight.
Status.
I set the phone beside my plate.
Conversation moves on around me. Nico is telling Lucia something about Emma trying to climb onto a coffee table. Charlotte is asking Nick if Gabriel can have more bread. Teresa says something quietly to Vito that makes his expression soften. Caterina squeezes my forearm once before letting go.
My phone remains dark.
Thirty seconds. Forty.
One minute.
Andrew does not take a full minute to answer a direct status request while on an active protection detail.
I pick up the phone again.
Status. Confirm.
Nothing.
The first cold trickle slides into my bloodstream.
I send a message to Mara, positioned at the rear access.
Report.
No response.
The room continues around me, warm and bright and full of children’s voices, clinking silverware, low laughter, the smell of food and flowers.
My world narrows to the phone in my hand.
I tap Andrew’s number and lift the phone to my ear as I push back from the table.
It goes straight to voicemail.
Conversation begins to thin as people notice me standing.
Caterina looks up first. Her expression shifts immediately.
“What is it?”
I do not answer her yet.
I call Mara.
I look at Nick.
“Get in touch with your security. Now.”
My voice cuts through the room.
No one mistakes the tone.
Nick’s face changes instantly. The husband and father vanish behind the man who runs an empire and understands threat response. He has his phone out before I finish the sentence.
Vito and Nico stand automatically, alert.
Same with Mara; straight to voicemail.
I want to go check on my people.
Every instinct says move. Find the breach. Find who took them offline. Confirm if they are down, jammed, compromised, dead.
But Caterina is here.
So are Lucia and her children. Vito, Teresa, Cristiano. Nico, Erica, Emma. Nick and the girls and Gabriel.
I cannot leave the room.
Not with this many principals. Not with children. Not with the communications dark. Not with an unknown threat possibly already inside the perimeter.
I stand in place, phone in my hand, while Nick listens to his own call.
His eyes meet mine. I already know.
The children sense the change even if they do not understand it. Sofia looks from her father to me. Charlotte stops swinging her feet. Emma grips a piece of bread in one fist and blinks up at Erica.
My gun is already out and low at my side, hidden against my leg as much as possible from the children’s line of sight.
When Caterina notices it, her face goes pale.
“Adrian,” she says quietly. “What’s going on?”
“No time.”
Her eyes flash. “What does that mean?”
“It means we move now.”
I look at Vito and Nico. Both are already alert, bodies angled toward their families, hands close to weapons.
Good, but not enough.
I have a plan for this house.
Of course I have a contingency plan.
I made it the first night I stayed here and put it into action in the weeks following. The plan was not made for this many people.
It will have to accommodate.
“Lucia,” I command. “Take Gabriel. Sofia and Charlotte stay between you and Nick.”
Nick is already moving, one hand on Charlotte’s shoulder, the other reaching for Sofia.
“Teresa, Cristiano. Erica, Emma. Move together. No spacing.”
Vito is at Teresa’s side now. Nico is already lifting Emma from the high chair while Erica rises carefully, one hand on her stomach.
Caterina stands, eyes locked on me. “Tell me what is happening.”
“Basement. Now.”
“What?”
“Now,” I snap.
Her mouth closes.
I look at Vito and Nico, who both look ready to do exactly what I expect them to do, which is stay in the fight.
Definitely not.
“That means you, too,” I snap at them.