Chapter 6 Enzo
Enzo
Two days later, I pulled into the parking lot of Elite Nanny Service with my pulse pounding in my throat.
Ren had refused to let me pick her up at home.
She said she was so busy at the office and it was the simplest option, but what she meant was that she wanted distance, a clear boundary between her professional and personal life.
I’d give her that. For now.
Matteo bounced in the backseat, legs kicking the air excitedly. “Papa, will she like me?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation. “She will.” Ren had always loved kids, and we’d planned to have at least three and adopt a few more. I had no doubt she’d love Matteo.
We saw Ren through the glass doors before she spotted us, talking to Toni as they walked toward the door. She looked stunning in a royal blue dress that fell just below the knee, hugging her curves so beautifully my body heated up just remembering how they’d felt beneath my hands and lips. My body.
Her dark hair was pulled into a loose bun with tendrils flying freely, and her red-painted lips tugged into a grin at something the woman said to her. Like this, unguarded and open, she was the same girl I remembered. The girl I’d always loved.
“There she is, Papa. Let’s go get her!”
“Not yet,” I laughed at his excitement before pulling out my phone to let her know we were waiting. “She has to finish up her work, and then she’ll come out.”
Twenty minutes later, Ren appeared, this time in jeans and a t-shirt that made her look like the grad student I’d fallen for twenty years ago. She stopped at a sleek black SUV, pulling out two large suitcases.
I jumped out of the car and rushed to help her, feeling satisfied when she didn’t argue. Maybe it was progress. Maybe it was exhaustion. “Anything else?”
“I’ll get it,” she said, an amused smirk curling her red lips.
The suitcases took up most of the trunk of the large sedan Luca had bought in cash. I turned and found Ren coming my way with a box and another, smaller suitcase. “Is that all?”
She nodded. “I might need more things later, but this is a good start.”
“Okay. Sounds good.” I shoved them in the back beside Matteo and turned to her. “Ready to meet my son?”
Something flickered in her eyes, but it was gone quickly and she nodded. “Absolutely.”
My smile came a little easier as I rounded the car and pulled open the door. “Come on, buddy. Let me introduce you to Ren.”
Matteo jumped out of the car with a wide smile. He loved meeting new people, and when he spotted her, he gasped. “I know you!”
One dark brow arched. “Do you?”
He nodded. “You showed me how to get to the snacks.”
She laughed. “Did you find them?”
“Yep, but Toni only gave me one tiny fruit candy snack.”
Ren laughed, and the sound was beautiful and melodic. “You’ll appreciate that on your next trip to the dentist.”
His face twisted up in distaste.
“Ren, this is Matteo. He’s seven. Matteo, this is my old friend, Ren.”
He stuck his hand out. “Nice to meet you, Ren.”
“You too, but you can call me Serenity.” She kept her smile in place but she shot me a glare.
He frowned. “But Papa called you Ren.”
She nodded. “Your papa is the only person in the world who calls me that.”
I wished I could decipher that tone, but I didn’t have the right to know her like that anymore.
“I like Ren,” he said with a wide grin. “You can call me Mattie. Everybody but Papa does.”
She took his hand and shook it. “It is very nice to officially meet you, Mattie.”
“You too, Ren.”
Her jaw clenched, but her smile stayed fixed in place. “All right, let’s get this show on the road.”
Matteo frowned. “What show?”
She laughed again and slid into the passenger seat. “It’s a saying that’s from way back in the 1900s—traveling circuses used it to indicate the season was officially starting.”
“Cool,” he said after a beat. “Let’s get this show on the road, Papa.”
I laughed, closing Ren’s door and then Matteo’s before I slid behind the steering wheel. The drive to Lucky would take close to an hour, so I settled in for what I expected to be a quiet drive.
My son had other plans. “What’s your favorite color, Ren?”
“It’s red,” she answered with a smile. “What’s yours?”
“Green!” He shouted the answer so loud it echoed inside the vehicle. “How about food?”
She turned with a grin. “Lasagna. I could eat it every single day.”
Matteo groaned. “I love lasagna, but I could eat burgers every day. With lots of ketchup and mustard.”
“Pickles?”
“No way!” He shook his head dramatically. “Pickles are gross.”
“Even though they’re green?” she asked, biting back a smile.
That gave Matteo pause. “I like the color but not the taste.”
She shrugged but still offered a kind smile. “That means extra pickles for me.”
He fell silent for a few minutes before he picked up his interrogation. “Ren?”
“Yes, Mattie?”
“Do you have a favorite animal?”
She gave the question careful consideration before she answered. “I do. I love pigs. They’re so cute and they’re really smart.”
“They are?” he asked, incredulous.
“Yep. Super smart. What’s yours?”
“I love dinosaurs,” he answered in a sing-song voice.
“Dinosaurs are amazing. Can you imagine anything that big?” She sighed heavily and shook her head. “T. rex?”
“Nope, velociraptor.”
“Oh,” she laughed. “That’s a good one. They were also incredibly smart.”
The drive continued in this comfortable rhythm of Matteo asking questions and Serenity happily answering them before volleying them back to him. Bridges were being built with simple facts. My son was being a child, completely ignorant of the looming danger.
“Ren,” he said again, a question in his tone.
“Yeah, Mattie?” She turned around to give him her full attention.
“My mom is dead,” he sighed heavily. “That’s why she’s not here and why I need you.”
For her part, Ren nodded, a sad expression darkening her beautiful features. “I heard, and I am so very sorry for your loss, Mattie. I lost my mom about ten years ago, and it still hurts. Sometimes when I’m having a really good or really bad day, I want to call her, and then I remember…”
“And then what?” Matteo asked, leaning forward to avoid missing a word.
“And then I get sad all over again. Sometimes I cry, but mostly I just tell her anyway. It makes me feel closer to her.”
“You talk to her?” he asked. “How?”
She smiled. “I just… talk. Sometimes I look at her picture and talk to her, other times I just talk like this, out loud, and it helps. You should try it.”
“I’ll feel silly,” he giggled.
“Matteo,” I admonished.
Ren’s hand shot out and rested on my forearm before she realized what she was doing and yanked it back. “It’s okay to feel silly because you won’t feel that way forever. After a few minutes, you’ll forget to feel silly; you’ll just be happy to share your life with her.”
I memorized every word as the miles drifted by.
Open roads turned into farmland, and then open fields before a forest appeared.
Above us, a wide-open blue sky was dotted with white, puffy clouds.
Ren stared out the window, her posture rigid and her hands folded in her lap.
Matteo eventually fell asleep with Leo tucked under his chin, leaving a thick silence between us.
She didn’t ask me any questions, though I was sure she had to have at least a few.
She remained silent, and so did I, at least until the long, winding road ended just as thick trees appeared on either side of a dirt road.
Trees were on all sides, quiet and secluded.
Protected on all sides. Luca had thought of everything.
The mansion, disguised as a ranch house, came into view—Italian architecture blended with oversized Texas sprawl. It was big enough for security to move unseen, if necessary, and private enough that no one could get close without alarms going off.
Ren’s quiet gasp hit like a punch. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
Matteo stirred awake as I parked. “Are we here?”
“We’re here, buddy.”
He scrambled out and took Serenity’s hand without asking. She didn’t miss a beat, wrapping her hand around his and following him to the door.
Inside, we stepped into a sweeping foyer with wide oak floors, vaulted ceilings, and soft lighting. Ren took it all in with that same quiet awe. Each time, the awe iced over, probably when she remembered where she was. And why.
I walked her through the living room, the kitchen, Matteo’s wing, the library, and the theater room. She smiled when Matteo showed her his dinosaur shelf, introducing her to his favorites.
Her appreciative smiles sent my mind to a place I hadn’t let it wander in too many years.
To a future that had never existed, where Ren and I were together, building a life and a business.
The future that could have been ours if not for family obligations.
And decisions I made unilaterally. What could’ve been.
I shook the thought off and led her to the other wing of the house. “These are your rooms.”
Ren stepped inside and looked around, hardly noticing the tall windows or the window seat I knew she would love. The room was cozy and quiet, in other words, perfect for her. “Thank you,” she said. “It’s perfect.” Her tone was polite and neutral.
I fucking hated it. “Unpack,” I instructed. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Can I stay with Ren?” Matteo asked.
She nodded when I looked at her. “We can continue getting to know one another since we’ll be spending so much time together.”
I stood in the hall for longer than I should have, then forced myself to walk away. My office was on the other side of the house, giving me plenty of time to shake off the way Ren made me feel. The memories that surfaced when she was around.
The moment I closed the door, I called Luca. “I found a nanny,” I said without preamble the minute he picked up the call.
“Someone you trust?”
“Yes,” I answered, nodding even though he couldn’t see me. “I trust her.”
“Someone good with Mattie?”
“So far, so good,” I answered, smiling as I thought of all the questions they’d asked and answered.
There was a beat of silence as if he was waiting for me to say what he was trying like hell not to.
“You knew she was in Texas,” I accused. There was coincidence, and then there was whatever the hell had brought me storming into Ren’s office.
Luca didn’t respond immediately, but his silence was answer enough.
“You never got over her, and this small town was as good as any other,” he said and changed the topic as if we were done.
“I’m in Chicago right now, and I’ll be coming with a small security team not associated with the family.
I know it’s unorthodox,” he began, but I cut him off.
“I get it. Not sure who we can trust. Thanks, Luca.”
“Not necessary,” he answered tersely before turning to other business topics.
“When will you be here?”
“In about thirty-six hours.” There was a beat of silence before he spoke again. “So, how was it seeing her again?”
I groaned. “More beautiful than ever. Successful. Cold. But she quickly won Matteo over. And she hates me. Still.”
He laughed. “Good thing you’ll be stuck together twenty-four-seven. That’s plenty of time to charm her. If that’s what you want.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “It doesn’t really matter what I want.”
“Maybe,” he agreed. “Maybe not, but time and proximity have a way of changing hearts and minds.” I could practically hear his shrug. “I’ve never known you to be afraid of anything, so don’t let fear get in the way of what you want.”
“Something to consider, maybe. For now, I need to focus on the business.” And let Ren focus on Matteo.
Ren was here and Matteo was safe, making the danger feel distant.
For now.
But it was a temporary feeling, and I needed to remember that. Danger never stayed in the distance for long.