Chapter 32
“Are you being serious? Is this a joke?” My mouth is slack. I can’t help but stare at Gerald, sitting across from me in Kaz’s office.
“No. It’s not a joke.” Gerald looks to Kaz who stands in the corner of the room, his hands stuffed into his pockets.
I’ve been home from the hospital for two days, and in those two days Kaz has turned into my shadow. Always present and quiet.
Once the doctor authorized my release, he just shut down on me. After driving the nurses and doctors up the wall with his constant second guessing and demands to check me repeatedly to be certain no infection lingered, he exhausted himself.
“You’re telling me that it’s all mine?” I turn to look at Kaz.
His expression is…well, there is none. He’s turned to stone while everything has been laid out for me.
“Yes. The two wineries in Italy. The vineyards, along with a large estate. The family home in New York, the three homes your brothers had here. And all of their assets. Along with full custody of Tommy.” Gerald repeats for me.
“How did this happen?”
“Your uncle lied to you. All of this was yours after your brothers died. He had his attorney cook up fake paperwork. You gave him power of attorney, which gave him access to everything he wanted.”
“I signed a document, but it was about the estate. Just that I’d been explained everything and wasn’t going to contest.”
“Did he let you read it?” Gerald questions.
I pause a beat. He hadn’t. He’d stuffed a pen in my hand and ordered me to sign.
“No. And I didn’t fight him on it.” It was better, safer, to go along with what I was told.
“Tony had all the documentation for his estate and the custody paperwork in that safe you found.” Gerald frowns. “I suspect your cousin was unaware it was there, otherwise he would have gotten rid of it all.”
Numb, I nod. Everything is mine.
“Those vineyards are part of businesses that I know nothing about.” I swallow. “My family worked with and for other people. If I just take them it could be a problem.”
“I’m sure Kaz can work all that out with you. For now, it’s all yours. What you do from here, is up to you.” He slaps his knees, then stands up.
“All right. Thank you.”
Kaz walks him out while I sit in a daze.
My phone sings out Kara’s ringtone. Leave it to her not to wait even a single second before wanting the story. I swear she has a sixth sense about these things.
“So? What happened? What’d the lawyer say?”
“Uncle Vicente lied about everything.”
She huffs. “How unlike him. So? What’s going to happen now?”
“Tommy stays with me. Tony gave me custody. And everything else—” Gingerly, I sink back in the chair. The pain is better but not gone completely. Every movement is a lingering reminder.
“It’s all mine, Kara.”
She squeals. “Everything?”
“Yeah,” I laugh. “Uncle Vicente was holding the reins of it all, he made promises to Dante I think to keep him in line, but…it was all mine this entire time.”
“So all this mess, forcing you down the aisle, holding Tommy over your head, it was all bullshit?” She blows air into the phone. “Whatever your husband did to him wasn’t enough.”
“I still don’t know what he did, exactly.”
“Does it matter? Your uncle is gone. All of that drama, gone.”
“Not really. If it’s all mine, that means I’ve also gained business associates.” I move to stand, wincing slightly.
“That’s okay. Kaz will know what to do with them.”
“I’m not sure he knows what to do with me,” I say.
“What does that mean?”
“He’s been weird since I got home. Distant again.”
“You scared him, Sienna. If you saw him the way I did in the hospital you wouldn’t even be questioning it. He was terrified of losing you.”
Memories flash, words being whispered in the dark. My hand being held, my cheek being kissed, but it’s all so far away I can’t remember anything in full.
“Do you think a man like him is capable of loving someone like me?” I ask.
“He already does.” A deep voice surprises me from the doorway.
“What was that?” Kara hurries to question. “Was that him? Ugh! I should have stayed longer.”
When I turn around, Kaz steps inside the office, shutting the door behind him.
“I think I need to go.”
“Fine. Call me right after!” She yells just before I hit end on the call.
“Were you listening to my phone call?” I tease, unsure if I’m ready for the conversation coming.
His body is stiff, and his eyes have that stone hard look he gets when he’s about to bark orders. He’s in full alpha-male mode.
And while it makes my mouth—and other parts—water when he has such a controlled, confident, dominating demeanor, his distance the past few days suggest I may not like what’s coming toward me.
“Kara talks really loudly. I didn’t need to tap the call to hear her.” His voice is low.
“It’s always been hard to have a secret conversation with her,” I say just to say something, because the way his eyes are boring into me, my brain is getting foggy again.
With determined steps, he goes to his desk and opens the top drawer. He pulls out a manilla folder and drops it on the blotter. When he drops a black pen onto the desk next to it, my throat closes.
He doesn’t need to open the folder for me to know what’s in it.
“Kaz.”
“You have everything you need to take care of Tommy and yourself for more than one lifetime.” He pauses to clear his throat. “The dispute between the DeAngelo family and the Volkovs is over.”
“Because of our marriage.”
“Because agreements have been made, and new boundaries have been agreed upon. Without your uncle or cousins, there is no DeAngelo family. It’s being absorbed.”
“By who?” I ask.
“If you decide to sell the vineyards and property in Italy, I have a man who can handle the transition. It’s complicated because, as you’ve said before, there are other associates involved.”
“Kaz.” I take a step forward, cutting him off. “Stop.”
His eyes warm. “This is the only time I will ever give you this chance, Sienna.”
“You’d let me go?” I snap, stalking closer. Heat rises in my chest. “You’d actually let me go after all the times you’ve made me tell you I belong to you?”
He shifts his stance—subtle, controlled, but I feel the ground tilt beneath us.
Pulling me close, he grasps my jaw so I have to look up at him. In a fierce voice, he says, “I’d let you go if it’s what will make you happy.”
“If you don’t want me—”
“Want you? Woman all I do is want you, think about you. You consume my every fucking thought.”
“Then why would you draw those papers up?”
“Because you weren’t given a choice in this. I’m giving you a choice now, but I swear, this is the only time I’m doing it. If you stay, it’s forever.”
His dark eyes blaze hot as the silence stretches. He has every indication that he’s about to blow up and take the rest of the world with him.
I bring my palms to his face, his stubble rough against my skin.
“I don’t ever want to leave you, Kaz. I don’t want to do this life without you, either.”
He slides his hand from my jaw to my cheek. “You heard me.”
“I did. I mean, I heard a lot of things, and I still can’t put it all in order, or even know if it was real and not some delusion, but those words, I know were real.”
“Good girl,” he growls, then kisses me.
I wrap my arms around his waist, resting my face against his chest. He tucks me under his chin, squeezing me.
“I love you, Sienna.”
“I love you, too,” I say as a tear slips down my cheek. “But if you ever have divorce papers drawn up again, I’m going to have you killed. I know people now. I have connections to some real badasses.”
His chest rumbles with his laugh.
“Who said I had divorce papers? Those are papers to have you institutionalized for being crazy enough to want to leave me.”
I pull back just enough from him to see his cocky ass grin.
“I knew it. Arrogant.”
He laughs harder. “Not arrogant, sweetheart, confident.”