Chapter 37 – Serena
The celery juice churned in my stomach. Rubbing my chest, I signaled Shepherd. “Could I please have some scrambled eggs?”
The butler’s professional facade was impeccable. But I knew him well enough to see the flicker of surprise in those knowing, sage eyes.
“Very good, signorina,” he intoned and left to tell one of the maids.
I felt Alessandro’s stare from the end of the table. Ignoring him, I leaned across and pointed to Penny’s toast. “Could I steal a slice of that?”
“Sure!” She passed her plate with a smile.
“It’s good to see you have such a healthy appetite, sorellina,” the don murmured.
I resisted the urge to throw something at his smug face. “The longer I’m away from the sea, the more it will fade.”
That drew his black brows together, but he didn’t reprove me. It was true, I was a changed woman. I was awake at this ungodly hour and had joined my family for the morning meal—which I was eating with gusto.
The crispy toast did little to settle my stomach.
But that had more to do with my brother’s stern countenance. Since my rescue, he’d been abominable. And I was equally pissy. This wasn’t what I wanted. I hadn’t called him to take me away.
But the great don of one of Chicago’s premier famiglias was not to be reasoned with.
No, when I asked him to fight for me, he’d simply scooped me up and forced me first into his car and then his private jet. The bastard.
“I just want to make sure Markos is okay,” I said, turning to glare at Sandro. “Please. Let me have my phone.”
“Alessio, it’s been bothering her for days,” Penny insisted, moving to place a hand on her husband’s. Underneath her feet, her shelter dog turned guard dog shifted.
I wanted nothing more than to crawl on the floor and cuddle Piccolo. He liked me, and he only tolerated my brother. I could use his comfort right now.
“No phones.” Alessandro stooped to pick up his briefcase. “I have something else for you, Serena.”
I narrowed my eyes, suspicion slithering through me. What now?
Sandro pulled a folder from his case, flipped the top open, and slid the papers toward me. “I need your signature to finalize this.”
The large font of the heading sent a bolt of outrage through me. “I’m not divorcing him!”
Sandro’s voice was stone, hard and unyielding. “Serena, sign. Put an end to this madness.”
“It’s not madness!” It’s something...more.
My stomach did another queasy flip. I glanced to the swinging door into the kitchen, hoping the butler hurried with the eggs.
I’d only had one glass of wine with dinner last night, so I wasn’t hungover.
And my period—although light—had come and gone, so it wasn’t something.
..wonderful. I discreetly rubbed my belly.
I was probably coming down with some bug.
The heightened stress of seeing the man I adored shot and then being taken away without contact to know if he’d survived was probably ravaging my immune system.
No, I just needed some protein.
And a solid night’s sleep.
“Alessio, I said don’t push,” Penny reminded him, a soft warning in her voice.
“I told him.” The voice at the door had me closing my eyes. I didn’t have to turn to see the look on Leo’s face as he entered the dining room from the hall. “She needs to have the marriage dissolved at once, so he can’t take her back.”
“And what if I want to go back?” I snapped. Pushing to my feet, I glared down each of my brothers. “What if I liked it there? Don’t I get a say in my future?”
“No.” Their joint answer was spoken in unison.
“Listen here, you two,” Penny scolded, “she’s had a big change. Give her time and ask nicely. Or you won’t get anywhere with her.”
I gave Penny a small smile before stalking to the kitchen. Where I nearly ran into the butler and the covered plate of breakfast.
“Thank you, Shepherd. I’ll be eating in my room,” I said, taking the dish.
“Very good, ma’am.”
“We’re not done,” Leo barked, hot on my heels.
“Oh, yes, we are.” I moved through the kitchen to the opposite door.
“Get back in that dining room, sit down, and sign the papers,” Leo seethed.
“No.” The one-word answer clipped off my tongue with as much feeling as he’d used.
“Don’t make me haul you back there,” Leo warned. “You won’t like if I have to use force on you.”
“I’m not a child!” I rounded on him, nearly dropping the eggs as I flung my arms wide.
“You’re acting like one,” Sandro grumbled, pushing through the swinging dining room door. “It would serve you right to be switched.”
“The only man laying a hand on my backside is my husband.” The sudden discomfort on their faces was priceless. “That’s right, you heard me. My. Husband. And what’s more? I would beg him for another.”
“I’m going to strangle her,” Leo growled.
“Lay a finger on me, and I’ll cut it off.” With that, I made my escape. The staircase seemed longer, as if the relief of solitude was trying to escape me. But I managed. Breathing hard, I slammed my door, rattling the frame.
I dropped the breakfast on top of the wardrobe and dug my fingers into my hair.
A deep, rough scream of frustration bellowed from deep within, drawing from the ache in my soul.
Couldn’t they see it? I was in love with my pirate.
Desperately, all consuming. It was killing me—literally—not knowing if he was okay.
And they dismissed it as trauma, stupidity, and na?vety.
Sobs wracked my frame, each one stronger than the one before.
They consumed me like a growing flame. My body quivered with them.
My heart was on fire. I was trapped in hell.
I was hopelessly alone. Ached. Yearned. To have tasted freedom, to have felt the wild wind in my hair, to have found the one my heart longed for—and now to be so rudely caged away from it all?
It was misery. No! It was worse than misery. It was desolation.
“I should never have called them,” I whimpered, tears slipping hot down my cheeks. I should have let The Twelve do their worst. Them torturing me, even killing me, would have been a far more merciful situation.
“I thought they would help,” I hiccupped. How could they be so blind to what I wanted? To what I needed?
Acid accompanied the next air bubble, and I tasted bile on my tongue. I put a hand to my mouth.
“Oh, madonna!” I burped and clutched at my stomach.
Then, I ran.
I made it to the toilet in just enough time to lose what little I’d eaten.
The celery juice and toast was foul, and it burned furiously on the way up, choking my throat and making me cry.
I wretched it all, and then continued to vomit until there was nothing left but the tears.
Nothing left but my pain and my determination.
Leaning against the cool wall, I wept silently, panted through the quaking of my body.
I was coming undone. I was coming apart.
Escape would be next to impossible.
But it would be worth it. So worth it.
I had to try. I had to go back to the sea—and the lover she’d given me. I had to be with him. “I’m not staying here. I’m...not.”
Inching to my feet, I crawled out of the bathroom.
I had to get away.
Soon.
A plan was already forming in my mind.
There were too many eyes on me. Too many ears. But there was one clever way to get around it all. A phone. I only needed a little luck and some time before they realized what I was up to. I would be miles away by then, back with the man I loved.
The thought should have been daunting.
Instead, it energized me.
I could do this. I would do this.
Creeping to the door, I cracked it enough to glance down the hall. Voices from the foyer floated high, brushing against my ears.
“Can you hire an assassin or not?” Sandro demanded.
Leo grumbled. “That could start a war, fratello.”
“But if it kept her safe, I would gladly do it,” Sandro insisted.
As I listened, as my stomach threatened another round of sickness, Penny appeared at the top of the stairs, Piccolo glued to her side. She stopped, gaze locking with mine.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Leo muttered.
Penny looked below, then back at me.
“No!” I gasped.
And then wretched on the carpet in the hall.
My sister-in-law was at my side a moment later. “S! S, it’s okay.”
Her gentle touch brushed over my head, capturing my hair and pulling it safely away from the mess of spit and acid. Piccolo bumped into my leg, nudging me as if to say it would be alright.
I wished he would eat the don’s face and be done with it!
“They’re evil,” I fumed between hiccups.
“They love you—in their own twisted, vile ways, your brothers love you,” she insisted.
I jerked away, but she grabbed my shoulders and forced a hug on me.
“Here’s what you’re going to do,” she quickly advised. “You’ll sign the papers. Which will inconveniently disappear. And by then, we’ll see where the cards fall. Okay? Just sign. Save his life.”
I squeezed my eyes close. “That’s a betrayal. I made a vow, Pen.”
“A vow of the heart isn’t broken by a sheet of paper,” she assured me.
The front door opened. There was no time to come up with another solution. I needed to act.
“Fine,” I gasped. “Fine, I’ll sign.”
“Good.” She kissed my skull. “Good girl.”
And then she took off running and shouting. “Wait! Wwwaaiiittt!”
I stumbled after her, taking my time to fight back the nausea and brushing my hair back. My brothers would not see me as a weak, distraught mess.
Penny was urgently rattling off commands to the men in the entryway. I joined her, discreetly leaching off her strength. Together, we stared down two of the most powerful men in the city, united as sisters, and defied their edicts.
“It’s good to know you’ve come to your senses,” Sandro rumbled.
Leo watched me with a silent, skeptical look in his eyes.
I’ll never stop fighting you. They would not win. I didn’t know how, but they wouldn’t. As Heaven was my witness, they would not win this fight.