Chapter 53
She stays quiet as the driver heads toward my mother’s house.
Her eyes are fixed on the landscape outside, and I can’t tell if it’s because she missed Italy or because she’s trying to avoid me.
“The last time I came to Tuscany, it was as your prisoner,” she says.
Her tone isn’t playful—it’s serious.
She turns to face me. “What was there between you and Angelo, Gianni?”
I could refuse to answer, but I decide she needs to know who I am and what I’m capable of in the name of honor. I won’t tell her everything—I want to protect her—but if I don’t intend to let her walk out of my life again, maybe it’s time she learns part of my family’s story.
“Later, when we’re home, we’ll talk.”
“That’s not my home.”
I don’t contradict her. I won’t make the same mistake I did when we first met.
I’m an arrogant bastard who likes things my way one hundred percent of the time, but I learn fast, and I paid attention to what Elodie said on the plane.
I dragged her into my world and forced her to adapt to it.
I provided personal stylists to mold her into what high society would expect of a man in my position.
I never asked what she wanted. Aside from the bright colors I told the stylists to use in her wardrobe, I tried to shape her into my idea of perfection.
“It’ll be your home while you’re in Italy.”
“I could say you’re assuming too much, thinking I’ll ever come back here, but I won’t because I’m not a liar.
Still, there’s something I need to ask, Gianni: whatever happens between us, don’t you ever send me away again, even if you think you’re protecting me.
That night, I felt abandoned. I don’t handle rejection well. ”
“I never rejected you. There was never a choice between you and Capria, bella. It was always you. But. . .”
“But what?”
“I don’t know how to explain this in a way you’ll understand.
Maybe as a woman you can’t. I’m not even sure all men feel the same.
But the idea of that woman carrying a child that could be mine, trapped inside her body for nine months, that was a nightmare.
I wanted the baby if it was mine, because as I once told you, I’d never turn my back on a child.
But I didn’t want Capria. We were over for good. I would never marry out of obligation.”
“But you kept going back and forth. The magazines said you’d eventually marry her.”
“You researched my relationship with her?”
“I researched you, so of course I came across pictures of Capria by your side. To anyone watching, for a man who supposedly didn’t love her, you spent years in an on-and-off relationship.”
“There was no love. There were common interests. For a while, in the beginning, I even thought she was perfect for me. She didn’t demand my attention, we grew up in the same world. She knew exactly what to expect from a marriage of convenience.”
“And what changed your mind?”
“Do you really want to talk about this?”
“Not about Capria, specifically. I want to know you. Not the gossip-column version. The real Gianni.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing before.”
“We never had time. I’ve thought about our story so many times.
Except for the day I told you about the cult, we always skimmed the surface with each other.
The attraction was too intense. We couldn’t breathe the same air without ending up naked,” she says, unbothered that the driver can hear her.
“If we’re going to be together, this time it has to be as equals.
I don’t want to be the fragile woman who needs protecting.
I want to stand beside you, and for that, I need to know you. ”
“There’s nothing wrong with breaking sometimes, Elodie. You’ve had to be strong your whole life.”
“I’m not saying I’ll never break. I’m fragile even now. What I want is to carry your burdens, too.”
I pull her into my arms, letting her rest her head on my chest, weighing every word she said.
“That’s a fair deal, bella.”
Elodie is with my family while I step into the library to take a call from Abaddon.
He still hasn’t found the bastard and now, more than ever, I need that door closed.
I want to look ahead, toward the future. I’ll give Elodie everything that was stolen from her. But first, I need to protect her and my sisters.