50. Coffee and Paranoia
CHAPTER 50
COFFEE AND PARANOIA
I sabella
A big yawn spills out as I search the cabinets for the coffee beans. Raf usually grinds them up and prepares my morning caffè before I roll out of bed. This morning, I found a note on my pillow from my mercurial bodyguard beside an oleander blossom, the stem carefully wrapped in aluminum foil.
Beautiful and lethal, just like my principessa.
My heart had staggered for a beat as I traced the dark scrawling. It was uncharacteristically sweet, especially after how moody he’s been lately. But besides the cute words, there was no explanation other than he’d be gone for a few hours and had left Alberto in charge.
I sent a few texts but got no response, just that annoying Raffaele has notifications silenced reply.
Well, I guess Alberto doesn’t know how to make coffee.
Irritated, I keep rifling through the cabinet in search of that blessed liquid caffeine, then hiss out a curse when I find it empty. Dammit. At least there’s Nutella. I jerk the jar open and dip my finger inside. As I suck on my fingertip, swirling my tongue around the sweetness, I remember Raf still hasn’t followed through with his promise of licking my favorite treat off my naked body.
My new guard glances up from his perch by the front door, the clatter of banging cabinets catching his attention. Unlike Raf who’s constantly up my ass, Albie has maintained a professional distance, only talking to me when I start the conversation.
“There’s no coffee,” I mutter.
He shrugs before returning his watchful eye to the window by the door. It looks out onto the quiet courtyard below, and I can’t imagine what could possibly be so interesting down there.
“Have you heard from Raf yet?”
“No, signorina , still nothing.”
The moment I saw the note, I’d asked my temporary guard if he knew where Raf had gone, but he’d been oddly tight-lipped about the whole thing.
The sharp ring of the outside gate buzzer sends my heart vaulting up my throat. Alberto rises, moving toward the intercom by the door. He barks a surly, “Who is it?” in Italian, and a surprising voice echoes back on the line.
“ Professore Massimo, I’ve come to check on Isabella.”
I run up, pushing by Albie and practically press my mouth to the speaker. Perfect excuse to go out for a coffee. And surely, my new guard won’t be half as strict as Raf. Maybe I can finally try a new place in town. “ Ciao , Massimo, it’s Bella. What’s up?”
“I was hoping you were free for a walk around the center of town since it’s your day off. There is still so much you haven’t seen.”
“I would love that. As long as we can grab a caffè on the way?”
Alberto’s dark brows furrow as he regards me, shaking his head. He lifts my finger from the intercom, so the speaker is no longer broadcasting outside. “Raffaele was very clear that I was not to let you leave the flat.”
“By myself, sure. But I’d be with Massimo and you, right? I’m sure you can handle a little stroll along the piazza .”
He shakes his head, but I can already see his resolve wavering.
I wrap my hand around his upper arm, finger running over his bicep through the tight tee. “I’m sure I would be perfectly safe with you. Raf thinks he’s the best guardian in the world, but I think you’re right up there with him. Don’t you?”
“Well, yes, but?—”
“He won’t even have to know we ever left. Just a quick coffee and we can come back, okay?”
“Fine,” he grits out. “But only coffee.”
Nodding, I press my finger to the intercom once again. “Give me five minutes, and I’ll be right down, Massimo.”
“ Perfetto .”
Massimo greets me with a warm smile when Albie opens the outer gate, holding it for me to walk through. I swear it turns downright giddy when he notices it’s not Raf accompanying me. “ Buongiorno .” He brushes his lips against both cheeks in the typical Italian greeting. “You look beautiful as always.”
“ Grazie .” I’m in a plain white tee and jeans, sporting the cute red Pradas Raf gifted me. And for some crazy reason, I stuck the poisonous oleander blossom in my ponytail. Thanks to the foil he’d wrapped the stem in, I’d managed the feat without ever touching the toxic flower. He’ll probably yell at me when he sees it, but if he didn’t want me to keep it, he shouldn’t have left it on my pillow. “Your timing couldn’t have been better,” I say with a smile to my professor. “I’d just found out we were out of coffee before you showed up, so you’re pretty much a lifesaver.”
“That certainly is fortuitous.”
“And sorry, but we’ll have to put off our tour of the city when Raffaele returns. I’ve only been allowed a quick visit to the café around the corner.”
Some of the light in his emerald-green eyes dims. “Oh, that is unfortunate. I was hoping to take you to the Fori Romani. The monumental public squares were constructed in ancient Rome over a period of about 1,500 years. They were the center of Roman public life during the Republic and later the Empire. They are truly an impressive sight.”
“I’m sure they are, but we’ll have to see them another day. If they’ve been around this long, they’re sure not going anywhere.” I’m actually proud of myself and hope Raf will be too. The old Bella would have run off with the professor without a second though. I’ve come a long way.
“ Va bene ,” he finally says, nodding.
I lead the way around the corner to the familiar café Raf vetted before we moved in. Alberto walks a few steps behind us, not crowding my personal space like Raf does. Weirdly enough, I find myself missing my controlling, obsessive bodyguard.
“At least let me take you to a nice coffee shop,” Massimo offers. “This one is not so good. It’s for the tourists.”
I wave a dismissive hand. “I like it here actually. They even have caramel syrup that they add to my latte if I ask nicely.”
His mouth puckers, but his head dips all the same. “As you wish, signorina .”
Once we’re seated with a warm latte in hand at the back of the quiet café, we lapse into an easy conversation about the internship program. Neither of us mentions the shooting, and I’m more than relieved. I’m actually shocked. It was all the other interns could talk about last week. A part of me feared Massimo was going to tell me I was kicked out of the program because he’d somehow found out it was my fault.
I still can’t wrap my head around the idea that it’s somehow Raf’s. Everything he told me still seems so unbelievable. I often found myself cursing my luck for being born into a family like the Valentinos, and we may be dysfunctional at times, but to go to the lengths that Raf’s father went to?
That’s insane.
My heart hurts for what Raf has endured. Despite the slight pang at the knowledge that he loved someone else so deeply. Does he love me? Had he meant to let that slip the other night and if he had, then why hadn’t he mentioned it since?
A whirlwind of unanswered questions plagues my thoughts as I smile and nod while Massimo goes into the nitty gritty of the program and all the new ideas he has in mind now that he’s the director. It all sounds great, but I can’t seem to focus as I sip my latte.
Maybe it’s because Raf hasn’t answered any of my text messages, and I keep sneaking peeks at my phone.
“Is everything all right, Bella?” Massimo’s eyes find mine, and I feel like a jerk because I’ve totally been ignoring him.
“Yes, sorry, I’m just distracted.” My eyes lift over Massimo’s shoulder where Albie stands.
“I can imagine after the incident last week.”
I almost say which one? Until I remember the only one he knows of is the shooting on the rooftop, not the following attack at the cemetery. “Have you spoken to Carlo’s family?” I ask before I take a measured sip.
“Yes, they are just devastated.” He lifts the small espresso cup to his lips and drinks it all in one go. “Have you heard anything from the police? Because his parents have been given absolutely no information about the shooting.”
“No nothing,” I mumble. Never mind the fact that Raf has already paid off the entire Roman police department at my father’s order. In our world, we take care of these sorts of things from the inside. I finish off my latte and offer Massimo a smile. “Thank you for this little outing. It was nice to get my mind off things.” Lie . I push my chair back, the scrape of the chair legs against the tile, jarring.
“You’re leaving already?” His hand twitches, something about the jerky movement attracting my attention.
“Yes, sorry, as I said, I have to get back home. Raf’s probably waiting…” I don’t know what possesses me to lie like that, but the words spill out of their own accord. “Actually, I should probably text him.” My fingers fly over the screen with a quick message about being with the professor. I expect an immediate irate response, but I still get nothing.
“ Si, certo .” He rises as I do. “Oh, I almost forgot, I have a letter from your instructor at NYU, Professor Dykeman.”
“You do?”
“Yes. He didn’t have your address, so he sent it to me.”
“Why wouldn’t he just have emailed?”
He shrugs. “There’s something more special about receiving an actual letter all the way from home, don’t you think?”
“I guess…”
Massimo leads me out of the café, and Alberto stalks behind us. “My car is just around the corner.” He quickens his steps, a slight sheen coating his upper lip.
“When did you say Professor Dykeman sent the letter?”
“Ah, I just received it yesterday.”
I nod, but there’s something about the pinch of his expression and unnaturally hurried gait that has my hackles raised.
Raf’s paranoia is clearly rubbing off on me. Why would I ever suspect my professor of anything nefarious?
We reach the corner, and Massimo points down a quiet alley where a small red Fiat is parked. He motions for me to go first, but I spin around and find Alberto’s eyes narrowed. “Albie, I’m just going to get a letter from the professor’s car.” My gaze dips down to the gun at his hip.
The stern guard traces the movement then nods. “I’ll be right behind you, signorina .”
I’m being crazy, that’s all. Not having Raf glued to my side has me off. Dio , I hadn’t realized how much I relied on him.
Massimo slows as he reaches the car, and it’s as if each remaining step is painful. He pulls out the car FOB and the trunk pops open. A man leaps up, firing off a round at Alberto before a gasp escapes from my gaping jaw.
From the corner of my eye, I see my guard fall, the thud of his body against the cement sending my pulse skyrocketing. “No!”
I try to run, but a sharp pain explodes across the back of my skull and darkness invades my vision.