Chapter 45 Chiara
Chiara
Fina hurries over the moment Kane walks out of the kitchen. I watch him leave with trepidation. He saved me today. If not for his superior driving skills and cool head, I’d probably be dead or locked up in some nutjob’s basement.
I may have joked about the dangers of being a mafia wife, but until today, I hadn’t truly considered Angelo has enemies. Lots of enemies. Probably more than even he knows thanks to his less-than-winning personality.
Hell, I want to shoot him in the head most days, and I’m his wife.
“Are you okay, cara?” Fina’s sweet voice cuts through my mental meltdown, and I force a smile.
“Yeah. Just a bit nauseous after being thrown around in the car.”
To my surprise she hugs me, and once the shock wears off, tears come.
“Whoever was behind this will pay,” she tells me in a voice that makes me question everything I know about this woman. Fina is sweet and softly spoken, but I’m beginning to realize she has a titanium spine.
I sniff and wipe my tears away with my sleeve.
“God forbid Angelo loses his precious wife,” I joke.
Fina frowns as she steps back. “I know you won’t believe me, but he truly does care about you.”
I’m about to ask her if she’s been smoking Luka’s weed when I hear a high-pitched yap followed by a volley of barks.
“Have we adopted a dog?” Fina’s eyes light up and she bounces on the spot.
“Not exactly!”
“So what then?” The shock of being in a near-accident recedes as my brain tries to work out what Fina is saying.
“Come with me.” She grabs my hand and tugs me through the house and outside. One of the guards, I think his name is Leroy, stands on the lawn with a small dog attached to a leash. The dog goes nuts when it sees me.
I stop dead in shock, stunned into silence.
Am I seeing things?
Is this my imagination playing tricks on me?
“Coco?” The minute I say her name, the dog yanks the leash from Leroy’s hand and tears across the grass. She leaps into my arms, and I almost fall backward as she licks my face, her small body wiggling in excitement.
I don’t realize I’m crying until Fina hands me a tissue.
“How?” My tears soak the tissue in seconds. I can’t stop sobbing as all my emotions bubble to the surface: loss, rage, and fear for what the future holds.
“Your old housekeeper had her. Vivian gave her Coco and told her to drop her off at the shelter, but the woman was so upset by what happened, she took Coco, packed her bags, and quit that same day.”
Maggie was one of the few staff members who stayed after my father died. Most left, unable to stomach Vivian’s rages and ill-treatment of them. She was always kind to me.
I sit on the grass with my dog in my arms as she licks every available millimeter of skin she can reach, her entire body convulsing with happiness. It takes ages for both of us to calm down. All the while, Fina stands and watches, a smile on her face.
Felix appears at the patio door, and from the way his tail is puffed up, he’s not amused.
“You’re my sweet baby too,” I tell him through my tears. Coco goes still and the two animals eyeball each other. I place Coco on the grass with the leash wrapped around my wrist to stop her from chasing the cat. She never bothered with cats in the past, but who knows how she’ll react to Felix.
Felix stalks over after a minute, making it clear he’s not intimidated by my small dog. To be fair, they’re almost the same size.
Coco wags her stubby tail and woofs. Felix comes closer and sniffs her, his tail still puffed up and his body language cautious.
“You two better be friends,” I warn them. “No fighting or the bad mafia man will evict you.” Fina snorts.
“I’d be more concerned about Horatio if I were you,” she laughs. “He’s already annoyed about the cat.”
“Horatio needs an attitude adjustment.” The man has a stick so far up his ass it'll take surgery to remove it. “Thank you,” I tell Fina once I’m sure Coco and Felix aren’t going to kill each other.
She pats my shoulder. “You’re welcome, but it was Angelo who made finding her a priority when I told him what happened.”
“He did?” My heart softens.
“I fully understand why you hate him, Chiara, but he’s not the demon you’ve painted him as.” The more I get to know my husband, the more I suspect she’s right.
But I’m worried that if I let go of my anger, I may grow attached. And if my life has taught me anything, attachments are dangerous because when the things you love are taken away from you, the pain is almost too much to bear.
“Hmm.”
Fina just smiles at my noncommittal response. She and I both know I don’t hate Angelo half as much as I did when I first arrived here. Yes, he’s arrogant, entitled, and fucking annoying, but he can also be sweet and thoughtful.
The man is a complete contradiction at times.
When I look up, my husband is busy staring at me from the sliding door. He’s still wearing his suit, but the tie is missing, and his hair is a mess.
Coco spots him and her hackles rise along her back. She growls in warning, which causes Felix to hiss in surprise.
“Shhh, he’s not going to hurt you,” I reprimand my dog. She woofs as Felix trots over to Angelo for a pet.
“See?” Fina laughs under her breath. “He’s a softy at heart.”
Once Angelo has finished fussing with the cat, he nods at me and Fina and then disappears.
I’m a little disappointed he hasn’t bothered to ask if I’m alright, but I suppose he has a lot on his plate.
An attack on me and Kane is an attack on him and the Di Rossi family; there will inevitably be some kind of retribution.
I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I hear the screech of tires and feel the impact as the truck hit our car. My neck and spine ache, and my eyes scratch like someone poured sand into them.
Felix and Coco have decided they don’t hate each other. Felix lies at the foot of the bed while Coco sits on my chest, her dark eyes boring into mine.
She won’t sleep until I sleep, but I’m thirsty. I need a drink. Not water, which I can get from the bathroom. Something hot and soothing, like chamomile tea.
With a sigh, I climb out of bed and pull a loose sweater over my vest and shorts. It’s one Luka left in the living room a while back, and I’ve never bothered returning it to him.
It still smells of him, and I like the way it swamps my much smaller frame.
He’s not been back to the house. I had hoped he would appear to check up on me because surely Angelo would have told him about the car incident. But no, he hasn’t been in touch or come to the house.
Angelo disappeared after talking to Kane. I expected Kane to go with him, but when I headed to bed, he was still around, drinking coffee and talking to the men outside.
The house is quiet downstairs. There are a few lamps on here and there, but the kitchen is empty. I root through the cupboards searching for chamomile tea while waiting for the water to boil.
Eventually, I find a small box of tea bags stuffed at the back of the pantry. Coco hovers at my heels, terrified I might vanish again. I have a feeling she’ll be my shadow for the next few weeks and months, but I don’t mind.
“Can’t sleep, kitten?” Kane’s gravelly voice startles me. Tea bags scatter all over the floor, making me curse. I know the floor isn’t filthy, but still.
“I needed a hot drink,” I mutter, relieved not all the bags fell from the box. Kane watches as I pop a clean one into a mug and pour hot water over it.
“How’s your neck?” he asks, correctly surmising I’m sore and achy.
“Not great,” I admit. “But I’ve had worse.”
“Want some painkillers?”
“No, I’ll be fine.” The pain will fade in a few days. There’s a box of Epsom salts in my bathroom. I’ll take a soak in the tub in the morning. Angelo told me I had to stay home tomorrow while Kane and he review the security arrangements.
As much as I like my freedom, I’m not keen on a repeat of yesterday, so remaining here for now makes sense. And if Angelo wants me to carry on looking at his accounts, he might let me have a laptop that connects to the internet and the office network.
But I won’t hold my breath.
While I’ve zoned out, Kane has come closer. It’s not until Coco growls menacingly that I realize he’s next to me.
“Shush.” To my surprise, Kane drops on one knee and offers Coco his hand.
“You’re brave,” I comment. “She hates men.”
He snorts. “Really?” When I look down, Coco is sniffing his fingers and then, to my surprise, she licks his hand. He chuckles before rubbing my dog’s head.
“She’s all bark.”
“Not always.” She once bit the guy who came to clean the pool. The creep tried groping me when I walked past him. My loyal dog heard me shriek and came running. She sank her teeth into his ankle, and he fell into the pool.
“Your muscles have probably locked up. That’ll be why you’re in pain.”
I know he’s right. I can feel the tightness across my shoulders and back.
“Let me ease it for you.”
My eyes narrow. “Aren’t you worried Angelo will think you’re overstepping?”
Kane smirks. “He’s not watching the cameras right now, kitten.” Then he sighs. “You look exhausted, sweetheart. Let me ease your discomfort so you can sleep, yeah? No funny business.”
“No funny business,” I repeat, while simultaneously wishing that he would do a lot more than massage my aching shoulders and neck.