18. Domenico
Chapter 18
Domenico
L elia and I don’t see each other because I’m planning with Guillermo. He’s been a godsend. I know eyes are on us, since we’re the outsiders, but I don’t feel the tension anymore. I know I have backup. The only problem we have is that Cassio is arriving soon. Once he walks into this house, the shit is going to hit the fan.
Cassio and I have never seen each other properly. I’m not sure he’ll recognize me, but there’s always a possibility. The thing is, today I have to escort Lia to the dress fitting. Since I’m her bodyguard, I’m meant to ensure she’s kept safe at all times.
Ignacio stalks into the dining room as we’re finishing up breakfast and stops short at the table, his gaze flitting over each man. We’re all under his rule. Nobody speaks, and the clink of cutlery stops.
“You.” He points at me as he speaks. “My future wife needs to be watched closely. I have a feeling there’s something she’s hiding.” He doesn’t realize I’m the thing she’s hiding, but I offer a nod. He turns his attention to one of the other soldiers. “Taio, I want the files on the Vitale clan. Don’t leave a single item of information out. My future wife may be beautiful, but I don’t trust anyone.”
“Yes, Boss,” the soldier says with a nod.
I’ve been keeping my eyes on each of them and they’re loyal to a fault. Taio is the hacker. He can find out anything about anyone, and he’s the one I need to be wary of the most. The rest of them are muscle. That’s the easy part.
When we finally finish eating, it’s time to move. I make my way out to the car, only to see the woman I love already waiting. She’s at the passenger door and I wish I could go to her, to embrace her, but I play it cool. She’s nothing to me.
I offer a nod, but I see the fire in her eyes.
She was born to be mine. As I was to be hers.
Once we’re in the car, we don’t talk. It takes everything in me not to say anything to Lia. The driver is listening, watching, and I know Ignacio has asked him to observe her, just as he’s asked me to keep an eye on her.
The drive into town is torture. I can only steal glimpses at her, nothing more. And when we arrive, I see Guillermo already waiting. I knew he’d be here. It was part of the plan to make sure Lia is safe from Mosca’s asshole soldiers.
“I’ll be inside,” Lia tells us and I only offer a grunt in reply. The driver’s gaze burns into my side and I know he’s waiting for some more reaction. When I don’t offer it, he seems happy enough and goes back to the car.
Guillermo leans against the stone wall just outside the boutique, arms crossed, sunglasses on, face unreadable. He looks relaxed, but I know he’s anything but as his shirt sleeves are rolled up and his hands are balled into fists. There’s nothing relaxed about him. I stand a few paces away, close enough to speak low. Far enough to keep up appearances.
Lia’s inside, and I’m on edge. I don’t like being away from her. She’s probably somewhere between layers of ivory silk and the weight of her own damn cage. We stand in silence for what feels like hours. But it hasn’t been that long. It can’t have been.
I look at Guillermo and finally say, “This has to go down soon. I can’t play this game anymore. I hate seeing her with him.”
“It will all be over soon.” There is a promise in his voice, one that sets me at ease, but only just. “Her father didn’t want this,” he tells me then and I can’t help but snap my gaze to his.
“What?” My voice is higher than I expect it to be, but I lower it and whisper, “What are you talking about?”
“She’s a pawn in a game,” he tells me earnestly. “It’s the reason I’m here, to get her out, but he doesn’t know about you. Only I do.”
“She’s really in danger,” I finally say as the truth hits me. I thought her father signed the agreement for her to marry this bastard.
“She is. I didn’t want to tell you because you would lose your shit and do something stupid, but with Cassio arriving soon?—”
“We have to move faster.”
“She’s been in there an hour,” Guillermo says, not looking at me.
“I’m sure she likes to take her time when she’s out of the house,” I answer, just as flat.
He turns his head slightly, his jaw ticking. “You ever seen her in a wedding dress before?”
“Not like this.”
He finally looks at me—really looks. “That supposed to mean something?”
I exhale through my nose, eyes still on the glass door. “Ignacio gave me orders. I’m to stand outside the fitting room. Make sure she doesn’t accidentally run into anyone from her old life. He’s suspicious. Thinks she might try to stir up trouble.”
Guillermo scoffs while shaking his head. “He thinks she has the balls to pull something off without help. That’s cute.”
“Yeah. Cute.” My voice comes out sharper than I mean. I roll my shoulders back, trying to ease the tension crawling under my skin. “He doesn’t know her the way we do. He doesn’t see what’s building under all that sweetness and innocence.”
Guillermo steps closer, lowers his voice. “He will know soon enough. I want to make a suggestion for our plan. Something that I know she’ll agree to.”
“I don’t like we’re you’re going with this,” I tell him honestly. I’m already nervous about this plan, but involving her will only add to it.
“I need you to trust me.” Guillermo looks me in the eye then and I know I can trust him. I may not be the man he wanted for Lia, but I’m the one she’s chosen. And I’m not leaving unless she wants me to. “Do you want her forever?”
The question hangs between us, heavier than the European heat. I glance at the boutique’s window, and suddenly, she steps out of the fitting room in a dress of silk. That’s when I see her properly.
Hands lifted.
A veil lowered. A life she doesn’t want being stitched around her like a trap.
“She’s not alone in this,” I say finally, then look back at the man questioning me. “I will die before I allow any harm to come to her.”
Guillermo nods once, slow and deliberate. “So we’re clear—he’s suspicious, but he doesn’t know anything. We do what we need to end the Mosca line.”
“He won’t have her. No one will. There is only one man for her.”
Guillermo nods slowly. “You planning on keeping him blind all the way to the altar?”
“If I have to.” This time, I stand up, squaring my shoulders as if my enemy is right in front of me.
There’s a pause, then Guillermo takes a step closer. “You sure you can hold it together that long? Watch her pick out the dress she’s supposed to wear to marry someone else? Keep pretending?”
I meet his eyes. “I don’t have a choice.”
He studies me like we’re back on our home ground, as if we’re in New York and he’s learned my true name—like he’s running through every angle, measuring the cracks.
Then he gives a slight nod. “All right. You don’t tell Ignacio anything. He asks, you tell him she picked white and didn’t stab anyone with a pin. End of story.”
I nod. “Agreed.”
“I’m not doing this for you.” His voice is low but not cold. “I’m doing it because I remember how she used to smile when she felt freedom. And how she stopped smiling when she realized she has to be married to a man she will never love.”
Something in my chest knots. “This time, she doesn’t have to choose. I’m here and I’m not leaving.”
“Don’t screw this up. I wouldn’t want to have to kill you,” he says with a dark chuckle and I know he’s not joking.
Before I can answer, the boutique door opens, and a soft voice calls my name. “Nico?”
I turn. Lia stands in the doorway in a pale blue robe, hair pinned up, bare feet on polished tile. She looks younger than usual. Or maybe just tired.
“I need you,” she says simply. “Zia wants to see you inside.”
I nod and glance at Guillermo.
“I’ll be here,” he says. “Stone wall and all.”
I follow her in, but the echo of Guillermo’s voice stays with me.
I have a choice now.
And I’m not going to waste it.
I stop at the entrance to the fitting rooms and she looks at me like I’m her hero. “I needed to see you before I get back in that car.”
“This is dangerous.” Too risky. Too many eyes.
I shouldn’t be here now, but at night, when the halls go quiet, she finds me.
In linen closets.
In storage rooms.
Once in the crypt beneath the east wing, where no one ever goes.
She steps toward me, her hands holding mine. It’s as if I’m the only thing keeping her sane.
And I am.
“I’m scared,” she admits softly when we’re alone as she looks up at me. She doesn’t come closer, and I want to drag her out of here, but I know I can’t.
“I know.”
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“It will.”
“You don’t know that.” Her words are a plea, drenched in fear.
“No,” I say, touching her cheek. “But I know I’d burn the world down before I let them take you.”
She looks up at me with a promise in her stare.
And then I step back and breathe because I need to forget her fragrance.
I turn away. “Get dressed, we need to leave.” And then I wait outside where it’s safe.