Chapter Twenty-Seven #3
She laughed softly and rested her forehead against his again.
Taddeo let his thumb move once against her waist. “Do you want to stay here?”
“For a while.”
“Yes.”
“Don't turn that into forever.”
“I won't.”
The answer came without possessiveness.
Isolde looked at him for several seconds, and something in her eyes changed so quietly that Taddeo could not name it.
She kissed him again.
This time there was more warmth in it, enough that his body responded and hers clearly did too, but when the physical intensity began rising, Isolde slowed rather than pushing farther.
Taddeo followed the change without complaint, letting desire remain unresolved because intimacy did not need to become sex merely because they were capable of it.
They ended up on the leather sofa beneath the windows, Isolde curled against his side with one of his arms around her shoulders and her feet tucked beneath her.
She told him more of Corwin's call in pieces, including the admission that Corwin genuinely wanted to profit from the information he found, and Taddeo told her which parts of the museum evidence he intended to compare against Lelio's crew without demanding anything she had not offered.
At one point Isolde's fingers began tracing the scar along his hand.
Taddeo looked down.
She stopped. “Is this okay?”
The role reversal affected him more than it should have.
“Yes.”
She continued.
“You understand I am not forgiving the kidnapping either,” she murmured after a while.
“Yes.”
“Or deciding the gates don't matter.”
“Yes.”
“And if you say ‘I know’ one more time, I may become violent.”
Taddeo's mouth moved. “Understood.”
“Better.”
They sat quietly for several minutes after that.
Isolde's head settled onto his shoulder.
Taddeo thought she might be falling asleep until she spoke again.
“I think Corwin believes loving me made what he did less selfish.”
“It didn't.”
“No.” Her fingers tightened lightly around his. “And I think you believed protecting me made control less controlling.”
“Yes.”
She looked up at him. “You two are infuriatingly similar in some very specific ways.”
“I dislike that conclusion.”
“I assumed you would.”
Taddeo brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.
Isolde's expression changed with a tenderness he had not seen since before the privacy breach.
She looked away first.
Taddeo did not know that in that moment Isolde finally stopped pretending the word forming beneath all of her anger was merely attachment, or that loving him frightened her partly because it had survived seeing him at his worst. He only knew that something in her face became both softer and sadder, and that when she leaned into him again, she held on more tightly.
Marco called shortly after seven.
Taddeo almost ignored the vibration.
Isolde shifted against him. “Answer it.”
He picked up the phone without moving his arm from around her. “What?”
Marco's voice came sharper than usual. “We found Federico Lanza.”
“Where?”
“Not Florida. He's been staying in an apartment in East Crownport under his girlfriend's name.”
Taddeo sat straighter, and Isolde immediately did the same.
“Do we have him?”
“Not yet. Team is outside.”
“Then why are you calling?”
“Because we pulled his vehicle toll history before moving.” Marco paused briefly, papers moving at his end. “The Escalade from Lelio's club was within six blocks of the museum during the attack window.”
Taddeo's face went cold.
Isolde watched him.
Marco continued. “And there's more. Torri—the dead attacker—received four payments over the last six months through a security subcontractor. That subcontractor is controlled by Lanza's brother-in-law.”
“How much?”
“Thirty-two thousand total. Last payment was three days before the museum.”
Taddeo stood.
Isolde rose with him.
“Take Lanza quietly,” Taddeo said. “No Bellandi holding property Lelio knows. Use the Mercer warehouse basement, restricted team only.”
Marco hesitated. “Cesare?”
“Not yet.”
“Taddeo.”
“I said not yet.”
“All right.”
Taddeo ended the call.
Isolde was already watching him with an expression that made clear she had understood enough from his side.
“You found the connection.”
Taddeo placed the phone on the table and looked at her. “One of the museum attackers was paid through a company tied indirectly to Federico Lanza, one of Lelio's soldiers. Lanza's vehicle was near the museum during the attack.”
Her face lost color.
“That still isn't proof Lelio gave the order,” Taddeo added. “But it is no longer coincidence I am willing to ignore.”
Isolde looked toward the darkening windows while the reality settled.
Taddeo moved closer but stopped before touching her.
She noticed.
After several seconds, Isolde reached for his hand herself.
Her fingers threaded through his.
Taddeo closed his hand around hers.
They stood together in the center of the office while Northglass security began moving against one of Lelio Ardizzi's men, and for the first time since Taddeo broke her trust, Isolde's hand remained in his because she had chosen to put it there.