Chapter Nineteen
Mia
Something’s going on inside this mansion of a house.
The number of guards has increased, and their shift changes have become sporadic. Men I’m used to seeing during the day are suddenly patrolling the halls at night, while others seem to disappear for hours at a time.
All the children who live in one of the many houses scattered across this enormous stretch of land have been moved into the guest rooms inside the main estate.
Maverick even asked me to keep Livy home from school for the next few days.
I agreed without asking too many questions.
One, because I trust that he wouldn’t have asked me if it wasn’t important. Maverick may be overly protective, but he doesn’t frighten the children or disrupt their routines without a reason.
And two, I don’t really feel like it’s my place to involve myself in Moretti family drama.
That’s probably ridiculous considering I’m dating the Don of the family.
At some point, I should probably ask what in the world is happening. I should demand to know why armed men are suddenly everywhere and why the estate is beginning to feel less like a home and more like a heavily guarded fortress.
But I haven’t seen much of Maverick since the day before yesterday.
He left for a meeting, returned furious, and went straight to the gym. He stayed there so long that by the time he finally came upstairs, the sun was beginning to rise and it was time for me to start my day.
He hasn’t been coming to bed.
That shouldn’t bother me as much as it does.
It isn’t as though we’ve had a conversation about sleeping arrangements. Maverick never officially invited me to share his bed every night, and I never asked if that was what he wanted.
It simply happened.
I slept beside him on our first night here, and I’ve slept beside him every night since.
Despite all his heated looks, filthy promises, and the way his hands sometimes linger as though he’s imagining everything he wants to do to me, he’s been nothing but a gentleman.
Every night, he climbs into bed beside me and pulls me against him. Sometimes he kisses my shoulder. Other times, his lips brush the side of my neck before he settles behind me, his arm wrapped securely around my waist.
Then he falls asleep.
No demands.
No pressure.
He just holds me.
But he always comes to bed with me.
Even when he has work to finish, he eventually appears. Even when he thinks I’m already asleep, I feel the mattress dip beneath his weight. I feel his body settle behind mine and his arm curl around me as if holding me is as necessary to him as sleep.
But now, if he comes to bed at all, it’s right when it’s time for me to get up.
I keep telling myself it was because he was angry. Whatever happened during that meeting must have been serious if it drove him into the gym for most of the night.
Still, a quiet, uneasy thought has been following me around.
Did I do something wrong?
I replay the past few days in my mind, searching for something I said or did that might have upset him.
Maybe I shouldn’t have dismissed what happened with Rory so quickly. Maverick clearly wasn’t happy that he picked Livy up from school without telling me. At the time, I was so relieved to learn she was safe that I didn’t think much about anything else.
Maybe Maverick believes I ignored his concerns.
Or maybe this has nothing to do with me at all.
The logical part of my brain knows that.
Unfortunately, the insecure part keeps reminding me that Maverick came home, walked past me, and spent the entire night somewhere else.
I just wish I knew whether he’s avoiding me or protecting me from something he doesn’t want me to know.
“Mama, can me and Sabrina join the arts and crafts class today?” Livy asks. “We finished all our schoolwork.”
“I don’t know, honey.” I place a plate in front of each girl. “That’s their actual class for school.”
“The instructor won’t mind,” Stefano says as he sets glasses of juice in front of them. “You just have to be on your best behavior, or she won’t let you join again.”
“Ever?” Livy asks, eyes wide.
“Ever,” Stefano confirms solemnly.
Sabrina sits up straighter in her chair. “We’ll be so good.”
“The goodest,” Livy adds.
I point at her. “Best.”
“That too.”
Sabrina folds her hands together and looks up at me with big, pleading eyes. “Please, Mrs. Livy’s Mama. Please.”
A laugh slips out of me before I can stop it.
“You two are ridiculous.”
“Ridiculously good?” Livy asks.
“Ridiculously dramatic.”
Stefano leans against the counter, smiling.
“All right,” I say, shaking my head. “Finish your lunch, then you can go ask the instructor. If it’s all right with her, then I don’t mind.”
Both girls cheer like I just granted them a kingdom.
“Eat first,” I remind them.
They immediately grab their sandwiches.
Sabrina and Livy have been inseparable since we moved into the estate. At first, I thought it was because Sabrina was familiar from school, and Livy needed something normal after losing so much.
But it’s more than that now.
They follow each other everywhere. They whisper secrets, share snacks, argue over crayons, and somehow manage to turn every hallway in this mansion into a mission only they understand.
Sabrina’s papa is one of Maverick’s guards, so he’s often working. Her mother was killed in an attack a few years back. No one has told me the full story, and I haven’t pushed.
Some grief deserves to be spoken only when the person carrying it is ready.
But I see the missing pieces in Sabrina.
The way she watches me when I braid Livy’s hair.
The way she leans closer when I ask if she’s eaten.
The way her face softens every time I call her sweetheart.
Somewhere along the way, without anyone asking permission, Sabrina tucked herself into the empty spaces of our little family.
And I let her.
Maybe I shouldn’t have.
Maybe getting attached inside a house full of Moretti’s and guards and secrets is the most foolish thing I could possibly do.
But when Sabrina smiles at me with peanut butter on her cheek and hope in her eyes, I don’t feel foolish.
I feel like I have two daughters sitting at the table.
One mine by birth.
One mine because my heart apparently doesn’t know how to mind its own business.
“Where’s Maverick?” I ask as the girls talk excitedly about what they plan to make in art class.
“He had to step out for a bit,” Stefano answers. “He likely won’t be back until this evening.”
“He could’ve at least said goodbye,” I mutter.
Stefano’s eyes soften.
I hate that.
It makes the ugly feeling inside my chest grow fangs.
“I know something big is happening,” I continue, keeping my voice low so the girls don’t hear me. “And I know it’s probably not my place to ask questions, but surely he knows I’m freaking out a little, right?”
“Mia.”
“He hasn’t said more than five words to me in three days.” My throat tightens. “Did I do something?”
The girls are too busy arguing over whether glitter glue counts as paint to notice the way my voice cracks.
Stefano does.
Sighing, he nods toward the hall.
“Come with me for a second.”
I follow him out of the kitchen and into the corridor.
The moment we’re alone, he turns to face me.
“You didn’t do anything, Mia.”
I wrap my arms around myself. “Then why does it feel like I did? He won’t even look at me.”
“Because my brother is very good at making bad decisions when he believes he’s protecting someone.”
From what? I don’t ask, but I want to.
“One of our people was killed,” Stefano says quietly.
The air leaves my lungs.
“What?”
“One of our men in Ohio. Loyal man. Good man.” His jaw tightens. “On top of that, there has been a threat against Maverick.”
My stomach twists.
“A threat?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of threat?”
“The kind Maverick is taking very seriously.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No,” he agrees. “But it’s the only one I can give you right now.”
I look down the hall toward the kitchen. Through the doorway, I can see Livy and Sabrina still eating lunch, still laughing.
“Maverick asked me to keep Livy home from school. Sabrina and the others, too.”
“He did.”
“And all the children were moved into the main house.”
“They were.”
“And there are more guards everywhere.”
“There are.”
I look back at him. “So why hasn’t he told me?”
Stefano’s expression turns sad.
“Because he wants to keep you away from the bad side of this life for as long as possible.”
“That’s not how this works.”
“I know.”
“Does he?”
He doesn’t answer.
“He hates being away from you,” he says finally.
“I know it may not feel that way right now, but he does. He’s working tirelessly to get to the bottom of this, and every hour he spends away from you makes him colder.
But he thinks if he can stand between you and the danger, he can keep it from touching you. ”
“Because of what happened to his wife and daughter?” I ask softly.
I already know pieces of the story.
Not because Maverick told me everything.
Because people in the estate talk when they think I’m not listening.
Stefano’s eyes darken with old pain.
“Yeah,” he says, giving me a sad smile. “I can’t say that isn’t his main drive right now.”
My chest aches.
“He’s scared.”
“Yes, sweetheart,” Stefano says softly. “He’s very scared right now.
I swallow hard.
“He wants you to feel safe here,” Stefano continues. “And you are, Mia. No one is getting inside this building. No one is getting near our family. The guards are not here to frighten you. They’re here because Maverick would rather overprotect you than risk being one second too late again.”
“I don’t need him to protect me from the truth,” I say. “I need him to trust me enough to let me stand beside him.”
“He does trust you.”
“Not with this.”
“He’s trying.”
“Trying doesn’t make the bed less empty.”
The words come out before I can stop them.
Heat rushes into my face.
Stefano’s expression softens again, but this time I don’t hate it.
This time, it almost breaks me.
“He’s slept beside you every night since you moved in,” he says gently.
I nod, blinking hard. “Until now.”
“He isn’t avoiding you.”
“It feels like he is.”
“I know.” Stefano steps closer and lowers his voice. “But listen to me, Mia. When Maverick pulls away, it’s rarely because he wants distance. It’s because he’s afraid of what will happen if he reaches for what he needs too much.”
I look at him.
“You are what he needs,” he says. “That terrifies him.”
My eyes sting.
“Then he should come to me.”
“Yes,” Stefano says. “He should.”
For some reason, hearing him agree makes me feel a little less crazy.
“But until he remembers that,” he adds, “don’t mistake his fear for rejection. My brother is many things. Foolish about his own heart, certainly. But he is not finished with you.”
A shaky laugh slips out of me.
“Finished with me?”
His mouth curves. “Bad phrasing.”
“Very bad.”
“Yes. Forgive me. English is difficult when my brother is being an idiot.”
I wipe under my eyes.
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” He looks toward the kitchen, where the girls are whispering like criminals. “Now, we should return before your daughter and Sabrina pull off whatever it is they’re planning.”
“You know they’re up to no good,” I laugh.
Stefano starts to move, but I reach out to stop him.
“I know you won’t tell me everything,” I say. “But I need something. Was the threat only against Maverick?”
For a second, I don’t think he’s going to answer.
Then Stefano shakes his head.
My stomach drops.
“Who?” I whisper.
I don’t know Maverick’s entire family. Shoot, I don’t even know half the people who live here in Palm Springs. But I need to know who he’s trying so hard to protect.
Stefano glances down the hall before lowering his voice.
“You. Olivia. Me,” he whispers. “The entire Palm Springs estate, and the Shadows.”
His entire family.
Not just Maverick.
Not just one man.
All of them. All of us.
The children. The women trying to keep their fear hidden. The guards walking the halls. The Shadows standing beside him. The men who call him brother. The people who trust him to keep this whole world standing.
No wonder he can’t settle.
No wonder he hasn’t come to bed.
No wonder there are more guards, more locked doors.
Something moves through my body.
All at once, the worries I’ve been carrying for the past few days shift into something else.
Purpose.
I know how important family is to the man I love.
Right now, he doesn’t need his woman standing in the hallway wondering if he still wants her. He doesn’t need me taking up space with hurt feelings and quiet insecurity while he’s trying to hold an entire estate together with both hands.
When he gets home later, I’ll seek him out.
I’ll hug him.
I’ll kiss him.
I’ll let him know I’m still here.
Then I’ll give him the space he needs to think, plan, and do whatever it is a man like Maverick does when someone threatens what belongs to him.
He doesn’t need to worry about me.
Not right now.
I can take care of us both.
I can take care of every scared woman and child in this estate while our men surround us in a fortified wall of protection.
I lost my sanctuary.
I lost my home.
I am not losing myself.
And I damn sure won't become another burden Maverick has to carry.
“There she is,” Stefano says softly.
I blink. “What?”
A slow smile spreads across his face.
“I don’t know what just went through your head,” he says. “But I watched it happen.”
“Watched what happen?”
“You just transformed.”
I frown. “Into what?”
He looks at me for a long second.
Then his smile turns proud.
“You went from a sanctuary owner to la regina del Don in the span of a single minute.” He shakes his head. “My brother is going to be very irritated that he missed it.”
“La what?” I ask.
“La regina del Don.”
“What does that mean?”
“The queen of the Don.”
My breath catches.
“I’m not a –”
“It’s not a small thing,” he interrupts, his voice gentler now. “To love a man like my brother, you can’t only love the soft pieces he gives you in private. You must understand the weight he carries in public.”
“I’m trying.”
“I know.” His smile deepens. “I saw you realize that just now.”
Tears sting my eyes, but they don’t feel weak this time.
They feel different.
Like something inside me is settling.
Like I just stepped into a place I didn’t know had been waiting for me.
“What do I do?” I ask quietly.
Stefano’s expression softens.
“You do what you already do, Mia. You care for the people in front of you. You notice who’s hungry, who’s scared, who’s trying not to cry. You hold the center while the rest of us hold the walls.”
I look toward the kitchen, where Livy and Sabrina are still laughing over their lunch.
The center.
I can do that.
I know wounded things.
I know frightened hearts.
I know how to sit beside something shaking and make it feel safe enough to breathe.
Straightening my shoulders, I wipe beneath my eyes.
“Okay.”
Stefano’s smile turns bright.
“Okay?”
I nod. “Okay. Take me back to the girls before they decide glitter glue is edible.”
He laughs and offers me his arm.
I take it.
And for the first time since Maverick stopped coming to bed with me, I don’t feel like I’ve been left behind.
I feel like I’ve been trusted with something important.
The heart of his family.