Chapter Twenty-Three
Mia
(Present Day)
The call comes right as I’m helping Sabrina untangle a piece of yarn from Livy’s hair.
“I don’t know how it happened,” Sabrina says, looking horrified.
Livy shrugs like this is a normal part of childhood. “Art is dangerous.”
I open my mouth to answer when my phone rings.
The name on the screen makes me frown.
Willow Creek Farm.
I know the owner, Denise, from a few animal rescue events. She mostly keeps boarding horses and a few retired lesson ponies. Sweet woman. Overwhelmed most days, but sweet.
“Hey, Denise.”
The second she starts talking, every playful thought leaves my head.
“Mia, I’m sorry. I know you have enough going on, but I can’t get ahold of anyone. Dr. Keller’s husband said she’s in labor. The emergency vet is over an hour out. Ranger’s down, and I can’t keep him up. He’s sweating, pawing, trying to roll. His belly looks wrong. I don’t know what to do.”
My stomach drops.
“How long has he been like that?”
“I found him twenty minutes ago. Maybe longer. I don’t know. He was fine at breakfast.”
“Is he trying to bite at his side?”
“Yes.”
“Gums?”
“Pale. I think. I don’t know. I’m shaking too bad.”
“Denise, listen to me. Get him up if you can do it safely. Keep him walking. Do not let him roll. If he rolls and twists something, you may lose him before the vet gets there.”
A sob cracks through the phone. “I can’t lose him, Mia.”
“You’re not losing him if I can help it. I’m coming. Just get him up off the ground.”
The girls go quiet.
I end the call and turn, already moving.
“Mama?” Livy asks.
“Horse emergency.”
Her eyes widen. “Can I come?”
“No.”
“But.”
“No, Olivia.” My voice comes out sharper than I mean it to. I soften it quickly. “Not this time. I need to move fast, and I need to focus.”
“But I know horse rules.”
“I know you do, baby. But this horse is in pain. He could hurt someone without meaning to. You’re staying here with Sabrina and Rosa.”
Livy’s face falls.
“I can help.”
“You can help by staying safe.”
“That is not my favorite kind of helping.”
“I know.” I kiss the top of her head. “But it’s the kind I need from you right now.”
She crosses her arms. “Mav would let me come.”
“No, he absolutely would not.”
Her mouth opens.
I point at her. “Don’t even try that with me.”
She shuts it again, but her little eyebrows pull together in a way that tells me this conversation is not finished in her mind.
Too bad.
I don’t have time for a ten-year-old uprising.
I hurry out of the room and nearly run straight into Stefano in the hall.
He catches my shoulders before I bounce off him.
“Easy, Mia.”
“I have to leave.”
His expression changes instantly. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No,” he repeats. “Maverick’s not here.”
“I know that.”
“He’s with the Shadows. If there’s an emergency, we call him.”
“There’s an emergency, but not one Maverick can fix.”
Stefano’s eyes narrow. “Explain.”
“Willow Creek Farm has a horse down with what sounds like severe colic. Their vet is literally in labor, the emergency vet is over an hour out, and if that horse keeps rolling, he could twist something and die.”
Stefano looks torn.
“I understand that matters to you, but—”
“But nothing. I can help him.”
“Mia.”
“Am I being held prisoner here?”
His face stills.
The words hang between us.
I hate that I said them.
I hate more that I need the answer.
“No,” Stefano says quietly. “Of course not.”
“Then I’m leaving.”
He mutters something in Italian that I’m sure wasn’t a compliment.
“I’m coming with you.”
“I figured.”
“And you text Maverick.”
“I’ll text him from the car.”
“Now.”
I glare at him.
He glares back.
For a man everyone calls the softer twin, he can be very stubborn when he wants to be.
“Fine.”
I pull out my phone and send Maverick a quick message.
EMERGENCY HORSE CALL. WILLOW CREEK FARM. STEFANO’S COMING WITH ME. I’M OKAY. I’LL CALL WHEN I CAN.
There.
I grab the new bag of supplies I keep stocked because apparently I’m incapable of not being prepared for animal disasters, then follow Stefano toward the garage.
He walks beside me, phone already in his hand.
“Please tell me you’re not calling Maverick.”
“I’m not calling Maverick.”
“Good.”
“I’m checking in with the front gate.”
I glance at him. “Why?”
“Because if I take you off the estate, I want the gate to know I have you.”
That makes sense.
Annoyingly.
“Are we taking another car?” I ask.
“No. Just mine.”
“No guards?”
He shakes his head. “The guards stay here.”
I blink at him.
That was not the answer I expected.
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Maverick moved every woman and child into the main house for a reason. I’m not pulling men from the estate for a sick horse when I can keep an eye on you myself.”
“It could be more than an hour.”
“Then it’s more than an hour.” He opens the passenger door for me. “I’m armed. I’m trained. I know that I’m insanely attractive, but don’t let that fool you. I’m capable of driving you to a farm and bringing you home safely.”
Despite the panic still rushing through my system, a laugh slips out of me.
“You really are insanely attractive.”
“Thank you. Finally, someone appreciates me.”
I climb into the passenger seat and set my bag at my feet.
Stefano closes my door, then walks around the hood.
Before he gets in, he says something sharp in Italian to the man at the garage entrance. I don’t understand all of it, but I catch enough from his tone to know it means watch the house, no one moves, keep everyone inside.
Then he gets behind the wheel and starts the SUV.
“We should be there in twenty minutes,” he says.
“Make it fifteen.”
His eyes flick to mine.
“I don’t think that horse will survive another twenty minutes,” I admit. “Fifteen is pushing it. And that’s only if Denise is able to get him up on its legs.”
“Don’t tell my brother I drove recklessly with you in the vehicle.”
“Get me there in time to save the horse, and I’ll lie like a criminal.”
His mouth twitches.
We’re halfway to the farm when something thumps behind us.
I freeze.
Stefano’s eyes snap to the rearview mirror.
My heart drops before I even turn around.
A blanket pile in the back moves.
Slowly, Livy’s head pops up from beneath it.
“Hi,” she whispers.
For one full second, no one says anything.
Then Stefano slams on the brakes.
“Olivia.”
The way he says her name would scare most grown men.
Livy winces.
I turn completely in my seat. “Have you lost your ever-loving mind?”
“I wanted to help.”
“No.” My voice rises so fast I barely recognize it. “No, you wanted to disobey me and sneak into a car during a security threat after I specifically told you to stay home.”
Her eyes fill with tears.
Normally, that would soften me.
Not today.
Today, fear turns everything inside me sharp.
“You could’ve been locked in the garage. You could’ve been hurt. You could’ve scared Stefano and caused an accident. Do you understand how dangerous that was?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“You’re sorry now,” I say, my voice harsh.
“But when you climbed into this car, the only thing you were thinking about was yourself. What you wanted. How you could get it. You didn’t think about Rosa, who is probably scared out of her mind looking for you right now.
You didn’t think about Stefano. You didn’t think about me. ”
“I’m sorry, Mama,” she repeats.
“You’re in so much trouble, Olivia Marie.”
Stefano pulls the SUV to the side of the drive and puts it in park. His hands grip the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turn white.
“We’re turning around.”
“No,” I say. “There’s no time.”
His head snaps toward me.
“The horse will die, Stefano.”
“Mia,” he whispers. “It’s not safe right now.”
“We’re too far already, and if we take her back, get her inside, explain what happened, and then leave again, that horse may not make it.”
His jaw tightens.
“I don’t like this.”
“I don’t either.” I look back at my daughter. “She stays in the car when we get there. She does not step one foot outside unless one of us says so.”
Livy nods quickly. “I won’t. I promise.”
I point at her. “Your promises are not worth much to me right now.”
Her little face crumples.
Good.
Let it hurt.
I love my daughter more than my own life, but she needs to understand this wasn’t cute. This wasn’t brave. This was dangerous.
“Put your belt on, Olivia,” Stefano orders. His normally soft voice when talking to my daughter nowhere to be found.
Stefano exhales hard through his nose.
Then he pulls back onto the road.
“I have to let Maverick know.”
“I know,” I mutter.
“He’s going to lose his mind.”
“I know.”
Livy sniffles from the back. “Can you maybe tell him after the horse is okay?”
“No,” Stefano and I say together.
She sinks lower in the seat.
The rest of the ride is tense and quiet except for my phone ringing twice.
Both calls are from Denise.
The second time, I answer on speaker.
“He’s down again,” she sobs. “Mia, he’s down, and I can’t get him up.”
“We’re almost there,” I tell her. “Keep everyone away from his legs. Don’t let anyone get hurt trying to force him up.”
“But if he rolls—”
“I know. Just keep him as calm as you can. I’m five minutes out.”
Stefano doesn’t say a word.
He simply drives faster.
By the time we reach Willow Creek Farm, Denise is standing outside the barn, crying and waving both hands.
I jump out before the SUV fully stops.
“Stay,” I snap toward Livy.
“I know.”
“I mean it.”
“I know, Mama.”
Stefano opens the back door, looks at her, and points two fingers at his eyes, then at her.
“I’m watching you.”
Livy nods solemnly. “That finger thing was scary…but fair.”
Inside the barn, Ranger is down in the aisle.
A big chestnut gelding, slick with sweat, sides heaving, legs tucked awkwardly beneath him as he tries to roll.
“Oh, sweetheart.” I drop beside his head but keep clear of his legs. “No, no, no. We are not doing that.”
Denise sobs behind me. “He keeps trying.”
“We need him up.”
“What do I do?”
“Get the halter. Stefano, I need help.”
Stefano is already beside me, jacket off, sleeves rolled up, looking very much like a man who has no idea what he’s doing but will do it anyway.
“Tell me where to stand,” he says.
The next several minutes are chaos.