Chapter 4 #2
Nothing else. Not my heart. Not my pain. Family first. I was a Romano and my loyalty was to them and them alone.
“He’s clearly gone underground,” Enzo said. “Assuming that nothing’s happened while I was in the hospital?”
“Nothing,” I responded honestly. “He hasn’t made a move against us and the authorities still haven’t caught the bank bomber.”
“The trail is going cold...” Enzo raked a hand through his hair in frustration. He’d had his hair cut a couple of times in the hospital, but it was still longer than it had been before. Dark locks fell over his eyes, making him look ruthless, rakish, and gorgeous all at once.
My stomach did flip-flops and I had to force myself to take several breaths so I could get composed.
There was no point in drooling over him at a time like this.
With the wedding fast approaching, I’d need to wrench back control of my longing and desire.
I couldn’t walk down the aisle with my head in the clouds like a typical bride.
I would need strength and stamina to face all my potential enemies at the wedding.
I’d need to be laser-focused on keeping my family safe while we chased after a hitman who wanted to harm all of us.
“If he’s laying low, there’s a chance he’s waiting to resurface at the wedding,” I said, cold fear slipping down my spine. I’d already ordered heightened security for the wedding while Enzo had been recovering, but it was looking like we were going to need even more.
“We’ll have to double the security,” he said.
“I already arranged for bomb-sniffing dogs and your father made assurances about security via text, but we really are going to have to secure every single thing,” I said, nodding.
“Including the food. Because if he targets the wedding, he will stop at nothing,” Enzo said. “Who’s catering?”
“One of my dad’s restaurants,” I replied. “They’re even doing the cakes. Since they’re just not up to the job of doing one massive cake, we’re getting smaller tiered cakes instead. Not ideal, but we don’t have many luxuries last minute no matter how many favors we call in.”
“I can get more of my people on that. I’ll get extra security for the food,” he said.
“We should probably double security for the wedding rehearsal as well,” I said.
“Right. The rehearsal,” Enzo replied.
“The rehearsal is the day before the wedding,” I reminded him. “You’ve been recovering, so I wouldn’t expect you to remember everything—”
“I’ll be there,” he assured me. “We’ll run through everything with the added security. I’ll spend today making phone calls so my family and our associates know I’m back in town.”
“We have to keep them in the dark about the fire,” I reminded him. “If we want to catch whoever’s responsible, we can’t tell everyone the details of the past couple of weeks. That would a restart of the war between our families.”
“And we can’t afford that,” Enzo said, agreeing. “I get it. I’ll stick to working out security details for the wedding when I talk to my people.”
“So, looks like you’ve got a plan for today.
” I paused to glance down at the rose gold-colored watch on my wrist. What Enzo didn’t know was that I’d had a whole day planned after my scheduled hospital visit.
His unexpected arrival at the townhouse had thrown my day off.
Which ordinarily wouldn’t have been a huge problem were it not for the fact that today was my final dress fitting.
One last chance at alterations before the big day.
“I’ve got my own plans so I should leave you to your breakfast.”
He stretched out a hand to me. “Valentina—”
I got up quickly, before he could touch my shoulder.
The last thing I needed was to allow any contact that risked me falling into his arms. I’d made that mistake at the safehouse.
Finally having sex with him at the safehouse had just revealed my undying love for him.
I couldn’t surrender to those feelings ever again.
“I’m going to be out for most of the afternoon,” I informed him as I turned toward the guestroom door. “I’d rather not leave in a hurry now that you’re here, but these are last-minute wedding plans and they can’t be helped.”
“I get that,” he said tightly.
“You can still contact me if there’s an emergency,” I added. “I can get your phone from the lockbox in my study.”
“Thanks for securing it all this time,” he said.
“Well, I can promise that the lockbox hasn’t been opened and your cell phone hasn’t been tampered with in any way,” I swore.
“I trust you, Valentina,” he said then.
The way he said it almost brought on tears, but I rapidly blinked them away and cleared my throat. Worst of all, he trusted me but I could no longer trust myself. Not with all these feelings welling up inside me. “I should be back later this afternoon.”
Our exchange had been so stiff and formal that we might as well have been total strangers.
Gone were all the times we’d shared together.
All the times we had faced all that terror while leaning on each other.
It was as if the past few months hadn’t happened at all.
No, it was worse than that. We weren’t back to hatred and distrust. Enzo and I were so far apart now that we weren’t even enemies.
Because enemies shared emotions. There were mutual feelings like hatred.
All we risked sharing now was a cold distance.
The thread connecting my heart to his was getting longer and longer.
Eventually, it would snap and be severed entirely no matter how close we lived physically.
“See you when you get back,” he said.
I marched up to the guestroom door, my heart heavy with each step I took.
Opening the door, I chanced a look back at him over my shoulder.
That was when I saw regret flash in his eyes.
But my heavy, fragile heart was beginning to harden in ways I didn’t know were even possible.
Mixing with my heartbreak was the anger.
The fury that I’d been so utterly defeated and humiliated that it was clear no matter how much of an advantage I gained now, Enzo and the De Lucas had won.
Not just a few rounds but the whole game.
My love for him had just made it harder for me to see the obvious.
Worst of all, he made me doubt myself. And I didn’t know how I’d ever recover from that.
Part of me wanted to spill my guts and confront him again.
But that would be revealing too much. He’d see that I wasn’t merely angry at being conned.
He’d figure out that my anger ran so much deeper than that.
Enzo would discover the extent of my true feelings for him.
If I didn’t find a way to check my emotions, it was only a matter of time before Enzo realized that I was in love with him.
I couldn’t let that happen. Too much depended on him believing that my focus was on staying one step ahead of him while also tracking a would-be killer.
Anything beyond those two goals would be a clue for him.
I could not afford that under any circumstances.
“Goodbye, Enzo,” I said over my shoulder.
Then, without another word, I opened the door and stepped out of the guestroom into the hallway outside.
Somehow this felt like a last goodbye. One last farewell before I locked away my love for good.
Because locking up all my feelings was the only way to keep him from ever seeing how much my heart yearned for him.
I was in love with my fiancé and I could never forgive him for that.