“Easy, she’s hurt,” Cristiano tells him once we’re downstairs and I go in for a hug.
Noah nods and tries to hug, but not hug me, all at once.
“You can hug me. I want you to hug me,” I tell him.
“You hurt her, and we have a problem,” Cristiano growls beside me.
“Don’t listen to him,” I say, but this other side of Cristiano, this predator turned protector is strange. Unexpected. He’s a beast but he’s got a soft side. I like when it comes through.
Noah squeezes me hard and it does hurt but I don’t care. In his hug I feel how young he is, how much he’s lost and how much he needs me, even if he tries to act like a man.
“Aren’t you late for your lesson,” Cristiano asks him, checking his watch.
“What lesson?” I ask, looking at him.
Noah, looking guilty, shifts his gaze to Cristiano.
“Self-defense,” Cristiano answers after a beat.
I narrow my eyes. “You’re teaching him how to fight?”
“Not me personally.”
“Noah’s not some street fighter. He’s not a thug.”
“Sis—”
“He needs to learn how to protect himself, protect his family,” Cristiano says.
“And how would fighting help in a gun battle? Because all the fights I’ve seen so far involve enough gun fire to call it a war.” It dawns on me then what exactly the lesson is. “You’re teaching him how to use a gun?”
“He should already have been taught.”
“No. I told you, I don’t want this for him.”
“And I told you it’s been decided.”
Noah slips away quietly as Cristiano takes my shoulders and walks me backward to the wall. Out of earshot of anyone.
“Whether or not you chose this life, it chose you. You’re in it. So is your brother. Period. We have enemies, Scarlett. And right now, you and your brother are among the very few I can trust. The boy needs to learn how to shoot. For his own protection and for yours.”
“He’s fifteen.”
“Did you understand what I meant when I told you that Jacob was tipped off?”
I stare up at him, feeling the line form between my brows.
“Think. Who knew where you were?”
“Anyone in your organization could know.”
He shakes his head. “Only a handful of people knew of the existence of that house to begin with. Even my own uncle didn’t know where we were.”
“So, you think it was the soldiers? They’re all dead. I think that clears them.”
He raises his eyebrows like he’s telling me to think harder.
“Alec?” I whisper but I don’t believe it. “He’s more than loyal to you. He loves you. I saw how he was when you were hurt. He didn’t betray you, Cristiano. He wouldn’t.”
“Us. Betray us.”
“It wasn’t him. I’d stake my life on it.”
“I wouldn’t.”
Someone clears their throat. I look over Cristiano’s shoulder and see his uncle, David.
Cristiano releases me and turns to him.
“You’re all right?” he asks me.
I nod but my brain is whirling, trying to make sense of what Cristiano just said. Of what he thinks.
“I’m glad.” David replies but I wonder if he truly is. I haven’t forgotten what he did when I walked into his house.
Just then I hear a bark and a moment later Cerberus turns the corner, Lenore on his heels.
“That dog is as stubborn as his master,” Lenore tries to complain but I hear how much she loves both the dog and his master.
Cristiano catches Cerberus before he can jump on me.
“Easy, boy.”
Lenore looks me over and smiles. “You look better than I’d expected. I’m glad you’re safe, Scarlett.”
I don’t mention the welts and bruises beneath the dress, but bite back the pain as I bend down to cuddle Cerberus instead. Her gaze momentarily flicks to my hand, to the rings on my finger. I’m not sure if I see disappointment briefly on her face or if I imagine it. I’m not looking directly at her but when I do, she smiles almost proudly at Cerberus or me.
“I’m going to go get some rest after last night,” David says. “I wanted to see for myself you were all right before I left,” he says to me.
“Oh, thanks.”
I see Cristiano’s expression of surprise before he masks it. “I’ll walk you out, Uncle.”
“I hope you’re hungry for breakfast. Cristiano made sure I made anything you could possibly want to eat.”
I chuckle. “I am hungry.” I follow her into the dining room, Cerberus padding along at my side.
11
Cristiano
I watch her through the day. Hell, I watch everyone. I still have one question for her that I can’t make sense of myself. Well, more than one, but this she’ll need to answer tonight.
“Walk with me,” I tell her after dinner. It’s a clear night, the moonlight silvery on the calm water.
She was in that water, I think. In the dead of night in the pitch-black sea. I wonder if she thinks about it, too. It was sheer determination that I found her in there. If I’d waited another second, she’d have been lost. Bound as she was, she went straight down.
I help her into her coat and button it up. Cerberus is already at the door waiting for his nighttime walk. I’ve been doing this with him for as long as I’ve had him. Only the location has changed.
Cerberus leads the way, charging toward the sea without a care.
“Be careful,” I tell Scarlett, hand on her arm to steady her when she trips almost as soon as she’s outside.
“Do you like being here on your own? I mean on the island so far from people,” she asks.
“I don’t like people. In case you haven’t noticed.”
“Oh, I noticed.”
“And I’m not alone. Lenore is here. I have soldiers and—”
“Soldiers don’t count.”
“Then Lenore is here. And Cerberus. I need to ask you a question, Scarlett.”
I see her turn to me in my periphery and take my eyes off Cerberus to face her.
“Okay.” She must sense the seriousness of it because she seems to brace herself.
“He didn’t touch you. The doctor checked.”
“What?”
“Marcus didn’t violate you.”
Her eyebrows nearly disappear into her hairline. “You had the doctor check?”
I nod.
“While I was unconscious? Without my consent?”
I wait for her to process because yes, of course I did. Who wouldn’t have done that?
“In what world do you think that’s okay to do?” she asks.
“My world.” I answer simply and honestly.
“Of course. You would. Why am I surprised?” She shakes her head, grits her teeth. “Why didn’t you just ask me if he touched me? Did that even occur to you?”
“I wanted to be sure.”
“What did you think? I’d lie to you?”
“You might. You might feel embarrassed.”