Denial

by Lisa Renee Jones

  “Yes. It does. Are you telling me he’s familiar now, and he wasn’t then?”

  “Let me see the other shot.”

  He grabs his phone and hits a few buttons before bringing up the image he showed me when we were at Matteo’s house. I set the phone down next to the picture in the notebook. “They don’t look like the same man.” I tap the image on his phone. “This man has shorter, darker hair than the one in the photo.”

  “They’re both Niccolo, so let’s be clear. You know Niccolo.”

  “Yes,” I whisper, my chest tightening. “I know him. I might have tried to kill him.” I stand and Kayden stands with me. “I have to go. I have to leave the castle. You can’t have me here. I’ll get you all killed.”

  His hands come down on my shoulders. “Deep breath, sweetheart. We already knew he was looking for you. Our plan is still good, but I need to know if it’s Niccolo who you keep having flashbacks about.”

  “I don’t know, Kayden. The man in my flashbacks is still without an identity.”

  “Everything is still as it should be.”

  “A mobster is after me, so no. Nothing is as it should be. How do I even get out of this?”

  “You don’t.” His hands frame my face. “I’ll get you out of this. I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”

  “I do, but—”

  He kisses me, hard and fast. “I’ve got this, and you. Now, let’s put him behind us. I don’t remember the last time I shut everything out and just relaxed. Do that with me now.”

  “You can’t shut everything out with Enzo missing.”

  “I have people looking for him and they know how to reach me. Let’s take a time-out, Ella.” He links the fingers of both our hands together. “Let’s go into the bedroom, get naked, have lots of sex, and I’ll talk you into a Marvel movie binge. Iron Man. The Avengers. Thor.” He starts walking backward, leading me around the table.

  “Superheroes?” I ask, a bit of my tension easing.

  “What’s wrong with superheroes?”

  “Nothing,” I say, deciding to embrace being “lucky” with Kayden while I still can. “Nothing at all.”

  “Good. Then The Avengers it is.” He scoops me up and starts walking to the bedroom, once again carrying me, and I know it’s his way of carrying me beyond this place and time.

  But he’s not a superhero. He can die, and I won’t let that happen. Not because of me.

  twenty

  I blink awake Thursday morning to find Kayden lying next to me, staring at the ceiling. The room is warm and cozy with the fireplace lit and his leg is aligned with mine. I roll to him, curling to his side, settling my hand over his heart. “Penny for your thoughts.”

  He strokes a lock of hair from my eyes. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Me too. These past two days . . .”

  His lips quirk. “I made you love Iron Man, right?”

  More like he made me start falling in love with him, but I don’t dare say that. “You made me love Thor.”

  “You just like him because he has a big hammer.”

  I poke his chest. “That was a horrible joke.”

  “We guys love our horrible jokes.” He kisses my forehead. “I’m going to take a quick shower and check for any update on Enzo.” He grabs his watch from the nightstand and glances at it. “Holy hell, it’s already ten o’clock. We need to leave here by eleven-thirty to make our appointment, and I have to make a few calls in advance.”

  It’s our appointment at the consulate, where Niccolo will likely be looking for me. Our relaxed days of naked talks, laughter, orgasms, and TV have officially ended. “I’m nervous.”

  He kisses my temple. “Don’t be. I have a plan.”

  I smile, but it’s not as heartfelt as the many smiles we’ve shared these past two days. “You always have a plan.”

  “You’re learning.”

  “Good teacher.”

  “Your lessons haven’t even begun,” he assures me, no doubt referencing his vow to put “dirty” in a box and keep it there while I fully heal. “How’s your head this morning?”

  “Good. Really good, actually. And I’m almost done with my medicine.”

  “Then let’s do some shopping today. You need a real wardrobe, not the few things you found to fit in the collection everyone else picked out.” He slides his hand over my naked waist and hip and gives me a wickedly hot look. “Though I prefer you without clothes. And on that note, I had better go before I forget why we need to leave.”

  He throws off the blankets and stands, and I raise up on my elbows to watch every moment of that gorgeous, tight ass of his as it leaves the room. I sigh, hating the end of two days of bliss, and the reality that means I have to think about the implications of knowing Niccolo that I’ve managed to suppress. The truth is, I’ve barely thought about the ruthless mobster during our little interlude, nor have I had a flashback, a true testament to just how all-consuming Kayden can be. Or . . . maybe it’s my mind going into overdrive to block out what I know I’m close to revealing. I don’t like that idea one little bit.

  The shower echoes from the other room and I down a pain pill with the water I have by the bed. I consider joining Kayden, but decide I’ll only delay his calls. Decision made to give him space, I grab my journal from the bedside, determined to force my memories to ignite again. I start scribbling the butterfly again and make a concerted effort to actually create a drawing of the necklace. I shut my eyes and force my mind back to that hotel room, to the moment after I’d torn the pendant from my neck, and when I’d gone to my knees and picked it up. In my mind’s eye, I can see that note hanging from the edge of the center stone, as if hidden there, but the handwriting is not in English. I open my eyes with this realization. Considering my preference for English, this seems to indicate that the piece of paper wasn’t a love note. Rather than drawing the butterfly, I start writing down details:

  —Sapphire stones cover raised wings

  —The center is a ruby that is quite large. That’s where the note was

  —White gold setting

  —Large. About two inches wide

  Grimacing, I tap the pencil on the paper. Does this even matter? The note must be what matters and I’ll never figure it out. I set the journal aside and lie down, shutting my eyes and trying to picture that piece of paper, hoping I can make out something that makes a little sense. Instead, I’m transported back to a familiar house. My house when I was a teenager. I inhale, and the scent of chocolate chip cookies is so real I can almost taste them.

  “What’s the occasion?” I ask, entering the small, square kitchen to find my mother in an apron, scooping the just-out-of-the-oven cookies off the hot tray and onto a plate.

  “You know how your father loves sweets.” She glances at her watch. “He should be back from the shooting range in the next fifteen minutes.” Her hands plant on her slender hips, her red hair falling in waves around her face. “I noticed you dodged going along with him.”

  “Dance rehearsal.” I sink into a chair at the simple round wooden table. “And you know how intense he is right after he returns from a mission.”

  She sits down with me and brings the plate of cookies. “His life is in danger constantly. He sees horrible things. It’s hard to come down from that.”

  “What horrible things, Mom?”

  “You know this unit he’s in is top secret and elite. He can’t tell us what he does or where, but he has nightmares, honey. I think he pushes you because he’s always afraid he won’t come back and there will be no one to take care of you. He wants to be sure you can take care of yourself.”

  “And you. He always tells me to take care of you.”

  She smiles. “Good man.” She hands me a cookie. “Good cookie.”

  “Ella.”

  I blink to find Kayden leaning over me, the light blue shirt he’s wearing turning the gorgeous in his eyes up a notch. “I love your eyes.”

  He smiles, and it’s really a wonde
rful smile. “Thank you, sweetheart. Why were you lying here smiling?”

  I take a deep breath and let it out. “Chocolate chip cookies.”

  He laughs. “What?”

  “A memory of my mother baking cookies. Do you think Marabella could make some?”

  “She’d be beside herself to get a special request from you.” He pulls me to a sitting position. “Go get ready. We have to leave in forty-five minutes.”

  “Danger, Will Robinson! We must face our world of danger.”

  He arches a brow. “Isn’t that from a movie?”

  “Lost in Space, and don’t ask me how I know that. It was way before my time.” I frown. “Or maybe there was a remake?”

  He clunks my chin. “Get dressed, silly woman, and I’m going to leave the room before you do or I might not let you. I’ll make coffee. Hurry before I drink it all.”

  “And you will,” I tease, having witnessed him down about two pots yesterday.

  “That’s right, so like I said, hurry the hell up.” He heads for the door and I sit up to watch the way he owns his walk and everything around him, deciding he makes jeans and boots look like sex, when my hand hits the journal, and my memory jolts.

  “Kayden.” He stops at the door and turns to me. “I remembered something while you were in the shower,” I say. “The note in the necklace wasn’t written in English. I couldn’t read it.”

  His chest expands and he gives me a barely there nod, facing the door again, but he hesitates with his back to me, as if he wants to say something more. I wait, adrenaline rushing through me, and I’m not sure why, but he doesn’t speak. He just . . . leaves.

  I dress in black slacks, boots, and an emerald-green sweater, and take extra time with my makeup and hair, because a girl wants to look good if she’s going to be assassinated by a mobster at the consulate’s office. The burn of that fear is only slightly cooled by my ending up in a sexy ice-blue F-TYPE two-seater Jaguar and discovering that the wall of the garage moves to allow our exit. A sexy car and a sexy man is as sweet as it gets, but there is nothing sexy about my worry that Kayden shouldn’t be seen with me at the consulate. The problem disappears when I discover we’re meeting the consulate agent at a coffee shop, which means neither I nor Kayden will be spotted by Niccolo. Even better, the meeting is a good distance away in the Piazza di Spagna region of the city, which turns out to be an absolutely delightful area where cobblestone streets are lined with shops, food, and history, like the Spanish Steps I can’t wait to explore. Surprisingly the meeting is short and easy, and Kayden explains the paperwork to me while I nibble a pastry. Once we’re done, Kayden hands the agent a thick envelope that the man inspects before grinning ear to ear.

  A few minutes later, Kayden and I exit the coffee shop into a chilly day, our arms linked, me in my trench coat with a scarf, him in his fitted black leather jacket with a scarf as well.

  “The envelope you gave that man had a ton of cash in it, didn’t it?” I ask as we pass a horse and carriage.

  “Convenience has a price. That meeting otherwise could have taken hours, and the good news, as I explained inside, is that one of those forms extended your stay in Italy for a year. You just have to agree not to work.”

  I stop and look at him. “You didn’t tell me I can’t work. I can’t just stay here and do nothing.”

  “You don’t need to work. I have more money than I know what to do with.”

  “You do. Not me.”

  He reaches in his pocket and holds up a credit card. “Now you do, too. This has your new name on it, and it’s impossible to max it out.”

  “I’m not taking that.”

  “Yes. You are.” He shoves it in my coat pocket. “Whatever you want or need is yours.”

  “Kayden—”

  He kisses me. “I’m taking care of you, whether you like it or not.” He links our arms together and launches us into a stroll again.

  “Then you have to let me help you with something you do to make money. Research, maybe? Or whatever I can do. Please, Kayden. I need to have a purpose. And not only do I not want to live off you, I don’t want you to feel I am, either.”

  “I don’t, and I don’t want you to feel that way.”

  “Then let me help you in some way.”

  “I don’t want you involved in The Underground.”

  I step in front of him, forcing him to halt. “You are The Underground. There is no way I can be in your life and not have it be in my life. And besides, how dangerous can research be?”

  He studies me, his expression an impassive mask. “This really matters to you.”

  Like he does, and I wonder if he knows that, or if I should tell him. I want to tell him. Instead I say, “Very much so.”

  He kisses my forehead. “We’ll figure something out.”

  He tries to move me and put us in motion, but I plant my hands on his chest, heat radiating up my arms, his credit card burning a hole in my pocket. “Just to be clear. That means we’ll figure something out.”

  He laughs. “That is what I said. Now.” He turns me to face our left and the Spanish Steps that seem to climb a mile high.

  “Wow. They’re magnificent.”

  “Like you,” he murmurs near my ear, and it is becoming clear he has as much charm as sex appeal. “During the warmer season they have flowers everywhere,” he adds. “Do you want to walk up them?”

  I face him. “That would be fun. Probably exhausting, but fun.”

  He closes my hand around his. “Better now than when we have shopping bags.”

  We spend a good hour milling around the steps before starting our door-to-door shopping expedition, and I soon learn the man is truly determined to spend his money on me.

  We end up with so many bags we have to drop some off at the car. “You know,” I say as we exit a little pizza joint where we’ve just had marvelous pizza, my hand stuffed in his pocket, a confession on my lips I’ve had on my mind for hours, “when I realized I knew about Niccolo, my first thought was to run.”

  “And now?”

  “I don’t want to run.”

  He turns me to face him. “Running isn’t the answer anyway. I’ve told you that.”

  “The idea of anyone else getting hurt because of me guts me, Kayden.”

  “You know me well enough to know that I’ve taken precautions. You need to stay in one place, and that place is here with me. Every time you move around is a chance to be seen by the wrong people.”

  “What about when they look here?”

  “There is no red-haired Ella to be found here. Besides, I have a man inside Niccolo’s operation. I’m going to find out why he’s after you. If you were a carrier, I might be able to pay for your freedom and give my guarantee of your silence as the Hawk for The Underground.”

  “I don’t even know what to say to that. What about your man’s safety?”

  “He’s a mole in Niccolo’s operation, not a Hunter, and he doesn’t even know it’s me paying him. We’re okay there.”

  I slide my arms under his leather jacket and tilt my chin up to whisper, “Thank you.”

  He leans in and kisses me. “Thank me when we get back to the castle. And be creative about it. That’s an order.”

  I laugh and assure him, “I’m more creative than you might think.”

  “I can’t wait to find out,” he replies, draping his arm around my neck as we fall into step together, and I am thinking about how he says “the castle,” rarely calling it “home.”

  I crave home. He has to as well, and some part of me thinks it’s not the walls that make that word meaningful. It’s people, and maybe we can be “home” to each other. For some reason, that stirs a few flickering images of me with my friend Sara and a knot forms in my chest.

  “I’m concerned about my friend Sara, Kayden. My gut feeling is that she would file a missing persons report. What if she finds out my existence was wiped out and she starts digging?”

  “That’s doubtful. Once she fil
es a report it goes in a computer, and a grown woman who apparently eloped isn’t likely to get attention over the long list of missing children in the world.”

  “But if she was to push, she’d be in danger, right?”

  “Doubtful, but possible.”

  “We have to find her, and I’ll make up some happy story to keep her from digging around.”

  “We’re trying to find her. But we have to tread cautiously, or we could bring attention to her ourselves.”

  My gaze catches on a sign hanging above a store, and my thoughts shift abruptly. “La Perla,” I say, tugging Kayden forward. “That’s the lingerie I was wearing when you found me. I want to see if it strikes a memory in me.”

  “You won’t get any complaints from me,” he says. “As long as you promise to buy something.”

  I don’t laugh, focused on one thing: that store, and remembering who I am and how I got here. If anything helps me protect Sara and everyone else around me, it’s that. “I’ll stay out here and make some phone calls,” Kayden says at the door.

  I nod and enter the store, noticing mannequins here and there, and long leather benches separating rows. It’s not even slightly familiar. I browse the store and choose several bras, panties, and a few sexy outfits I think Kayden will like, before pulling that credit card he’d given me from my pocket. I stare at the name. Rae Eleana Ward. This is me now. Ella doesn’t exist. I shake off the whirlwind of emotion threatening me and hand the card to the clerk, making this the first time I have freely spent Kayden’s money. I console my guilt over doing so with the idea of him enjoying the purchases I’m making.

  After completing my transaction, I step outside the store to find Kayden leaning on a pole, iPhone to his ear, in what appears to be a deep conversation. My gaze shifts from him and lands on a store directly across from us with a ballerina logo on the window, and my stomach somersaults, my throat thickening.

  Dance. I am drawn to dance.

  I close the distance between me and Kayden, tapping his arm and pointing to the store. He nods and leans down, kissing my temple, and that easy show of affection I know he has shown so few people these past five years steals my breath and curves my lips. I cross the narrow street and enter the store.