Marabella sets hot cocoa in front of me. “Drink. It’s lovely, I promise.”
I do. I drink, and it’s thick and rich and wonderful. “Thank you.” I offer a weak smile and then glance at Kace. “I’m remarkably nervous about a phone call.”
“A path to freedom, baby,” Kace says. “You can do this.”
“Right. Freedom.” I sip the chocolate and pull my phone from my pocket. “I need his number.”
Adrian slides a phone across the table in my direction. “Use that one. The number is in the phone.”
I scoot my phone back into my pocket and quickly snag the one Adrian has offered me. Allowing myself no time to be nervous, I punch the call button on the pre-set number. A woman answers. “This is May, can I help you?”
“I’m trying to reach Donelle Bianchini, please.”
“May I tell him who’s calling?”
“Aria Alard on behalf of Kace August.”
“Hold, please.” There is silence for several beats before I hear, “Ms. Alard.”
“Mr. Bianchini,” I say, glancing at Kace. “I got your message. I’m so sorry you’re ill.”
“Well, it does my heart right to hear your voice. Can you come sooner than we discussed?”
“How does Wednesday work for you?”
“Oh much better. I can hold out until Wednesday. Can you come in the evening? I seem to feel better when the sun sets.”
“Of course. What time?”
“Seven would be perfect.”
“We’ll see you then,” I confirm.
“Mr. August will be with you?”
“Yes,” I say, waiting for the unease to follow, but it doesn’t. He’s a fan of Kace’s music. He wants Kace to buy the violin. Of course, he wants him there. “He will.”
“Wonderful.” There is delight in his voice. “Do you think he’ll play the violin for me?”
“I’m certain he’d be honored to play the Fetzer for you.”
“Oh, a dying man’s dream. I would love to hear him play ‘Toccata’ live. I’ll see you soon.”
We disconnect and I set the phone down. “He’s either a good actor or he’s not playing us.” I glance at Kace. “He called you playing for him a dying man’s dream.”
“Then I’ll play for him if that’s what it takes to find out what this is really about.” He glances at Kayden. “I’ll go alone.”
“Aria needs to go as well,” Kayden says. “We’re setting a trap. We want the wolves to bite. Both of you together are the perfect bait.”
“No,” Kace says, his voice absolute. “She’s not going. She stays here where she’s safe.”
I twist around to him. “Kace—”
“No, Aria. I told you. I’m keeping you safe.”
“If Gio’s there, he might not show himself if I’m not.”
“I’m not making this decision for Gio.”
“You’re not making it for me either,” I argue. “We want this to end. I have to have the courage to do what it takes to make that happen.”
“She’ll be well protected,” Kayden assures him. “And you’ll be with her.”
“No,” Kace says. “This is non-negotiable.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Kace doesn’t give in.
He doesn’t want me to go to the meeting with Donelle. In fact, he insists I will not go with him.
After his “non-negotiable” statement, the meeting with Kayden and Ella wraps up pretty quickly. “I’m going to get to work putting the pieces of our operations together,” Kayden says, obviously sensing we need some space to hash out the details of our disagreement.
Once the four of us say our goodbyes, Kace and I walk calmly toward our bedroom, but there is a crackle of tension in the air between us that all but sparks. I’m angry. He’s angry. We’re combustible. Kace opens the tall, heavy door to our room and I walk inside before him. He follows, but I only make it a few steps before he’s captured my wrist and then the other, pulling me to him. I end up against the door, his powerful legs framing mine, one of his hands on the wall above my head.
“You will not go to that meeting. The end.”
Anger sparks in me hard and fast. “What happened to the man who only wanted to control me when we were fucking?”
“All bets are off when you try to get yourself killed. It’s my duty to protect you. That is non-negotiable.”
“Again with the non-negotiable?” I challenge. “I’m trying to keep us all alive.”
“You will not go to that meeting.”
“You don’t own me, Kace.”
One of his hands is suddenly on my head, fingers tangling roughly in my hair, his other hand on my backside, molding me to him. “No?”
“No, and you know it.”
“Do I?” he challenges and I never have the chance to reply.
His mouth comes down on mine, rough with demand, his tongue licking wickedly against my tongue. I try to resist, I do, but the taste of him, possessive and hot, undoes me. I moan and melt into the kiss. And when he has my surrender, he parts our lips and says, “You don’t get to die on me, Aria, and if that means I have to tie you to the damn bed and keep you here in this room until this is over, I will.”
His voice is low, rough, a rasp of sandpaper that would bite if not for the desperation beneath his surface, the pain that lurks there, the pain I know, and understand. “Kace, I—”
I never finish that sentence. His mouth comes down on mine again and all the fight between us becomes passion. We’re ripping at each other’s clothes to undress, kissing each other like we will never kiss each other again, and the next thing I know, we’re naked and still by the door. Kace’s hand cups my face and he doesn’t speak, but he doesn’t have to. I see the words in his eyes, I can’t lose you, and I know they are echoed in my eyes.
Seconds tick by, passion rising between us, and then he is kissing me, and I am kissing him, passion exploding between us again, and we are nearly desperate for each other. We are all over each other, kissing, licking, touching, wicked little bites here and there. The scent of him, so marvelously earthy and male, seduces me, and I inhale it and decide he’s my drug. He’s my addiction. He lifts my leg and presses inside me, cupping my backside and picking me up as he does. He rotates, his back against the wall, and I lean into him, kissing him. I’m as lost in him as he is in me, and I know nothing but the sway and thrusts of our bodies.
When it’s over, he carries me to the bed and lays me on the mattress. “Don’t move,” he orders, and then he disappears, returning with a towel. I accept it and roll to my side. He slides in behind me, his big body cradling mine. “I don’t own you, but right now I wish I did. I don’t want you to go to that meeting.”
I rotate to face him, my hand going to his face, the torment in his eyes stealing my breath. “Kace,” I whisper.
“I love you,” he says. “I’m asking you not to go.”
“I don’t want you to go, either. Can’t we just do it together? Live or die together?”
His lashes lower and his expression is all stark lines and shadows. His reaction hurts me. “I won’t go,” I promise.
His lashes lift and the sea of relief I find in his blue eyes undoes me. He undoes me. Just as he completes me. And I do not regret my promise at all. At least not now, but some part of me fears I will, sooner rather than later.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
I fall asleep with Kace holding me and wake to him kissing my neck. “Aria, baby.”
My lips curve and I decide I want to wake up every day of the rest of my life with this man calling me baby. I roll over, cozy in a warm, dim room with the fire crackling in the corner to find him deliciously shirtless and lying next to me. “What time is it?”
“Seven. We need to get up and try to adjust to Rome time. Kayden and Ella want us to go to dinner with them.”
I swear my stomach growls with the idea and I raise up on an elbow. “Pasta?”
He laughs. “Yes. Pasta.”
“Then yes to dinner as long as I have time to shower.”
“You do. We’re meeting them downstairs at eight.”
Turns out an hour is plenty of time to shower, spend some naughty naked time under the hot water, and get dressed. For me, that’s black jeans and a long-sleeved maroon sweater. For Kace it’s distressed jeans and a black sweater with biker boots. He doesn’t shave and turns out that a full two days’ stubble looks really ruggedly good on him.
By the time we’ve grabbed our coats and headed downstairs, the effects of the drugs are officially gone, and I’m feeling like myself again, riding the high of being in Italy, proud of myself for stepping out of the shadows. Adrian and Savage are waiting for us in the main foyer.
“Are you going with us?” I ask.
“Not this time,” Savage says. “We’re off to do some serious drinking on our own.”
“You’re safe with Kayden and Ella,” Adrian says, “especially in this neighborhood.”
“And ho, ho, ho,” Savage says, hands to his sides. “I’m not leaving until after the big reveal. So Merry early Christmas. You get to keep me a little longer.”
“Considering you saved my life, Savage,” I reply, “yes. Merry Christmas.”
Somehow this leads to Adrian telling an elf joke. A stupid elf joke. “What do call an elf that runs away from Santa’s Workshop?”
“A rebel without a clause,” Kace says.
Adrian gapes. “No one knows my stupid jokes.”
“One of the guys that toured with me for years had about a million,” Kace says. “I know them all.”
Adrian bristles indignantly. “Doubtful. I have plenty.”
“Try me,” Kace says and Adrian does. Three jokes, three punchlines Kace knows.
Watching them, I’m reminded of Sara’s words once again: he’s just a man. Kace is a superstar who could be arrogant and demanding. Instead, he’s down to earth and real with people. I love this about him and cherish these moments when there is no war before us. There is just life and laughter.
In fact, I’m laughing when Kayden and Ella join us and it’s not long before Kace and I are strolling the brick streets with Kayden and Ella, the brisk night air not too chilly, and actually quite perfect. Everything about living again is perfect. At some point, we break into pairs, with me and Ella walking alone, just in front of Kace and Kayden.
“Who won the battle over you going to the meeting?” she asks.
“Him,” I say, casting her a sideways look, “but I made him work for it.”
She laughs. “I bet you did, but it’s natural that he worries about you. I’ll teach you some self-defense moves tomorrow. Maybe he’ll change his mind.”
I cave to my curiosity and ask, “Were you really in the CIA?”
“I was. So was my father. He trained me from a very young age, much to my mother’s distress. She wanted me to be a ballerina and I was. In between drills with my father, I earned an audition to Julliard.”
“And?”
“And one day I was home with my parents when two men burst in. I killed two of them and saved my mother, but not before they shot my father. And killed him.”
“My God, Ella.”
“It’s not so unlike you running to another country in the middle of the night.”
“I didn’t see my father die like you did.”
“But the not knowing is painful. I spent a big portion of my life hunting for answers to why my father died and who killed him.”
“Did you find them?”
“With Kayden’s help, I did. And yes, I killed them.” She squeezes my arm. “We aren’t so different.”
“No,” I concur. “I suppose we’re not and I’d certainly kill whoever killed my father if I had the chance.”
“I’ll teach you how,” she promises, and she’s not joking.
And oddly, considering we’re talking about killing people, it’s another moment when I realize that my circle of friends is growing and I can almost feel my life blossoming into all that it should have been and will be.
The restaurant is a cozy little place and we’re in a private room with a view of the busy streets below, people milling about. We drink wine and talk treasure hunting and on the surface, The Underground seems to mimic the business Gio and I operated before all this exploded around us. But beneath the surface, I can tell there is much more to Kayden and Ella’s world. “What is The Underground, really?” I ask.
Kayden’s eyes narrow. “We hunt for treasures.”
“What kind of treasures?”
“Hard to locate treasures,” Kayden replies. “Objects, information, people, and we do so in high stakes, dangerous circumstances.”
“And the Blue Owls?” Kace asks, and I know he’s thinking of Gio. I sure am.
“Steal their treasures from anyone and everyone,” Ella says. “and when you cross the wrong people, you start wars and get people killed. Sometimes they even kill to get what they want.”
“And the formula is worth killing for,” I say, filling in the blanks. “Gio should never have gone home. He should have left this alone.”
Kace hands me my wine glass. “And then you might still be hiding.”
I arch a brow. “Are you actually defending him?”
“I’m simply saying this needs to end,” Kace says. “Better it’s on our terms, and now it is.”
“Have you kept up with your home at all, Aria?” Ella asks.
I glance at my glass and Kace leans in and whispers, “You are not pregnant. Drink the wine.”
He’s right. I’m not. I’d know and Savage was right. I’m fretting over something that doesn’t even exist. That’s not good for me or Kace. I sip my wine and turn to her. “You mean here in Italy?”
“Yes. Cremona.”
“No.” There is a pinch in my chest. “No, I have not.” But Gio did, I think silently, and he never even told me what he found there or what it felt like to be there.
“Blake sent me some research to pass to you,” Kayden chimes in. “Apparently, your family business shut down after your father disappeared. His right-hand man, Luigi, stayed on long enough to handle the closing.”
“We looked into him,” Ella adds. “He went on to work at a winery and later died of a heart attack. The building where your father ran his operation, as well as your family home, was sold off to pay off debts.”
“Anything that might tell us what happened to her father?” Kace asks and thank God. I wouldn’t have asked. I wanted to, I did, but some part of me didn’t want to hear the answer. I guess there is still a coward inside me on some points that needs conquering.
I sip my wine, nervous to even hear his answer, disappointed when Kayden replies with, “No word on your father, Aria, but once we’re past the danger, Blake and I agreed to do some digging. We’ll stir the pot when it’s safe.”
“Thank you,” I say and when the waitress arrives with our coffee and dessert, I lean over to Kace and whisper, “thank you.”
He strokes my cheek, tenderness in his expression. He knew where my head was. He understood.
When dinner is over, the four of us decide to walk the neighborhood and arm in arm, Kace and I enjoy the exploration. We’re deep into the paths of winding roads, among little shops and restaurants, when Ella pauses at the door to a tattoo parlor. “The best tattoo artist in Italy works here.” She holds up her wrist. “He did my hawk and Kayden’s, too. Kayden’s first, of course. He was the Hawk long before I was his Lady Hawk.”
“The Hawk?” I ask.
“That’s what they call The Underground leaders. And I’m the Hawk’s woman.”
I glance up at Kace. “I need a musical note like you.”
“Do you now?”
“Yes. For the same reason you got them. I’ve always been told I can’t attach myself to music. Now I want to be a rebel, and I can because I’m no longer
in hiding.”
He smiles one of his handsome smiles and kisses me. “Yes, you can, baby.”
“Well, let’s make it happen,” Kayden says, opening the door to the tattoo parlor.
Two hours later, I have newly inked musical notes on both of my arms to match Kace’s exactly, and I’m all smiles. I also have a date to learn to be a badass with Ella tomorrow. We arrive back at the castle to find a drunk Adrian and Savage on the porch, laughing and having a dumb joke contest. “What do you call a pig that does karate?” Adrian says as we join them.
“A pork chop,” Kace says, much to Adrian’s frustrated scowl. “And,” Kace says, “because I, too, can tell a bad joke, there was a mama tomato and six baby tomatoes—”
“No,” Adrian says. “Do not tell my favorite bad joke.”
Kace grins. “And one baby tomato fell behind—”
“—and the mom screamed, catch up!” Adrian finishes.
Savage smirks. “They’re torturing me.”
Kayden and Ella sit down on one of the steps to join Adrian and Savage and after a goodnight, Kace and I head on inside. Once we’re inside and the door shut behind us, Kace steps into me, his hands warmly resting at my waist. “We’re going back to Cremona to see the daisies. You have my word. Your father’s daisies.”
I push to my toes and kiss him on the mouth. He cups my head and his mouth slants over my mouth in a delicious assault that curls my toes. And when his lips part from mine, I am breathless when I say, “I cannot wait to see the daisies with the one true daisy in the wind.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The next morning, Kace and I are treated to blueberry muffins and coffee by Marabella, which she delivers to our room. While we’re sharing the oversized chair in front of the fireplace munching, Kace’s phone rings. “Blake,” he greets, answering the line on speaker. “It’s me and Aria.”
“Aria,” Blake says. “Glad to hear we had Savage with you at that club. How are you?”
“Good as new and yes, thank God for Savage. He was amazing.” I wet my lips and dare to ask, “Anything on my brother?”
A Sinful Encore (Brilliance Trilogy Book 3) Page 19