t tell him

way her father flinched at a name he wouldn't explain. Telling Luca meant trusting him with something, and trust wasn

torted voice in her head, fear won out over pride. She call

d within

preamble, no mention of venues or dresses. Something in his posture had changed - sharper,

maybe, I couldn't tell." Elena wrapped her arms around herself. "Sh

d something fast, thumb moving with the kind of contro

up at her, and for the first time since he'd walked into her life, t

onight," he said. "Another in the car whenever you

not ne

m two nights ago. If anything, it had gone rougher, more urgent. "Someone threat

ite herself. "Why do you care?

in his own contradiction. "You're still mine to protect until this wedding happens. After that, we'll discu

e phone that Elena couldn't hear but could tell, from his tone, wasn't about wedding logistics at all. *Trace the n

-

sleep easier with secur

ot up for water and paused at her bedroom window out of h

ty lights, still enough that for a moment she convinced herself

it

away from the glass - instead she stood frozen, watching the figure step forward, o

a dark coat, his face tilted up toward her wi

breath

but printed in grainy black and white, folded inside an old newspape

ographed beside Isabella De Santis, twenty-five year