Beautiful Beast - Page 96

“Hate to burst your bubble, boss, but you ain’t looking so spick-and-span at the moment.”

Shaking my head, I pick up his gun and turn toward the road. The gunfire has finally ceased, and the dust is slowly settling on the bodies of Calogero’s men. I turn on my phone and call Onofredo.

“I need a cleanup crew. Stat.”

“Already on their way,” he replies.

“Authorities?”

“Two patrols were sent out when someone reported hearing shots fired. I made a few calls. They won’t be bothering you.”

“Good.”

I disconnect the call and put the phone away. Calogero will have to be dealt with immediately. I don’t want any threats hanging over my head in case my vespetta chooses to return.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do?” Yulia asks as she runs the brush through my hair. “Or are you going to spend the entire day just staring at the wall?”

I shrug. “Yes. I’m going back to Sicily.”

Three hours ago, Yulia stormed into my room and jumped on my bed while I was dozing, scaring me shitless. We laughed. We cried. Then, she yelled at me for not waking her up when I arrived home. We spent the morning holed up in my room, eating Igor’s partially burned cinnamon rolls while I told her all about how I ended up in Sicily.

“What if Mom tells Dad?” she asks as she divides my tresses down the middle and starts weaving the first braid.

“She promised she won’t. I think she believes I’m confused and I’ll come out of it eventually.”

“And are you? Confused?”

“Nope.”

“Mm-hmm. Dad’s going to be really mad. He’s been quite invested in the ‘nice accountant’ strategy.”

“I know. That’s why you can’t say a thing. Not to Mom or Dad. I’ll call them and explain everything when I arrive at Rafael’s.”

“When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow, at the latest.”

“What? But you just got here!” she shrieks, pulling on my hair in the process.

“Ouch! Yes. Rafael has a plane on standby for me. It departs tomorrow evening, and I’m planning to be on it when it does. I just need a small window of time when I can leave the house without anyone noticing.”

“You can stay home for a while and take a commercial flight over at a later date, Vasilisa.”

“I know. But Rafael expects my answer tomorrow.”

“There are devices called phones, in case you forgot.”

“I can’t say my first ‘I love you’ to the man I love over the phone,” I whisper. “He told me he loves me days ago, but I never said it back. I wasn’t sure then. Or maybe I was simply afraid to admit it to him because I was scared that his feelings weren’t true.”

“I can’t fault you for believing that. The man is a master manipulator who threatened to kill us if you didn’t stay with him. Who in the world does that to someone they love?”

“Someone who is fearful that love is only skin-deep.” I look down at the ring on my finger. “He kept getting me gifts, every new item more outrageously expensive than the last, trying to buy my love. It took him a long time to realize that the most valuable things in life are free.”

“You believe he finally understands that? To be honest, in your place, I’m not sure I would. People rarely change. What if, down the line, he finds something else he can use as a bartering chip against you?”

An ache squeezes my heart, but I smile. “He already has one. And he’s chosen not to use it.”

Chapter 19