Page 44 of Shattered Choices

I smile as I pay for the rose and exit the small flower shop. I smile at the newly found connection between Isabella and me, at the ability to tell her everything I ever wanted her to know. For her to talk to me about her life, her parents and their love. Even if I already knew how and why her mother died, I listened. I wanted her to tell me, to trust me. I’m still smiling when my phone rings with a call from Gabriel.

“Hey, man. What’s up?”

“Hey. Why do you think something is up? Can’t I call you just to catch up?”

I open the door of my car and slide inside. “You can. However, I have already informed you about everything that’s going on here. So, what is it?”

I turn the switch and put my car into drive as I listen to him. He exhales. “We need you back. I don’t know how you’re going do it, but you need to come back with or without Isabella. Damiano is good, but not everyone is fond of him. Your underbosses and their soldiers are accepting things as they are only because of the hunting spree you did last time. But your absence may change that.”

I turn into the alley leading toward the entrance of the tunnel that leads to Isabella’s father’s villa. “Has something happened?”

“Not yet, but the situation isn’t great. There have been a few strange casualties. Some soldiers have been targeted. If it was just fighting or done with intention, we don’t know.”

“Has Dante investigated the situation?”

“He did. So did Marco. They found nothing.” His voice echoes in my ear, too calm for the situation.

“Fuck!” I hit the steering wheel. “Could it be Sabatini?” I question, more to myself.

“That’s the thing. We’re not sure.”

I run a hand through my hair and think, even though I know there is only one thing I need to do.

I exhale, defeated. “I’ll be on the plane first thing tomorrow morning.”

I end my call with Gabriel and call for my plane to be ready, my thoughts spiraling. How the hell am I going to get Isabella to come with me? Is she ready for a new start? Has she even thought about us?

After hours of waiting in the stillness of my car, I still haven’t got an answer, and I don’t know if she will want to leave her life here and come to start over with me. What I do know is that it is not my decision to make. Besides, I can’t keep sneaking aroundand using the tunnel to see her. I want us to be seen in public together and enter her house through the front door.

So, this will be my last time walking through the tunnel to see her. After this, it’s her choice how she wants to go forward.

I take one last steadying breath and take the rose and the papers from the glove compartment. Papers that were hunting me. Papers I’ve had with me since I got here. With one last look at the entrance, I walk through the tunnel one more time.

I take a deep breath before I enter her room because this will either be the night we say goodbye or the night before the new beginning.

With heaviness in my heart, I swallow hard before entering Isabella’s room, finding her near the window and looking out in the distance. Dressed in a white silk and lace nightgown, her hair cascades down her back.

She doesn’t turn around, and I take steady steps toward her, placing the papers on the dresser on my way. When my toes reach the back of her feet, I trace the tip of the rose along her skin, from her forearms up toward her neck until she leans into me and I wrap my arms around her, giving her the rose.

For the last few weeks, I didn’t leave a rose on her pillow anymore; I gave them to her.

“Anything interesting out there?” I ask as I bury my nose in her skin, kissing her neck.

“No. I was just trying to figure how you sneak inside. I’ve been standing here for the last hour and I didn’t see a thing.”

I chuckle. “That’s because you were looking the wrong way.”

She turns in my arms and wraps hers around my neck. “What do you mean?”

I look into her questioning eyes and contemplate whether it’s my place to tell her. But if this is my last night here, I willneedto tell her. “Maybe I’ll tell you tonight. Depending on how well you behave.” I smirk.

She bites her lower lip, smiling at me like she knows something I don’t. “I’ll behave.”

“Will you now?” I raise a brow at her.

“Yes.” Her smile spreads wider. “Hi!”

“Hi!” I grin at her before I pull her in for the kiss I longed the whole day for.

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