Page 133 of Impenitent Claim

Chapter 50 – Isabella

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER

“You don’t have to help me,” Ilya said gently, as the SUV rolled to a stop.

My protective, caring phantom, he’d tried so hard to make me go to the hotel room. And when that didn’t work, he tried to persuade me to stay at the hospital.

But I needed to see this through.

Staring at the house, I set my shoulders. The strength bolstering me while waiting for the surgeons to work their magic was fast ebbing, but I could be strong for a little while longer. “I have to pack his things.”

We both knew I wasn’t talking about Alonzo’s personal effects.

Silently, I followed Ilya into the mausoleum. His large form shielded me from the body still lying in the foyer. A faint stench, like meat going bad, wafted in the air, tickling my nose. Breathing through my mouth, I turned abruptly to ascend the stairs.

Where the strega’s dead bodyguard still lay slumped in the hall.

Crap. I hadn’t spared Cecilia one single thought this whole time. She could be alive, stirring up trouble—or worse, escaping justice.

Gripping the banister, I called down to my spectre. “Check the second room to the right. I left the don’s bitch of a sister in there.”

Those grey eyes lifted to meet mine. Ilya gave me a short nod.

Giving my jailer a wide berth, I went straight to Gio’s room. I was prepared for the overwhelming burst of emotions at seeing his things. But it was the unpleasant smell of teenage boy that hit me the hardest. The mixture of smelly body spray that couldn’t cover the dirty laundry and leftover food hit me straight in the chest.

I stood transfixed on the threshold, staring at his worldly possessions and failing to see anything sentimental in the pigsty of a room.

The low whistle behind me had me dashing away the moisture clouding my vision. I cut a look over my shoulder to see Ilya grab the bodyguard’s legs and drag him into the spare room between Alonzo’s bedroom and Cecilia’s.

Once Ilya shut the door on the corpse, he looked over at me. “Your handiwork, I presume?”

A small smile twitched on my lips. “Yeah. I got tired of him staring at me for hours on end.”

Ilya’s gaze thinned. “You don’t have to tell me anything now, but I’m going to need to know everything that happened to you.”

As he spoke, he closed the distance. I took a couple of steps to fold into his embrace. “It wasn’t very exciting. My privacy was taken away, and I was constantly watched, but until Alonzo burst through the door, nothing happened around here.”

“But you knew about….” Ilya’s voice grew hoarse right before he stopped talking.

Swallowing past the heartache, I whispered, “Yeah, Cecilia showed me the picture of Gio’s body.”

The grip around my body tightened. “Alonzo said it was fast. He didn’t suffer long.”

“Did he say how it happened?” I croaked.

“Cosimo got carried away. Nicked an artery,” Ilya rumbled. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save him.”

My heart throbbed painfully. “You listen to me, phantom. You did everything you could—”

“I could have done more,” he insisted.

But I shook my head. “You knew what my brother meant to me, and I know you made Cosimo pay for his crimes.”

Ilya let out a rough bark. “That wasn’t me, either.”

Confusion flickered through me.

But before I could ask, Ilya set his shoulders square and jerked his chin to the room. “What do you want to take?”

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