Page 30 of His Brother's Wife
“You know,” she’d lowered her voice. “My place is only about four blocks from here …but there are a lot of dark alleyways we could take shortcuts through.”
He had gotten her meaning and chuckled. “Why, Ms. Rai, you’re tryin’ to ruin my reputation, huh?”
They had made their way home, ducking into alleyways to make out, and when they had reached the one nearest Selima’s apartment, she’d grinned up at him, leaning back against the wall and hitching up her skirt. “Come here, farm boy, and fuck me good.”
Chase had laughed, but gathered her to him, pressing her back against the wall and sliding her panties down her legs. Selima’s hands had been at his fly, freeing his engorged cock from his underwear. He’d thrust into her, and she’d given a half-shocked laugh at the force of him. They’d fucked silently against the wall, only pausing mid-way as an elderly man walked past the end of the alleyway, stopping to let his dog pee on a dumpster. Selima had started giggling, and Chase had to put his hand over her mouth to silence her.
Stumbling home afterward, neither of them had seen the men waiting for them. When one had stepped out of the shadows and grabbed Selima, Chase was on him immediately. Then the other guy had begun to pull him away, Selima screaming at them.
“Don’t hurt the girl.” He’d heard a clipped American accent, glanced around, and recognized Jackson Gall immediately. Jackson had smirked, holding Selima back as the men had whaled on Chase, and when one had knocked him to the ground, the other had pulled out a gun, and Chase had felt his chest explode. Selima had screamed as Chase realized he’d been shot and that he could no longer move his body. His head had whirled as he saw Selima pushed into a car. “Take her to the facility,” Jackson Gallo had instructed his men, “I’ll follow you in an hour.”
Chase had wanted to shout, to scream, to tell Selima he would save her, but he hadn’t been able to speak or move. His entire body had been cold—too cold. Gallo had leaned over him and smiled. “I really don’t care if you live or die, my friend, but if you live, tell Amalia this …her sister will suffer the same fate as Penelope and Inca unless she comes back to me. Tell her to wait for my call.”
Chase closed his eyes, and for once, let the despair take over him.Selima, I will do everything I can to find you.But he felt helpless.
An hour later, he felt the despair even more keenly when Selima’s sister walked into the room, took one look at him, and put her arms around him. Then, for only the third time in his twenty-six years on the planet, Chase Caplan cried.
Inca finished another book, then put it on the pile next to her bed. Her recovery was going well, but slowly—and she was bored. Raff, Tommaso, and Bo kept her company as much as they could, but Raffaelo was looking for the men who had tried to kill his beloved wife, as well as helping out Enda and Ama, and Bo and Tommaso had seven kids to try to juggle. Stella and a couple of other girls from the tea house had been in to see her, as well as some of her friends from Naples, but they treated her as if she were a fragile thing and Inca had had enough of it. She was pissed, almightily pissed, at being back in this situation.
When Raffaelo came in to see her, she had worked herself up into a temper. “I want out of here, Raff. Tonight.I’m not even on any drips or feeds or whatever anymore. I hate this. I hate being here.”
Raff let her rant away, holding her hand. The psych doctor had told him to expect this—to expect a kickback from not having processed the attack. Inca had told the police everything, then had not wanted to talk about it again. Neither had she wanted to discuss the baby. Raffaelo could see the heartbreak in her eyes, but she would not even contemplate what their lives would have been like if their child had been born. They had tested the dead embryo and discovered it was a girl, but Raffaelo had not told Inca that. She was particularly close to Tommaso and Bo’s only daughter, Hermione (named by their two oldest sons, who were Harry Potter mad), and Raff had caught her looking wistfully at the girl as she played with her brothers.
Damn it.Even his chest cramped up with despair as he thought about how close they had come to being parents.A little girl,he thought,who looked like her beautiful mother and maybe had my eyes.
But it wasn’t to be. Raff waited for Inca to rant herself out, then held her as she started to cry. He knew it was just frustration; Inca wasn’t someone who felt sorry for herself.
When she was just hiccupping, and looking embarrassed, he brushed his lips against hers, back and forth, until he felt her lips curve up in a smile. They knew each other so completely now and had perfect trust between them.
Inca drew away and touched his cheek. “Sorry, baby.”
“Don’t apologize. I love you,Principessa.”
She sighed and smiled. “As I love you. Give me some good news, darling.”
Raff grinned. “I can, actually. Selima’s boyfriend woke up and has given them some great information. They think Jackson has her somewhere in California.”
Inca’s eyes opened wide. “Wow, that is good news. Are you going to California, then?”
Raff was astonished. “Are you kidding me? I’m not leaving you alone.”
“Baby, you have three armed guards outside my hospital room at all times. No one is getting in here.”
Raff shook his head. “Inca, there’s no doubt in my mind that the men who stabbed you are still in Naples. They will have been told to watch us and possibly finish the job.” He swallowed hard and shook his head at that. “Finish the job if you survive. And youhave.I’m not letting you out of my sight,Principessa.I will find them, and I will kill them. I promise you that.”
Inca took his hand, seeing his distress. “I love you, Raffaelo Winter.”
“Ti amo, Inca.Ti amo.”
Ama and Chase talked for hours, until she could see the young man was exhausted. He still protested when she told him he needed to rest. “I’ll come back tomorrow, if I may. Enda won’t let me go back to work just yet, until he puts all the protection he wants into place, so I’ll go crazy stuck at Olivier’s house alone.”
Chase nodded. “Please do. I’d like you to meet my family when they come visit me.”
Ama gingerly hugged him. “Selima has good taste in men.”
Chase laughed. “She’ll tell you what a doofus I am when she comes home.”
They smiled, but the hopelessness they both felt was palpable. Ama shook herself. “We’ll get her back, Chase, I promise.”
