Page 392 of Rosetti Family New York
"So this is your idea of kidnapping?" she asks as we settle into the car. "Shopping and champagne?"
"Don't get used to it." I lean back in the leather seat. "I'm not always this generous."
"No? What are you usually?"
I study her face, the way she's relaxed into the leather seats, the way the pendant catches the light at her throat. "Dangerous."
"I noticed." She takes a sip of champagne from the bottle chilling in the backseat, considering. "But you're also..."
"What?"
"Complicated." She looks out the window at the city rushing past. "I expected a monster. Got a man instead."
"Disappointed?"
"Terrified." The word comes out soft, honest. "Monsters are easier to hate."
The admission hits me somewhere deep, somewhere I didn't know was still vulnerable. I want to tell her she doesn't have to be afraid of me, that I'd never hurt her. But that would be a lie. I'm already hurting her just by keeping her here.
"You should be afraid," I say instead. "I'm not one of the good guys, Isabella."
"No." She turns to look at me, green eyes serious. "But you're not one of the bad ones either."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because bad men don't buy women emerald necklaces." She touches the pendant again, fingers tracing the smooth stone. "They don't take care of people when they're having panic attacks. They don't look at women like they're treasures instead of possessions."
The words hang between us, heavy with implication. I want to reach for her, want to show her exactly how much of a treasure she is. But something in her expression stops me.
She's not ready for that. Not yet.
"Ask me again in a few weeks," she says quietly. "When you know me better."
"Ask you what?"
"If you still think I'm worth all this trouble."
I flip the coin one more time, catching it in my palm. The metal is warm, familiar, but not as warm as the woman beside me. "I already know the answer to that."
"Do you?"
Instead of answering, I lean forward and tap the partition between us and the driver. "Take the long way home."
She doesn't ask why. Just settles back into the leather seat, champagne glass in hand, emerald pendant catching the light. And for the first time since I took her, I'm not thinking about Chase or my family or the war brewing between us.
I'm thinking about the woman beside me, and how badly I want to keep her.
14
Isabella
The elevator doors slide shut before I can change my mind.
The private elevator rises through the heart of Manhattan, carrying me toward something I'm not sure I'm ready to see. Glass and chrome surround us, reflecting fragments of my face back at me. I'm wearing one of my new outfits from yesterday's shopping trip—a structured navy dress that fits like it was made for me, paired with heels that click against the marble floor with each step. My hair falls in loose waves around my shoulders, and the emerald pendant he gave me yesterday catches the light at my throat.
I look like I belong here. Like I'm exactly where I chose to be.
The lie sits heavy in my chest, but it's getting easier to carry.
