“It should.”
It didn’t. He would always be kind to me. He would always listen to me. He would give my son and me a life we couldn’t have had before. I was broke, without a single penny to my name. I had no way to provide for my son…without Carter. “I’ll never be able to repay you for what you did. I miss you so much.”
“Miss me?” he whispered. “I didn’t think you could miss me, not after what I did to you.”
“I do miss you. I wish you were here now.”
He sighed into the phone. “It’s strange…what those words do to me. Because I miss you too. I wish you were in my bed tonight.”
“Me too…and not just for sleeping.”
He sighed again, like I was pushing his buttons.
“When can I see you? Vanessa and Griffin are in their newlywed phase. I don’t want to burden them more than necessary.”
“Maybe a week,” he said. “Depends on how quickly the real estate agent moves.”
“Okay…”
“But it won’t be much longer than that.”
“And my son?”
“That will be a little longer. The paperwork always moves slowly for those sorts of things. They’ll have to do a background check and a bunch of other stuff before he’s released.”
“Okay…”
“But it’ll be soon. I promise.”
“I know.”
After a long pause of silence, he spoke. “I’ll talk to you later, sweetheart.”
“Alright, Carter.”
“Good night.”
I didn’t want to say good night to him. I didn’t want to get off the phone. But I let him go, knowing I needed to be patient. “Good night.”
Three
Carter
After a few days passed, I finally got a call from my real estate agent. He told me he’d found the perfect place, a three-story home on ten acres of land. With a long driveway and cobblestone walls that surrounded the property, it fit my bill of privacy. With the lush landscape and tall trees, it hid most of the house from view.
It was perfect.
He sent me pictures, and I was immediately sold.
Without even looking at the place, I took it. It was already furnished, which was even better. I didn’t care about decorating. I decided to buy it under my corporation so it wouldn’t be traced back to me, just in case Egor was looking into my whereabouts. It seemed like he genuinely believed me, but there was no way to really know.
Griffin called me. “When are you coming to get her?”
“Uh, hello to you too.”
“Hi.” He spoke with a deep tone, full of irritation. “When the fuck are you coming to get her?”
“Is she being difficult or something?” Mia was a bit sassy, but she was also lovely. I couldn’t picture her being rude or obnoxious to her hosts.
“No. She’s great,” he said in annoyance. “She and Vanessa are two peas in a pod.”
I chuckled when I understood the source of his frustration. “Oh…now I get it.”
“She’s cockblocking me.”
“Not likely.”
“She and Vanessa spend all afternoon at the gallery, and when they’re finished there, they go out. Vanessa has been showing her around Florence, taking her shopping and out to eat. It’s a fucking pain in the ass. So when the hell are you getting this woman out of my house?”
I laughed because I knew he was being dead serious. He didn’t like to share Vanessa with anyone this long.
“I left for a mission for three days, and then I had to do some work for Crow. I just got home, and then I had to help you. The madness never stops. I want some time with my woman. The Barsetti bullshit is getting old.”
“Well, I hope you get used to it. It never ends.”
He growled.
“I just talked to my real estate agent. I’m in the process of buying a place in Tuscany. It’s big and private.”
“Great. Let me know when you’re having the housewarming party,” he said sarcastically.
I ignored the jab. “I’m working on Luca right now. Things seem to be going smoothly, but it’s just a lot of paperwork.”
“Well, that should be irrelevant right now. When you get the keys to the place, you’ll fetch your woman?”
My woman. I’d never called her that before or thought of her in that way. But I did save her in exchange for ownership. She was mine. The thought made my spine tighten, made me miss those pretty brown eyes. I’d been sleeping alone every night, thinking about her and also preparing for another confrontation with Egor. Workmen had begun repairing the damage done to the house, and once that was finished, I would be putting it on the market. “Yes.”
“Good. Because I feel like I don’t have a woman anymore.”
“I apologize,” I said sarcastically.
“No, you don’t, asshole. If I didn’t love Vanessa so much, I wouldn’t put up with your bullshit.”
“Good thing you do.”
“By the way, I think we need to tell Crow about all of this.”
I’d planned on keeping it a secret from my family as long as possible. “Why? I thought you hated him anyway.”