I hadn’t expected Giana and Tommas to be waiting expectantly for me. However, when I came back downstairs freshly showered and dressed.
“So, does this mean you’ll be staying?” Giana asks without preamble.
“Giana!” Her husband glowers at her, his white-grey eyebrows drawing together, but she ignores him.
“I didn’t want to bother you with it while thebambinawas in such danger. But you should let us know what you’re thinking,tesoro. We haven’t seen you in years, nor heard from you–not a thing! And then you just appear, like that!” She snaps her fingers, and I jump a little.
“With a girl in tow, no less. A girl that you say you’re not betrothed or married to.” Her lips purse. “So, are you staying? Is she–”
I take a deep breath, fixing Giana with my sternest expression–which is difficult, since she’s known me since I was in diapers. “First, as I’ve said before, Sasha is here for her own protection. We’re not together. She works for someone who has, until now, ensured my protection while I was in the States. The danger I’m in has put her in danger too, and that’s why we’re both here. Not because of anything–between us.”
Giana raises an eyebrow, but her husband touches her arm, and she lets out a huffing sigh. “That doesn’t answer my other question,tesoro.”
“We’re staying until the danger is past. When Viktor lets me know that it’s safe for Sasha and me to return to New York, that’s what we’ll be doing. I’m not taking up residence here or anything else to do with the Agosti name or fortune or family business, if that’s what you’re asking.”
I try to say it as kindly as I can, while remaining firm, but it’s clear that my answer isn’t what Giana was hoping to hear. Her face falls slightly, sadness entering her slightly milky blue eyes.
“We’re not always going to be here to take care of the estate,tesoro, Tommas and me. What will you do then, when we are gone? What will happen to this beautiful old house and all of your family’s legacy?”
“I hope that’s not something I have to figure out for a very long time,” I tell her gently. “But when the time comes, I will address it. In the meantime, I hope that I won’t need to be in your hair for very long.”
“Oh,tesoro.” Giana’s sadness seems to spread across her features, aging her and making them look heavier than before. “You have never been a burden. But we missed you.”
“And I missed you.” I step forward, giving her the hug that I know she’s been longing to give me. As my mother endured all my father’s badgering all those years ago, Giana was always on her side. She supported my mother, kept her sane, and I owe Giana a great deal. Without her and Tommas’ loving care, this house, the grounds, and the vineyards would be a mausoleum instead of a mostly functioning estate.
“I need to make a call, however,” I add, extricating myself from her embrace at last. “Let me know when Dr. Guerera gets here.”
“I will,” Giana promises, and I make my way away from them both, towards the quiet and privacy of the study.
It still feels like my father’s domain in here, like I’m a little boy sneaking in instead of the man to whom all this should belong now. The decor is all him. Heavy leather and wood and dark rugs stretch over the hardwood floors. In front of the fireplace, a gilded bar cart with heavy crystal glasses atop it is next to the leather chairs facing it. If I breathe in, to me, it still even smells like him, although I know that’s a memory and not reality.
I’ve never felt as if I belonged in the huge leather chair behind his desk, as if any of this wasmine. It feels like playacting as I now sink into one of the chairs in front of the fireplace, eyeing the whiskey despite the early hour as I reach for my phone.
“Max,” Viktor answers on the first ring. “Let me conference Levin in–give me one second.”
I hear the sound of papers shuffling and doors closing, a murmured request for privacy before Viktor comes back to the phone. “I haven’t heard from you in a week, Max,” he says grimly, and there’s a touch of remonstrance to his tone. “What’s going on?”
“Quite a bit.” My voice is equally as grim as I fill him in on the past week–-our arrival in Italy, Sasha’s poisoning, and the touch-and-go week that followed. “It’s clear that bringing her here was a mistake.”
“I’m not going to argue with that,” Viktor says dryly. “But the decision has been made. What steps have you made to make sure that you’re safe on the estate?”
“I’ve tripled security. I reached out to the D’Agnacio family and requested some men from their security service.”
“And you think they can be trusted?”
“They were close with my father. I think the Agosti name still carries some weight.”
“But not a weight you intend to leverage.” Viktor’s tone implies that he already knows the answer, but it doesn’t lessen the disappointment I hear behind it.
“No. I have no intention of picking up where my father left off–only laying low until Sasha and I can come home.”
“This threat has to be dealt with first–and thoroughly.” Viktor pauses. “You know that you mean a great deal to me, Max. You’ve become a part of the family, just as Sasha has. But I have a wife and children to think about, who have already been through too much. We agreed that if danger came too close to my doorstep–if someone threatened you who didn’t respect the rules of protection–that you would have to put distance between us.”
“And I have.”
“Indeed. But that distance won’t end until I can be sure that the threat near my family has. Is that understood?”
“Of course.” I let out a long breath. “Viktor, I don’t want to see any harm come to Caterina or the children either. I would never want to endanger them. I don’t want to endanger Sasha either, which is why–” I swallow hard. “I should never have let her talk me into this.”