In a blink of an eye, Sal’s lips pressed to hers. It wasn’t sexual. It was gratitude.
Wiping under his nose, he chuckled. “The Rossi kiss finally came through, eh?”
Snarl…
Scarlett pointed to me. “That is how your kiss tastes.”
Sal and I simultaneously let out freeing feeling laughs when she let out an animalistic growl.
“Is that what I sound like?”
With a small nod of her head and a yawn, she rolled to her side and burrowed into my chest. “You both are so warm.”
To offer even more warmth, Sal snuggled closer, laying his head on her shoulder His face still looked full of dismay after learning she had almost been murdered by her mother.
I carefully laid an arm over her and held them both.
Isabella, thank you for failing.
Once Scarlett fell asleep, neither Sal nor I left her side, as we had usually done in the past. After what we had just experienced on the balcony, there was a very strong possibility we were never leaving her side again.
Over Scarlett’s resting head, I told Sal, “I had a dream.”
His eyes shot to mine. “The kind like Mamma’s?”
Swallowing worry, I nodded. “Felt like it.”
For the second time on that early day, he paled. “A warning.”
“Yes. Isabella told me not to try to call again—”
“But—”
“That she would find me.”
He growled, “Not even a Giordano could locate us. We covered every track.”
This I knew, but… “She said to hold on to my Faith.”
Sal did a cross across his chest. “God, lead us.” After his eyes closed and he took a deep breath, he told me, “Don’t call again. We have plenty of money to hide for a couple of years if need be.”
I held out my hand. “If I fall…”
He grasped it. “We fall together.” He looked to our sleeping beauty. “If she falls…”
Acknowledging the angel in our arms, I snarled, “Hell will feel my fury.”
Eyes now open, Sal nodded with a locked jaw, staring at her. “Even God will support that kill.”
A soft finger studying my lips is what awoke me. Somehow, Sal and I had fallen asleep. I was now on my back, Scarlett draped across my chest, and Sal half on her back, as if he had found his favorite soft body pillow.
I didn’t move. I watched Scarlett as she touched my mouth.
After another moment, her fingers then touched her own. Her facial expression revealed deep thought. I couldn’t help but find the quiet, private moment incredibly sensual.
Scarlett whispered, “It is nighttime.”
My eyes darted to the window. She was correct. We had slept all day.
Sal slowly inhaled as he woke from a very deep sleep.
Scarlett whispered, “Like this, I am not afraid.”
Sal started to roll off of her, but Scarlett grabbed his hand. “No,” she quietly begged. “I don’t want this feeling to end.”
Sal, waiting for my response, caught me off guard, so I smirked, “Are you brave enough to deny this beautiful Italian woman what she wants?”
His smile was genuine and full of relief as he resumed his position cradling Scarlett’s back.
She exhaled, then melted to me. Her next whisper was filled with gratitude. “Thank you.”
It was at that moment I knew this is the way we would be sleeping from this point forward.
A female stomach growling had Sal perking up. “Is it homemade Alfredo time?”
Gasp!
As we got out of bed, Scarlett crawled out from under the covers, naked. Sal and I diverted our eyes. That was until Scarlett walked toward her dresser. “Sal? Will you help me pick out clothes?”
My mouth fell open.
Another little miracle.
With very ‘comfy’—according to Sal—clothing, Scarlett stood in the living room, staring out the glass to see the mountains. “What will it be like when I go back to Italy?”
It was going to be a shock for her. So many people lived on that property. So many employees and family. Many curious eyes would want to see the second found Giordano. I had witnessed it all before, just didn’t realize what it must have been like for Isabella until now. Scarlett was accustomed to being in captivity, mostly alone, and was now used to being with only us. How was she going to react to a mansion full of loud Italians?
If I was struggling to get used to her just wearing a light grey pair of casual cotton pants and a black casual long-sleeved T-shirt, how was she going to handle her whole new life?
“Will they be nice to me?”
Standing by the bar, I ran a hand down my face, thinking, The ones who don’t want you dead, yes. The rest will be fake to your face so they can live off your money.
Sal was on the other side of the kitchen bar boiling noodles. “Scarlett, the world, you will soon learn, will make you feel many things at different times. Like a movie. Sometimes, you will smile. Sometimes, you will cry. There will be times of fear. Happiness. So many emotions and delights. The secret, in my opinion, is to accept them all as they come.”
With her arms crossed and an accusing glare, she slowly turned toward us. “Will you both stay with me?”
I wanted to run from this whole conversation, but the last time I did, a television was murdered. “Uh, yes, but not how it is now.”
“Explain.”
I looked to Sal for help, but I could see he wanted to run, too. His wine glass was tilted back as he gulped the red fluid down his cowardly throat.
“Umm,” I searched for the easiest explanation. “Sal and I are what you could call Hired Guns. We work for your grandfather—”
Sal finally chimed in, “Job. Remember how we are learning about money?”
With a stern expression, she nodded. “Yes, you said I have ‘buttloads’ of it.”
My head swiveled to glare.
Refilling his glass, he shrugged. “What? It’s true.”
When I felt heat on the side of my face, I looked back to Scarlett, who was getting angry. I lifted my palms. “Easy. I’m trying to explain.”
Appearing like a true Giordano, she adjusted her stance.
Sal mumbled, “Her bloodline is making an appearance, no?”
It certainly was.
I did my best to explain that Sal and I lived on the same property as she soon would, but that we were employees who were there to protect the Giordano family from enemies.
“Then how was my mother taken?”
Loaded. Fucking. Question.
Sal, loose-lipped from his wine, sneered, “That is what we call an ‘inside’ job.”
Scarlett’s nostrils flared. A little pride bloomed in my chest, knowing I had taught her that. “Inside what?”
Neither of us replied.
With building anger, Scarlett asked, “Inside my home?”
We both nodded.
“Family tricked family?”
This woman still had so many basics to learn. It was tragic that she had to learn them while being taught that her very home was possibly as dangerous as the world she needed protection from until she learned right from wrong.
To show how innocent she still was, or how survival had been key for all her life, her next question slew me. “Will you both protect me while I sleep there?”