If she wasn’t taken...she wouldn’t go to the police. She’s smart enough not to do that.
She doesn’t have her phone, so she can’t call her father.
I run to my place, only to find she’s huddled in a ball on the top step just outside my front door, her knees tucked up to her chest, shivering with cold, or fear, or both.
My heart squeezes, relief flooding through me so hard and fast I drop to one knee beside her. She’s okay. Thank fuck, she’s okay.
“Mia,” I whisper.
She bursts into tears.
I lift her to my chest and open the door, holding her as tightly as I can without hurting her. She needs to feel safe. My relief at finding her safe is so intense, I forgive everything.
I slam the door behind me, walk her up the stairs, and lock the deadbolt. Everything’s untouched. Either the person who ransacked her apartment didn’t know I was next door, or they thought better of fucking with me.
I sit on the sofa, and draw her to my chest, rocking her.
“Shh, bella,” I say. My anger at her has gone, and in its place, blessed relief. I will find whoever did this, and they will pay. She’s crying softly, soaking my shirt.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobs. “It was stupid of me.”
My body stills. “What was, Mia?”
“I left my phone in the classroom on purpose. I didn’t want you tracking me. I hated the idea of you watching me when I was so angry at you, and then when I came home—and I saw—” Her voice shakes, then she takes in a deep breath and carries on. Brave girl. Sweet, brave, girl. “I saw someone’d been in there, I couldn’t call you. So I came here.”
“You did the right thing. Well. You shouldn’t have left your phone, but you did the right thing coming here.”
All thoughts of distance between us flee. She needs to know she’s safe, and I’m going to do my best to show her that.
She nods into my chest. “Who did it?”
I shake my head. “No idea. Does anyone have a grudge against you?”
“No,” she says. “No one.”
“Even Davo?”
She shakes her head again. “Not at all. Today he asked if I wanted to make a purchase, but he was just as friendly as ever.”
I growl, and she actually giggles. “He’s fine,” she says. “Trust me.”
“I trust no one.”
She sits quietly on my lap. I brush the tears off her cheek and hold her. Thinking. Planning.
“We’ll have to call your father,” I say.
She sighs. “Right. Yes, I know.”
The next decision is much harder. “And you can’t go back there.”
She shakes her head. “No. But where will I go?”
She looks at me with eyes so wide and expectant, I want to give her anything she wants. The obvious answer is for her to stay with me, but it’s lighting a stick of dynamite.
I can’t send her to a hotel. None of our equipment’s in place, and she’ll be further away from me than she is now.
“First, we call your father.”
I take out my phone and dial Piero. It’s cocktail time in Calabria, just after dinner.
“Everything okay, Enzo?” he asks, skipping the greeting altogether.
“Yes and no,” I tell him. “Mia’s fine.”
I can hear him exhale on the other side of the phone.
“Her apartment was broken into. Looks like a robbery of sorts. But she’s unharmed, and she’s here with me.”
“Cavalo,” he curses. “You can’t see who it was on the feed?”
“No, sir. Whoever it was disabled the cameras.”
“Who would know to do that?”
“It would have to be someone who knew they were there,” I say. I turn to Mia, who’s giving me a sheepish look.
I mute the phone. “What?”
“I…may have told a few friends when I was high last week,” she whispers.
I narrow my eyes at her and she looks suitably ashamed. “Why did you do that?” I hiss.
“I was high,” she hisses back. “And stupid.”
I give her a warning look and unmute the phone.
“She says she told some of her friends about them. So it could be any number of people.”
He curses again. “That daughter of mine,” he mutters. “It was a mistake, Enzo. I thought I could give her some freedom. She’s had a guard beside her her whole life. I thought I could set her up next door, let her be protected at a distance.”
I know where this is going. And even though I agree with him, even though there’s no fucking way I’ll let her out of my presence after this, I dread what he’s going to say next.
“Send her home,” he says.
That was not what I was expecting.
“Send her home?”
“No,” Mia breathes, her eyes wide. She’s on her feet. “Give me the phone!”
I shake my head at her.
“Are you sure that’s wise, Piero? She just started class.”
“And someone wants to hurt her!”
“I’ll keep her with me. I’ll keep her by my side at all times.”
Her beautiful eyes widen even further and she covers her mouth. Piero mutters to himself.
“Porca miseria. I want her safe, Enzo. Cared for. Protected.”
I hold her gaze as I respond, “We both want that, sir.” I repeat it for her benefit. “For her to be safe, cared for, and protected.”
Her eyes soften. She reaches for my hands and entwines my fingers with hers. I bring our folded hands to my lips and kiss them.
“I’ll compromise. Yes. This one time, I’ll compromise,” he says. “She can stay, but only if you keep her with you. By your side. You tell Mia she will stay in your apartment in the spare bedroom until further notice. I want you under the same roof, so I know she’s safe.”
It’s exactly what I want and exactly what will kill me. My body tightens as I hear the order.
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you, Enzo. I owe you much, my friend, for doing this.”
If he had any fucking idea.
“Put Mia on the line, Enzo.”
“Yes, sir.”
I mute the call. “He wants to talk to you.”
She nods. “What did he say?” she asks in a little voice. “Do I have to go back?”
I shake my head. “No, cara. He wants you here with me.”
She blinks, then flushes pink. Swallowing hard, she takes the phone. “Papa.”
My mind spins as she talks to him. I can do this. Christ, of course I can. I can keep her here and take care of her. Watch over her. I’ll make her report to me and give her the structure she needs, the discipline and attention.
I just can’t fuck her. Period. End of story. Full stop.
A few minutes later, she hangs up the phone and gives me a sheepish smile.
“Papa’s orders.”
I groan. “The Don has spoken.”
For some reason, she’s amused by that. She starts with a nervous giggle, then covers her mouth and her shoulders shake. She bursts out laughing as if she’s held it in all day and only now gets the release she needs. The next thing I know, she’s lying on the couch, her arms above her head, laughing so hard tears stream down her cheeks.