Page 87 of Isle of Beauty

“Iswear to you, Lana, I’m gonna kill the man. He respects nothing!” Giulia’s voice on the other side of the phone sounds hysterical. She’s had enough with her husband and I’ll gladly help her clean up a bloody mess.

Fuck, I can’t believe she married a man she doesn’t know just to save me. Just like Igor gave up his future with Julian. I’m not going to forget that Pierce’s asshole cousin blackmailed her to get what he wanted.Or that Misha won’t survive the reckoning coming his way.

“Just tell me when to jump on the jet, cugina. I’ll help you clean up his blood off the floor myself.”

She sighs heavily. She sounds tired and resigned. But to what?

“Oh fuck. Don’t tell me you’re falling for that asshole?” I whisper-yell. I don’t know why I do it, it’s not like he can hear us, can he? He’s a security wizard after all. “Shit, is he monitoring our conversation? Fuck, G, this is bad.”

“Shut up, I’m not falling for him. He’s just… so annoying. But he also notices the little things you know, and that drives me insane. Like, what’s his game plan?”

“The little things?”

“It’s nothing. Yesterday, we were at a fundraiser for his campaign, and the menu didn’t have any vegan options. You know I refuse to eat animals.”

“Yes, G, I know. You don’t care about spilling the blood of human beings but animals are off limits,” I scoff.

“Don’t laugh, bitch, animals are innocent. Anyway, he went out of his way to have the chef make a dish specifically for me and now has requested that all functions he attends have a vegan option. Like I said, it’s nothing. But it’s fucking with my head.”

“Sounds to me like your husband likes you, G. If he hadn’t blackmailed you into marrying him in exchange for my life, I’d be inclined to like the man. But remember what I said, you call me to clean his blood off his floor when you inevitably end his life.”

“Threatening someone’s life, are you, mo cara? You must feel much better,” Lisandru says with a shameless grin before he kisses my forehead. “Say hi to Giulia for me and please don’t ask her to kill Andrea again. I owe him for saving your life.”

He’s right. I’m getting better. I only started therapy a week ago but the two sessions I’ve had already helped me quell the nightmares so I could get a little bit more sleep. I’m boxing again despite the warnings from my doctor. I need the outlet, my busted knuckles helping with managing my fears and anxiety.

Julian still doesn’t speak to me and everything goes through Lisandru but he’s not pushing me out either. I’ve already planned to search for Igor and get him back where he belongs, at Julian’s side.

“I gotta go, Giulia. Pierce asked that you don’t kill Andrea just yet but don’t listen to him, I’m your family,” I smile as I hang up. That smile is one of the first I’ve given anyone in days and it feels good to go back to being myself despite how much I miss her or Igor.

I walk to Lisandru, who just came back from a visit to Sant Armellu’s lab like he does most mornings since I’ve been out of commission. He’s wearing dark pants and a dark shirt buttoned all the way up. He looks like pure sin and I want nothing more than to revel in it. We haven’t been intimate with each other since the incident but kissing him is like coming alive again after a long sleep.

It’s a baby step but Dr. Chatti said I’m allowed to go slow and I’m trying to listen to her.

“We need to talk.”

“Gosh, you know that’s an awful way of starting any conversation, right? It always sounds like something terrible will be said, like you’re not marrying me after all.”

“I’ll never let you go, mo cara,” he growls. His lips descend on mine with force, his tongue pressing at my lips and demanding I open for him. His kiss is a promise and a claim, and fuck, I love it when he gets territorial over me.

I smile up at him but motion for us to sit. I tuck my feet under me, and wait for him to start. A deep frown settles on his face. He looks pained and uncertain, raising the hair at the back of my neck.

“Whatever it is, amore, you can tell me,” I say, trying to reassure him of my love and support. He has grown so much from the first time he showed up until he saved my life and proved to anyone who doubted him that he chose this life. That he chose me.

He opens his computer and types something I can’t see then turns it toward me.

“What is this?”

“Read the entire exchange.”

He stands and walks to the window, but soon after he starts to pace. His anxious energy taints the air in the room. What the hell am I going to read in these emails?

My eyes skim through the first email that mentions Alessio Moretti and the compiling of a case file. It’s signed with Pierce’s name and comes from his official email address at Pierce Security Company. It dates back from three months ago, even before Lisandru stepped foot back on Kalliste.

My skin gets clammy and my shoulders tense up to my ears. This isn’t a good look for Pierce.

The second email is signed by Agent Lars Michaels. From Interpol.

The fucking International Crime Police?

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