Page 87 of Charity's Redemption

“What do you mean?” I grabbed his wrist by my face.

“I mean if you fail, or if something happens to you… Elias dies.”

I shook my head—the blood draining from my face, causing my vision to swim. The blissful numbness I’d bathed in broke down as the words fell from his lips. “No. He can’t do that.”

“You underestimate the lengths he’d go through in order to avenge you or protect you, Charity… all of us, for that matter.”

I looked away from him as pinpricks hit my eyes. I chewed my inner cheek until it was raw. He grabbed me and forced me to look at him. “We don’t care if we have to destroy everyone around us. We will. They mean nothing, but you mean the world.”

Max’s phone rang, breaking the trance his impassioned words placed me in. He pulled it out and placed it to his ear while holding me in place by my jaw.

“Yes.” He nodded. “It’s handled.” He glanced at me, then back to the floor. “I am.” He paused. “She had a minor melt down. Nothing I couldn’t handle.” He held the phone out to me, then stepped back. “He wants to talk to you.”

I took the phone and noticed Luca’s picture on the screen.

Shit. I closed my eyes and hung my head in shame.

“It won’t happen—”

“Are you okay?”

My heart shattered into a million shards of deadly razor blades, then reassembled with soft bountiful feathers.

He asked me if I was okay…

“Are you there, baby?”

I nodded before the words escaped me. “Y… yeah. I’m good.”

“Why don’t you come home and we can talk about it.”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the picture.

Nope. I wasn’t mistaken. This was Luca. It wasn’t his handsome brother, and it sure wasn’t Max, his sexy cousin, because he was standing in front of me. So who was the man on the phone, and what had he done with Luca?

I nodded again, wishing he could just see me instead of having to find words.

“I… um... can’t. I needed to find a dress.”

“Do it tomorrow. The day is almost over.”

My mind spun a wild web of confusion, like a spider laying her trap for the fly. I’d stepped into some alternate dimension where they replaced Luca with someone who talked things through instead of using his anger to abate the overwhelming surge of emotions.

“We’re here waiting for you. Okay?”

Again I nodded, with tears pooling in my eyes.

Max pulled the phone from my clenched hand. “She said yes.” He placed his hand on the doorknob. “Bene. We’re on our way.”

My stomach flipped and flopped as I stood, unmoving. “I still need a dress.”

“He said tomorrow. Let’s get you in a bath or something.”

Max cupped my cheek and placed a gentle kiss against my lips, drawing a sigh, relaxing my mind and soul until the next panic attack struck. He grabbed my hand and tugged me out the door.

“What happened?”

I took his finished bowl ofRibollitaand placed it in the sink.

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