Page 25 of The Art of You

He took a step toward Constantine, the scowl on his face and ice in his voice anything but composed and professional. “You think you’re above the law, but you’re not, and one way or another I’m taking Hudson down. If not for this, then for something.”

And there it is.He knew Hudson wasn’t guilty. Hell, a ten-year-old could’ve figured it out based on all the reasonable doubt presented. He was only trying to throw us off. My brother was right. He’d string Hudson up on jaywalking charges if he could get them to stick.

Instead of calling him out again on his BS, Constantine produced his phone from his pocket. An uneasy look crossed his face from whatever he read and his voice dropped to a menacing growl. “You need to go. You want to talk to one of us, do it with our lawyers present.” With his free hand, he jerked his thumb toward the door.

The agent reached into his pocket and set his business card on the rolling cart. He went to take his mug, then hesitated and retracted his hand. “On second thought, you keep this. Looks like you need a little more zen than I do.”

Son of a bitch.It took all my energy to keep my mouth shut and watch that man walk away without hurling his stupid mug at his arrogant head.

The second my father shut the door, Constantine shared, “The surveillance footage both inside and outside the party was corrupted. Alessandro couldn’t salvage it.”

“Wait, what are you saying?”I mean, I know what you’re saying, but . . .

“Someone beat us to the punch, and they’re covering their tracks.” A worried look passed between my brother and father before Constantine added, “Someone doesn’t want the Feds to know a third person was rolling with those pieces of shit last night.”

Chapter 9

Isabella

“Thankyou for taking them out. I just . . . when I see that many flowers together, it makes me remember . . .” I shivered, and my mother covered me with a second blanket.

“I know, I hate flowers, too. Reminds me of when Bianca died.” My mother said what I couldn’t. “But these flowers are to celebrate life and not mourn death.” She smoothed the back of her hand across my forehead, inspecting my bruises. “I thought I lost you.” Her voice wavered as she shook her head. “When I heard what happened, it was like I was reliving Bianca’s death all over again.”

I removed her hand from my face and squeezed it. “But you didn’t lose me. Happy flowers, not sad ones, remember?” My mother had worried her way into my room every hour since I’d first arrived at the hospital, and she’d been momming me nonstop.

“Hey, up for more company?” At the sound of my sister-in-law’s voice, I peeked around my mom to see Callie in the doorway. “Late for coffee, I know, but I brought some just in case.”

I’d lost track of time at this point. It was Saturday, thatmuch I knew. “Come in.” I let go of my mother’s hand to wave Callie in. “Get some rest, Mom.”

“I’ll rest when you’re no longer in a hospital bed.” She kissed the top of my head, walked to the door, and gave Callie a quick forearm pat before she left.

Growing hot again, I lowered the blankets to the bottom of the bed. “This hospital gown is quite the downgrade from the ball gown I had on last night.” My lame attempt to make a joke was intended to hopefully ease Callie’s anxiety about all of this. The woman had been through so much this past summer, and the last thing she needed was to be dragged into hell because Alessandro had her fly up for what was supposed to be a quickie.

Callie set both cups she’d been holding on the rolling cart. That agent’s coffee mug “gift” had long since been tossed into the trash.

She glanced over at my brothers talking in the hallway, most likely speaking in Italian since they were surrounded by men and women with badges. “How are you feeling?”

I leaned back against the pillow, unsure if relaxing was even possible. “I’m just?—”

My words died when Hudson joined my brothers in the hall. He was dressed in jeans and a black tee but had a cane for support. His gaze slowly drifted my way before he gave the guys a nod and started for my room.

“I’ll come back,” Callie said quickly, dismissing herself before I could stop her, too fixated on Hudson’s slow walk to my bed.

The fact he’d changed was a good sign. The cane? Not so much.

“Quit your worrying, it’s just for balance. The drugs are almost out of my system, then I should be fine.” He gaveme an unexpected and ridiculously handsome smile. “How are you? And don’t lie to me.”

I was dying to reach out and touch him. Dive my fingers through his messy hair. He already had a five o’clock shadow on his jaw. His beard always had a bit more of a coppery-brown color to it than the darker hair on his head.Such an odd thing for me to notice right now.“I’m better now that you’re next to me.”

Pressing his free hand beside me on the bed, he shocked me by leaning in to kiss my forehead. Before pulling back, he murmured, “I’m so sorry I put you here.” He lifted his head to find my eyes, our noses nearly touching. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

While fighting back tears at the emotion in his voice, I used my good arm to reach up and hold his bicep. “I thought we established earlier you owe me no apologies. It was my fault we’d pulled over on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Just screams horror movie. And I was the one being avoidant, giving you attitude and acting like a total stubborn pain in the?—”

“Don’t do this. That’s an order.” He’d tried to come across as teasing, but he couldn’t lose the worry in his tone any more than my brothers could whenever they’d spoken to me today. “Do you know how many things could’ve happened to you while I was out cold? If you’d been?—”

“But they didn’t happen. I mean, not to us. Two people died, but I think we can all agree they were playing for team bad guy. So, you know, their funerals.”Quite literally.

“Isabella.” He frowned and pushed away from the bed, forcing me to let go of his arm.

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