Page 232 of Hate Mates

“I needed to keep you safe.”

My throat goes dry. “Keep me safe?”

“Yes.” He doesn’t look at me as he speaks. It’s like he can’t.

All I can do is stare at him wide-eyed in utter disbelief. I thought he left the way he did because he was done with me and found it easier to abandon me.

It was so painful. There we were talking about moving in together because he was weeks away from graduating college, then he was gone. Just like that.

I looked for him everywhere and called him until it bordered on harassment. I just wanted to know he was safe.

When I contacted his family in the US and Italy, no one ever got back to me. It was like he never existed. Like we’d never been together. Like we were never meant to be.

“What happened? Why did you need to keep me safe?”

“One of my father’s enemies declared war on my family after his son was found dead on our land. They thought we killed him and started killing everybody we loved and cared about.”

“Oh my God. Why didn’t you tell me?” The knots in my stomach tighten when I think of what he and his family must have gone through.

“I couldn’t. My father called me the last time you and I saw each other and told me to head to Italy immediately. He was gathering the family.”

“You should have told me, Cristiano.”

“No.” His voice is more abrupt. “Being in L.A. and away from me kept you safe. They were targeting all the people we knew across Chicago and Europe. I was told to sever ties with everyone I cared about. Especially you. If I contacted you, or so much as checked on you I risked putting you in danger. Too many people died just for associating themselves with my family.”

My mouth drops, and for a moment, I shift the pain I've felt all these years to the back of my mind. “I can’t believe that happened to you.”

Sad eyes meet mine again. “You have no idea how badly I wanted to contact you.”

“Did the problem get resolved?” Is that why he’s here now?

Again, he nods. "We found out my family was set up. The real murderer confessed on his death bed clearing our names.”

“My God.”

“It happened days ago. My first thought was to come back here to see how you were.” He blows out a ragged breath. “I had people here who would check in on you occasionally when I thought it was safe enough. I never expected to find you and your sister in trouble. I’ve been tracking you both for the last two days.”

My breath hitches. I want to ask him how he thought it was fair for him to be able to check in on me yet I didn’t get to know anything about him. However, Lana is the more pressing matter. “Lana is just so irresponsible she’s …”

He nods understanding. “And she made a mistake.”

“The worse kind.”

“I’ll do everything in my power to get her back, Piper.”

“I can’t thank you enough.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We're not out of the woods, so we need to get somewhere safe. Donatiowillsend his men after us, so we need to lay low.”

My blood spikes. "Where are we going?"

"A safe house just out of state. We should be okay there. At least for tonight. Hopefully, I can eliminate the threat by morning."

“What if you can’t?”

“Then I’ll figure something else out. Just trust me.”

Trust him?I’m still trying to process everything. It feels like I landed on my head at the bottom of hell. But at least, at least I have him.

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