Page 202 of The Devil's Thorn
That got his attention. He slowly turned his head toward me, one brow raised. “You didn’t?”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to.
Yuri let out a low whistle. “You’re out of your goddamn mind.”
“I had her tied up and sprawled on my bed. You think I had time to dig through my wallet for a fucking condom?”
Yuri snorted. “I didn’t saywhenit happened. Just that ithappened.” He leaned back, folding his hands behind his head. “So let’s get this straight. She might be the heir to the throne of one of our greatest enemies, and you not only walked into her room dripping blood like a gift—you left one behind.”
I didn’t respond. Mostly because I didn’t have an excuse.
“She didn’t know,” I muttered.
“You sure?” he shot back, eyes narrowing.
No. I wasn’t. Not completely.
But I knew the way she looked at me that night. I knew the tremble of her hands as she stitched me up, the hesitation in her voice when she asked questions. That wasn’t the face of someone playing a long con. That was someone who was standing on a tightrope, halfway between survival and collapse.
Yuri turned back to his screen. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”
Silence filled the room again as he searched. I sat on the armrest, elbows on my knees, staring at the fire like it could burn the questions out of my mind.
After a few minutes, Yuri’s fingers stopped moving. He exhaled, slow. “Nothing.”
I looked over.
“No daughter on record,” he said. “No wife either. Just a mistress and one son. Matteo.”
I frowned. “Matteo Silvani. I know the name.”
“You should,” Nikolai said. “He’s been quiet for a few years, but he was involved in some skirmishes in Spain a while back. The Don didn’t acknowledge him publicly for years, but now that Lorenzo’s nearing sixty and still has no heir? He’s all he’s got.”
“Personality?”
“Unstable,” Yuri said. “Smart. Dangerous. But nothing like his father. From what I’ve heard, he hates the man.”
I sat back, processing. “So if Isabellaishis daughter…”
“She wouldn’t show up on any paper trail,” Nikolai said. “Which makes sense if the mother ran.”
“Viktor said, ‘she wears the past on her wrist.’ Could be the bracelet. Could be something more.”
“And ‘the daughter of the wolf’?” Yuri added. “Lorenzo’s been calledLupobehind his back for years.”
It fit too cleanly. Too many pieces locking into place. But the part that dug under my skin the most?
She didn’taskabout him. Not once. Even while chasing answers, even while digging into her past—Lorenzo Silvani was never a name she uttered.
Which meant either she was hiding it better than anyone I’ve ever seen— Or she truly didn’t know.
And if that was the case… Then what the fuck happens when I put her in front of the man who might’ve had her family killed?
I rubbed my hand down my face and looked at them both. “We’re going to Naples in three days,” I said. “And Lorenzo will be there.”
“You really want to take her?” Nikolai asked.
“I need to.”
