Page 28 of The Broken Queen
Once Adrian was finished and he’d cleaned up in the bathroom, he brought me a warm rag and began cleaning me. It was gentle and soft and so unlike when the twins had taken me, only to discard me immediately after.
“What’s wrong,Bellissima?”
I kept my eyes lowered as I tried to hide the various emotions atwar in my chest. Instead of telling him that I was reliving what the twins had done to me, and there was still shrapnel in my chest from how they’d ruined sex for me, I tried to focus on something else.
“I want to get Alex home, but I don’t know how. I’m worried that your brothers will stop her, or Markos will interfere. I want to go with her, just so I can make sure she actually gets there. I won’t be able to relax until she’s home.”
Adrian pushed a few strands of hair away from my face while he inspected me. I was taking advantage of him in a way because I knew he felt guilty for whatever had been sprung on me tonight, but I didn’t care. Not when it meant Alex could go home.
He finally pressed his forehead to mine and replied, “I’ll find a way. I promise you.”
Chapter 10
Kingston
Fuck, no one ever told me picking paint colors would be so difficult.
Gray seemed like the safest choice, but would Presley want a cloudy color? She should be here to tell me exactly which colors she wanted. Honestly, she should have been here to see the house completely gutted and finally cleared of all the rotted, moldy wood. She should have seen what it looked like when the framing went up and the new rooms were created.
Eleven months had passed since Presley left, and two since Alex went to help her. I’d been going insane nearly every single day, hoping for word that everything was okay or that they were coming back. Yet, when I reached out to my sister, the only thing she’d tell me was that Presley was working on it and that they were safe.
From what I could gather, my sister enjoyed being there with Pres. She seemed to genuinely want to help her, but the stress and anxiety it was creating was enough that I wasn’t sleeping and instead, I’d been pouring every free moment I had into the farmhouse. Gio had taken over the role with El Peligro, but thanks to Alex, we didn’t need to look for Markos any longer. She’d told us he wasthere, but that it would be too dangerous to go after him until she and Presley were safely removed from the area.
She convinced us to stay put. While Gio and I both wanted to jump in and make him pay, even our dad told us it was smarter to wait. So that’s what we’d done.
It was getting closer to spring, and I was staring at a nearly completed house with walls in need of paint, rooms that needed doors, and floors that required finishing. If I could just decide on a color.
“Not gray, King.” Gio suddenly appeared and tore down the sample I’d taped to the wall.
Feeling slightly embarrassed, I set the whole swatch down. “Why not?”
My brother drew closer, inspecting the various color choices.
“There’s no way she’ll ever go for it…she’ll want teal or something vibrant.”
I had thought that too, but the idea was based on when she was younger. I had no idea what she’d want now as an adult.
“Teal seems too bright…” I muttered, flipping through another few color samples.
“Dad was wondering if you’d join us for dinner tonight.” Gio transitioned without looking up at me.
Our parents were holding off on leaving because of Alex. There was too much in the air until she was back. Dad had flown to Italy twice without actually getting close to where Alex and Presley were, simply because he knew it was dangerous. He was pacing the floors of our home, likely just as stressed if not more than we were. At least the farmhouse was keeping me busy; I had no idea what anyone else was doing to keep their minds off things.
I didn’t particularly mind going to my parents; it’s just that things were still a little awkward. But loneliness had been like a plague too, so perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to go and get away from the farmhouse.
“Yeah, I’ll go.”
Gio’s head lifted, and I caught the smallest flicker of surprise. “You think they’ll be home in time for Presley’s birthday?”
I didn’t want to think about it.
“No clue.”
Gio watched me carefully before moving through the house. He flipped on light switches and fans. He messed with the sink in the kitchen, turning on the water and opening all the cupboards. There were only a few since I selected floating shelves for most of the storage. With each room, his thick soled boots would echo over the floor.
“You’re practically finished,” he finally said, while running his hand along the completed banister.
“Yeah, I guess.” I wasn’t sure what to say. I knew this house would become Presley’s one day, and that she’d finally accept my brother. The two of them would have a future…that was if we could get her away from Adrian and out of Italy. I just needed to get her here, and I knew she’d stay.
