Page 26 of Entangled
“Anything you feel up to sharing,” Elizaveta said with a smile. “I can imagine you know plenty about us. Though I’m sure not all of it is good.”
A chuckle escaped Kade’s lips, and I almost choked on my bite of lamb in surprise. He smirked as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. Which was that she was absolutely, irrecoverably correct in my less than kind knowledge of the Luchettis.
“Well, I’m just your average girl who has an undying love for books,” I answered timidly. “That’s pretty much the only good part of my days.”
Shit.
If Jude knew I was speaking negatively about my life with him, he would make me suffer for it. I don’t know what came over me to open up to Elizaveta, but I needed to be careful and watch my tongue.
An awkward silence fell over the table, and I willed everyone to turn their attention somewhere else. I would have thought it would be a cold day in Hell before I saw every single one of these men silent.
“So, Mom, tell me about the latest flowers you’ve planted in your garden,” Kade said, breaking the silence.
“Soren, will you help me grab dessert in the kitchen?” Vanessa asked, gesturing towards the doorway on the opposite side of the dining room with a nod. I pushed my chair out and followed her into the very impressive and extensive kitchen.
“Matthias secretly loves to cook, so this kitchen is his domain,” Vanessa answered as she read the awe on my face.
“I would never have imagined that,” I mumbled, causing a laugh to spring out of Vanessa. She didn’t say it, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she too had similar thoughts when she first met this family. Which begged the question of how she got wrapped up with them in the first place.
She pulled two chocolate pies out of the fridge and worked silently to cut and prepare them to be served.
“How do you deal with it? Being married to a Mafia man?” I asked quietly, wanting to know the answer since I walked through the door and saw Sawyer’s love for his wife. The way he looked at her with love so deeply in his eyes just seeing her smile, and how he held her close like he never wanted to let her go.
It was a night and day difference from the way my relationship with Jude was. He had only ever looked at me with dollar signs in his eyes, and whenever he held me close it was all for show. It was like Sawyer and Vanessa actually loved andcaredfor each other and wanted to be together.
“It wasn’t easy at first. I’ll be the first to admit that,” Vanessa replied. “Isaac is my dad, and he thought that marrying one of Matthias’s sons would keep me safe when he couldn’t. With Finn being the heir, Kade being an asshat, and Maverick being young and rambunctious, I would say I got lucky.”
“Wait, Isaac is yourdad?” I asked in shock. “He doesn’t look a day over thirty.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Vanessa laughed. “I’m pretty sure he took up the job of being Kade’s bodyguard so I would stop giving him gray hair from stress.”
“Well, it must be working since he doesn’t even look his age,” I laughed back, feeling comfortable for the first time since I walked through these doors.
“I’ve heard the…rumors, and I know that your relationship with your husband hasn’t been as lucky as mine with Sawyer. But not all Mafia men are heartless and cruel. I’ve not seen Kade light up like this since I’ve known him, so you might even be crackinghisicy heart.”
“I don’t know why I’d have any sway over that man. It’s definitely not me causing the lightness within him,” I tried to explain, but I could tell it was useless against Vanessa.
“Say what you will, but I know what I see,” Vanessa teased.
This may have only been the second time I’d been around her, but I already was finding comfort in Vanessa. In the things she was telling me. She was bubbly, open, andhappy.
She reminded me ofme,back when I remembered what it felt like to be an actual human being, and not this husk of a woman I was now.
11
KADE
The entire drivehome from my father's, all I could think about was Soren: the way that she opened up more as soon as she came out of the kitchen with Vanessa, and the way she genuinely laughed and smiled.
It was as if she came out an entirely new person, and one I hated to admit that I couldn’t take my eyes off of, no matter how hard I tried.
Even after a shower, as I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, she wouldn’t leave my damn mind alone. I was enamored with her and utterly intrigued by her. I wanted to know about the girl she was before she was beaten down by Lilah and Jude.
Most importantly, and more dangerously, I wanted to continue to make her smile, just so I could see it again and memorize it.
It was like nothing I had ever seen, and I was desperate for another chance to see her light up in that way. I was borderline obsessed with making this woman happy and I couldn’t even come up with a good explanation why.
Despite my mind telling me that I should be making Soren’s stay here with me miserable, for some reason I just can’t bring myself to do it.
