Page 21 of Savage Vow (Mafia Marriages 3)

“Do you want to carry your bag inside too?” he shoots back.

He’s already set the massive suitcase down, the wheels on the ground with the handle extended, but he hasn’t let go of the handle.

“I can carry my things inside,” I say.

He exhales a heavy sigh through his nose but doesn’t hand over my luggage, dragging it over the cobblestone driveway and up the stairs inside the house.

“This is your home?” I glance at Aurielo.

My stomach flops at the memory of the wide-open front door, the music pouring outside that lured Ivy and me inside.

I hesitate at the bottom step of the entrance.

“Yes, I live here, and so do you. Come on,” Aurielo says.

Giovan has already unlocked the front door, and Aurielo is lugging my suitcase up the stairs.

Francesco climbs back into the driver’s seat and slams the car door. Is he moving the car or going back to the scene of the crime earlier?

Aurielo glances over his shoulder at me.

He’s waiting for me to join him inside.

I don’t want to follow Aurielo, but I need to do everything in my power to protect Ashton.

“Nice place,” I whisper. My heels click over the marble flooring. The sound echoes through the foyer and down the ominous hallway.

“Come with me,” Aurielo says. He lugs my suitcase up the winding staircase.

The house appears to stretch on forever from the hall downstairs.

He pauses halfway up the stairwell. “Karina, are you coming?”

Exhaling a heavy breath, I follow behind him. Everything is familiar from the brief encounter I had years ago, yet it’s a faded memory. I never knew my way around the house. I’d gotten lost trying to escape the brute who had been after me.

Aurielo leads me up the winding stairwell. The wooden banister spirals as we climb up to the second floor and step off at the landing. There’s another stairwell that winds higher, but Aurielo heads down the long hallway.

There are dozens of rooms. I’m not sure how I’ll find my bedroom from the next beside it. He turns the handle and pushes the door open.

Light filters in through the curtains.

Aurielo lugs my suitcase inside the room and drops it by the dresser beside the double windows. He pulls back the curtains, allowing more light to stream into the bedroom.

“While we will be married, you’ll have your own bedroom. This is where you’ll sleep.”

I’m not sure if he’s expecting a thank you for giving me a separate room, but I don’t respond. What am I supposed to say?

“The drawers and closet should be empty.” He yanks open the top wooden dresser drawer, the track sticks, but it’s workable.

Inside, the drawer is bare.

Aurielo slides the closet doors open. A few items are stuffed on the top shelf. “I’ll have everything removed,” he says before shutting the closet doors.

Taking a tentative step, I approach the windowsill, squinting from the bright sunlight. Down below, a massive garden fills the courtyard.

There’s no escaping my room to sneak outside.

“The bathroom,” Aurielo says as he pulls open the bathroom door and flips on the light. “You should find all the usual amenities that you need. If you require anything else, I’ll have you give a list to Francesco, and he can pick up those items at the store.”

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