Page 11 of Unassuming Queen (Valentino Empire 2)

I lie there, wrapped in his arms. I want to ask where he’s been. I want to ask how he could do this to me. There are so many questions running through my mind. But most of all, I don’t want to ask anything… just enjoy the silence and his embrace. This is my happy place, my sanctuary. I can hear the clock on the wall ticking by, almost like it’s taunting me. Are we on borrowed time? How long will it be before he’s gone again? He may not have died in that building. But this life he leads… it’s dangerous, and the possibility of him not coming home to me is higher than I’d like to admit.

I sit, untangling myself from his hold. Idoneed answers. I can’t be the docile housewife who just accepts everything for what it is. I can’t live with all these doubts in my head. “Where were you?” I ask, pulling the sheet up and over my chest.

“I was working. I can’t tell you what I was doing, dolcezza. I don’t want to put you in any more danger than I already have by bringing you into this world in the first place.” He reaches his hand out for me. I shimmy backwards.

I won’t let his touch interfere with my judgement. “No, youwon’ttell me.Can’tandwon’tare two different things, Theo. W-were you with someone else? Oh my God, were you with another woman?” My voice rises and my eyes sting.

Theo’s face hardens, his jaw tenses, and his gaze darkens. “Absolutely fucking not. Fuck, Holly, you think I’d cheat on you? No, never. I swear to you there was notand never will beanother woman.”

“What else am I meant to think, Theo? You were gone for three fucking days. Three days. You let me think you were dead. I’ve never in my life felt a pain like that. I wanted to…” I stop my sentence there. I can’t even verbalize what I was prepared to do to make the pain stop.

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice,” he says, inching closer to me.

“There’s always a choice. Isn’t that what you told me before? And you… you chose wrong. You broke my heart, T.On purpose.You said you’d never hurt me, and you did. You hurt me like no one else ever could.”

“Tell me what to do. Tell me how to fix this, Holly.”

“I don’t think you can.” I stand and walk into the bathroom. He follows, spins me around, and pushes my back against the basin. Then he throws a hand behind me and turns on the tap. “Wha—” He stops my question with a finger to his lips, before reaching into the shower and turning the water on in there too.

“I had to be a ghost. The other bosses, they showed me some pictures, a file. John Junior is…wasinvolved in some really messed-up shit—shitthe familieswon’t stand for. I’m putting a stop to it. But in order to do that, I need to lay low. Being dead, being someone else, gives me access to information otherwise unavailable to Theo Valentino.”

“What is it that you’re stopping? And why does it have to be you? Can’t you get someone else to do it?”

“They’re selling children, Holly. Little girls, no older than fucking eight. Even if I could get someone else to do it, I want to fucking stop these sick bastards.I have to stop it.” His words are nothing more than a harsh whisper. But his eyes cloud over. He’s determined to do his part, to save these girls. Who am I to stand here and tell him no?

“How can I help? What can I do?” I find myself asking.

“Nothing. You don’t get involved in this, Holly. I need to go to Italy for a few weeks. I need you to play the grieving widow. I need people to keep thinking I’m dead.”

“What? No. You’re not leaving me again. Please, Theo, don’t leave me again. I can’t…” I’m struggling to breathe, and my chest tightens. I can feel a cold sweat forming on my skin.

“I’m not leaving you, Holly. I’m never leaving you. I just have this one job to do, then I’ll be back. Two weeks, tops.”

“I don’t like it,” I cry. I just got him back, and he’s leaving again.

“Your sister’s here, right? Spend some time with her. Help my mother plan a service. Actually... Ma’s never been to Australia. Take her there, Holly. Send your sister back home. Get them out of New York. You will be safer over there.”

“No, I’m not leaving. Take me to Italy with you.” I know the request will be denied, even as I ask it, but I ask anyway.

“I can’t. One day, I promise. One day, I’ll take you to Italy. I’ll take you to Paris. I will take you wherever you want to go. But right now, I need you to go back to Sydney. Wait for me there. Neo will accompany you.”

He can’t be serious? He wants me to just return to my life in Sydney and wait for him. He wants me to take Neo to Sydney. “You should have Neo with you. You shouldn’t be going into anything alone, T. This is stupid. You can’t do this.” I jump onto his lap and wrap myself around him.

“I have to do this, dolcezza. I need you to go home. It’s just a couple of weeks. And you can’t let on that you know I’m alive. After the service, get straight on the jet and go to Sydney. Please, it will be easier for me if I know that you’re safe.”

“Will I be able to call you? Text?” I’m desperate. Right now, I’ll take any form of communication. It’s better than nothing.

“I’ll get you a burner. Don’t use your personal phone to contact me.”

I nod my head and nestle into his shoulder, inhaling his scent as it surrounds me.It’s only two weeks,I keep telling myself.Two weeks is nothing, when we have a lifetime to look forward to.It will fly by. I fall back to sleep in Theo’s arms, listening to his heartbeat.

* * *

“Holly, darling, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to wake you, but Father Thomas will be here in an hour. I’ve left some clothes out. Oh, Neo is waiting downstairs with your sister and her husband. They, um, don’t look too happy. Want me to send them away?” Gloria’s voice rouses me from my sleep.

I sit up and look around. “Where is he? Where did he go?” I ask.

“Who?”

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