Page 41 of Blood Ties

Despite my initial devastation when I thought Alessio was gone, and the truth I’d learned about my parents, I wasn’t sure things would ever work out between him and me. We weren’t my parents. My heart would never be the same, but he lived in such a different world than I did.

Who cares? The connection you had was like fate created it.

That little voice prodded at me. I ignored it.

Then I got up and gathered my things to go home.

I’d been home a week. My sculpture was finally finished and shipped off to Texas.

Alessio had been calling my business phone after I’d shut my personal phone off after the first day. My business one was a necessity. And he damn well knew it.

God, I wanted to answer those calls.

I wanted to hear his voice.

Hell, I dreamed about him.

My hands smoothed slowly over the warm clay, shaping and molding. I picked up the tool I wanted and used it to carve the details the way I saw them in my mind. When I was done, I tilted my head to study my work.

A sad smile lifted one side of my mouth.

Because looking back at me was the face of the man that wouldn’t leave my head. I ran a clay-stained finger down the slope of his nose. Then I fell back in my chair in disgust.

My gaze flickered over to the other two I’d already made. The first one had a fist shaped dent in the middle of its handsome face.

Should I call him back?

Could we ever work?

My phone dinged. With a heavy heart, I stood up and went to the sink to wash my hands. As I was drying them, there was a knock on my door. I frowned.

An itty-bitty glimmer of hope hit my heart and spread warmth through me. Despite my stubbornness, I prayed it might be him. If it was, I was going to cave. Having him in front of me would be too hard to resist. I had been thinking a lot and over the past week, and I realized I’d forgiven him.

Maybe it made me a nutcase, but it was true.

Then I wove around my furniture to the door, my steps lighter. However, a glance through the peephole left me bewildered. I opened it.

“Carl?” I asked with a tilt of my head.

He gave me a sad smile. “Hi, Nivea. Can I come in?”

“Of course,” I stepped back and urged him in. “What brings you over?”

“I wanted to check on you. I feel bad that I hadn’t done so since Justin’s passing. Things just got so….” He gave me a helpless lift of his hands.

“Crazy?” I supplied, and he gave a humorless laugh.

“You could say that.” The poor man looked so sad. I knew he had been with Justin for quite a while. His death must have been devastating for him. Then for Jade to go so soon after—even though I sure as hell didn’t mourn the bitch—she had also been his boss, I supposed.

“Do you want something to drink?” I asked him as I headed back to the kitchen.

“Oh, no thank you. I just brought you something that I thought you deserved,” he murmured.

I was touched that he might’ve come across something of Justin’s that he thought I would want. “Aw, thank you,” I softly said as I turned around to face him.

He nodded as he reached into his pocket.

Except what he brought out wasn’t a gift.

---