Page 122 of The Sound in Silence

“He thinks so. Because that was the case for Della, and me too, once, but in the medical centre, on some random winter day, I got a visitor. Only two people were authorized to see me: Stefano and Della, though Stefano never did. Della only visited the week before, and it was unlike her to plan two trips back-to-back, so when it was Yasmine who walked through my door…well, surprise was too calm a term. I never even asked how she got in to see me.” Her father’s name, I suppose. “At first, it was weird. She literally sat in silence, staring at the floor. Obviously, I wasn’t talking. Based on her behaviour, I actually thought something had happened with Della, but then finally, she spoke.

‘I’m sorry for being a bitch,’ she said. Then explained she was following her sister’s orders. Then she left and I thought that was that until a week later, she returned holding a brand-new puzzle, which she gifted to me. And then mentioned her own dreams and nightmares. I think I became safety away from her father, but I didn’t mind. If anything, I began looking forward to her visits. Started using the whiteboard I had to speak with her. She’s actually the one who theorized why I stopped singing altogether.”

“Oh, yeah?” He perks up at that. Erico’s never hidden the fact he wants to hear me sing. And eventually, I will.

“Yeah.” But I skip over what she told me. “That ended up being her last visit because Della got into the plot to capture Nico by that point, and her father probably locked her down. Then it all snowballed into more.”

“You miss her,” he correctly states. “She was company.”

“For the past year, every few weeks, yeah.”

He rolls his lips together, gaze lowering to my phone, like he’s thinking hard. “So what’s the story with her now then? Why’s she not answering you?”

I huff, staring at the pool when I talk, focusing on the little ripples. “That’s the grand question. When her father escaped Montreal, he left Rozelyn behind to stir shit while he went to British Columbia with Yasmine.” Nico would probably be pissed with me admitting this to another organization’s head when it’s not their business, but at this rate, the past is the past. “That’s where he’s from. There’s a whole thing there. A society of people he left her with. Basically, he pissed off the people he was working for, and they handed Stefano to Nico. Before his death, he gave two different answers regarding Yasmine’s whereabouts and safety. Before you and I got married, Rozelyn was begging Nico to find her, but he won’t risk a war with them. Della mentioned he has a plan, but even she’s not too certain about it.”

“But Yasmine’s not answering her phone.”

I reach forward to clutch that very device, waiting for the vibration of her response to come, even though it won’t. “Yeah, which probably means it’s not good.”

We both fall silent, but my mind isn’t. Rozelyn can’t help her. Nico’s hands are tied. But I…I glance at my husband. I have a Boss at my disposal, a mafia organization behind me the Seven isn’t aware of. Or, at least don’t realize is a player.

As fast as the idea comes to me, I’m backing down. It’s all wishful thinking. Besides, we’d have to getintoB.C. and find her. The searching is the impossible part.

Again, I look at my husband. Did he not say Caladin is his best tracker?

“Hey, you mentioned Caladin is good at hunting, right? Could he…”

Erico’s eyes flash up, reading the rest of my question on my face. “Could he what? Find her? Probably. But with her in Canada, there’s more to it. Like—” He cuts himself off. “I have an idea, but it might not work.”

“Just like that? I barely convinced you.”

His face scrunches in displeasure. “Like I need convincing where you’re concerned. You ask, you shall receive. Would it make you happy to know she’s alive and well, to have her brought back to her family?”

Hell, even if she didn’t come home to Montreal or even to visit me, yeah, knowing she’s okay would stop me from spamming her number, and would be a peace of mind to Rozelyn.

“Yeah, it would,” I answer after a while. “I feel like, if we knew what was happening to her, it’d close the story. Like the final chapter we all need to put the De Falco drama behind us.”

He nods. “Give me until tomorrow to determine how viable this is. But for now,” he stands, linking his hand with mine to pull me up, “before I sit on a long phone call and have to convince Caladin he’s heading to frosty Canada, I need something from you.”

As he leads me around the bench, I roll my eyes. “You realize, it’s August in Canada too? It’s hot. No frostiness.”

Erico completely ignores me and walks me straight into the pool, his arm banding around my waist as the water’s buoyancy takes us. “Since the moment I found you in here, I had a fantasy that I’d like to play out.”

I press my hand over his now-wet chest, over his gentle thumping heart and link my legs around his waist beneath the water. “What’s that?”

With me in his hold, he swims us to the side of the pool, caging me in before spinning me entirely. His face is in the curve of my neck, his lips tracing a delicious line from my throat to the base of my ear, his nose nuzzling the skin.

“Bendingla mia sirenaover the side of the pool and fucking you until your throat is raw from screaming.”

I shiver, peeking over my shoulder, right as he gently bends me forward. Before I hand over my submission though, I grasp his chin, angling his mouth against mine. “Only if you’re good later and let me suck your cock.”

He growls a delicious noise that makes my core tighten. “Too bad that’s not a punishment.”

I smile against his mouth. “It is when I don’t let you come.”

His pupils dilate, my own fantasy becoming his second one. “You win. You’re truly a siren. Lured me in and now I’m yours to kill.”

“Not kill,” I murmur readjusting my chest against the cement pool siding, my hips arched for his pleasure. “Just keep. I chose you, Erico, because you’re the man I want.”

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