“Your mother won’t be pleased with that, sir,” he informed him.
“If I’m unable to protect myself in the time it will take you to take Nova home, then I don’t deserve my rank,” he snapped. “I will be fine until you return from ensuring that Nova makes it home safely.”
I wanted to argue that he had always been the one to ensure I got home safely, but I pressed my lips together to keep the words trapped inside. Whatever had come up must have been extremely important for him not to be able to take me home personally, and I didn’t want to add more stress to him when he already seemed completely unlike himself.
Not that I needed him or anyone else to oversee my safety. I could take care of myself just fine, thanks to Anya. But no one outside of her and I knew that little detail. Part of me felt guilty for keeping such a huge secret from Ryan, but I’d made a promise to his mom all those years ago never to tell him. She’d been so worried back then—and continued to worry—about him possibly hating her for teaching me all her skills, that I couldn’t break her trust.
The driver stopped outside of an office building downtown. It was the Vituccis’ legitimate place of business. They owned the entire skyscraper, and every one of their legit businesses had its own floor. From construction to accounting, which dealt with the payroll for the entire corporation, to any number of other enterprises I wasn’t fully aware of. All I really knew about the building itself was that Ryan had an office on the top floor, just as Zayne did—and his sister would once she finished law school—along with Cristiano and Scarlett as well. Over the past fifteen years or so, the Vi
tuccis had tried their damnedest to turn their business ventures into something more…respectable.
Pietro stepped out and opened the back door, but Ryan hesitated before taking off his seat belt. As he turned to me, I felt his gaze skimming over me lovingly before he gave me his sweet smile. “See you soon, my heart.”
“See you soon,” I echoed softly, watching him walk away.
My heart felt heavy on the ride to the compound. To distract myself, I pulled out my phone and turned it on, letting my parents know I’d made it to New York safely. Then I pulled up my social media and saw that I had a message. Discreetly, I checked to make sure Pietro wasn’t watching me before I opened it.
Fuck.
* * *
I’d barely walked through the door of the Vitucci mansion when I was being engulfed in welcoming hugs. Ciana was the first to come running, followed by Anya and then Vito and Bennie.
As Bennie placed me on my feet, Anya frowned at the still-open door. “Where is Ryan?”
“He had a work emergency,” I explained. “We dropped him off on the way. Don’t worry, though. As soon as Pietro and the others brought me home, they rushed back to the office.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t comment on it further, instead motioning for the housekeeper to take my things up to my room. “Are you hungry, l’vitsa? You look as if you could use something to eat.”
I was starving, but food was the last thing I could think about right then. “Ciana and the twins are taking me shopping,” I told her.
“We are?” Vito asked with a grunt. “I thought that shit wouldn’t happen for at least a week. Figured it would take that long for you and Ryan to release each other to resume regular daily activities.”
So had I, but I wasn’t completely disappointed in that disruption to my normal routine. Not after the message I’d gotten earlier. “Well, it looks like it’s your lucky day,” I told him with a smirk. “You and Bennie get to do all the things Ryan normally would have done with me.”
“Shopping?” Ciana was already moving toward the stairs. “Give me ten minutes to change. I need a few things for the summer.”
“I’ll get the car ready and let security know.” Vito gave in gracefully, knowing he couldn’t get out of taking us shopping, especially if Ciana was on board with the idea.
“Do I really have to go too?” Bennie complained. “I was going to check out how things are progressing on Zariah’s house out by the east side of the compound.”
“Zariah’s house is coming along just fine,” Anya told him. “Now, hurry up. If Samara comes home before you are out the door, she will want to go with you. And we both know you don’t want to try to keep up with her.”
“You’re right, Tetka,” he grumbled. “Nova, do you need to freshen up before we go?” I shook my head, my mind on everything I needed to do rather than the shopping they all assumed I would be doing. “All right, then. Let’s get going. If Ciana takes longer than ten minutes, we’re going to leave without her.”
I snickered as I followed him outside, where Vito’s driver was already pulling up in one of the limos. I waved at the security detail that followed the twins everywhere and climbed into the back of the car, already pulling out my phone so I could check the message again.
In the past few years, ever since I’d originally messaged Calista Ramirez, we’d started a virtual friendship. It had been a little tense in the beginning, but eventually, we had grown closer. Especially after Cali had opened up to me about her homelife one night after things had gotten to be too much for her.
What the influencer allowed the outside world to see with her posts and pictures every day was definitely not the reality Cali lived. Anyone who didn’t know her would assume she lived in a fairy tale, but the truth was it was nothing but a nightmare.
Matias, her stepfather, had been sick for the past five years. Something that his son, Manuel, didn’t want anyone to know. As long as Matias was assumed to be in good health, their enemies would be hesitant to do anything to their empire. Until Manuel made his move and showed how much power he could wield, he figured he had the upper hand.
Cali had confessed to me that it was Manuel and not Matias who had ordered his men to attack me. Of course, the confession had come after he’d beaten her into a bloody mess, but by then, I’d already trusted her. I hadn’t told Ryan it was the Ramirez successor who had been trying to start a war with the Vitucci family back then. I knew I should have, but for some reason, I’d kept that detail to myself.
Maybe it was because I felt like I owed Cali some sort of loyalty. Something that, at the time, hadn’t fully made sense to me. But as time had passed, it had become more and more apparent to me that Cali needed someone in her corner because too many other people had already let her down in the worst possible ways.
And now she needed me more than ever.