I shook my head ruefully. Look at what I was becoming. I was waxing poetic about the goddamn sky, for Christ’s sake. It should freak me out.
It did freak me out on some deep, metaphysical level. But I had no desire to fight it, either. My life was changing for the better. The only real dark cloud on the horizon was the worry that now stained the beautiful skies ahead.
The stakes were so much higher now, the uncertainly and fragility of life, even if we didn’t live within a subset of people who regularly courted death. The game had changed for me completely.
I had more to lose now.
I had them.
My girls.
I informed my team that I was going to walk to Francesca’s mansion. Tiny gave me an odd look but didn’t say a word. He hopped out of the limo and jogged to catch up. I didn’t know a man that big could jog. I was certain we made quite a pair as we walked down the street in our handmade Italian suits.
I was whistling as I passed a flower shop and decided to step inside. It was not my regular shop, where I had sent Francesca so many flowers from during the time we had to be discrete. Well, no more. No one could stop our love now. And I felt like celebrating that among many, many other things.
I ordered two oversized bouquets, pink peonies for my love and a sweet overstuffed gathering of daisies, wildflowers, and several massive sunflowers for my other, smaller angel. I was new to the fun of treating my woman and her daughter like the princess and queen that they were, but it was already one of my favorite things. I had plans to do it extravagantly, and for the rest of my life.
I carried the flowers out with every intention of hand delivering them. I could not wait to see two pretty, shining faces smiling up at me when I gave them the bouquets. They would be sweet. Grateful. And perhaps they would even reward me with kisses. Kisses on the cheek from Angelique, and sultry kisses from my love, wherever she wanted to place them.
It was entirely up to her, I thought, feeling generous.
The past few weeks had been heaven. Better than heaven. Heaven could sell tickets to what life with Francesca and Angelique was like. I had been spoiling them rotten every chance I got. Flowers, gifts, jewelry, clothing. I knew it was the little things that pleased them most.
I couldn’t wait to see the look on Angelique’s face when she saw the sunflowers. I knew how much she loved them. The little girl had mentioned wanting a puppy, too. That was next on my list. As soon as I got permission from her gorgeous mother.
But when I got there, no one was home. The staff, yes. Maria, yes. But her eyes were red and swollen from crying.
Dread started to pound through my veins, dark and heavy.
That’s when I saw it. Frankie’s personal guards were there, freaking out. They were trying to find Francesca and Angelique, who had gone missing almost an hour earlier. An hour. And no one had thought to call me.
All hell was breaking loose.
“What do you mean, they are gone?” I demanded of the guards. If they were my men, they would get a beatdown, or worse. Much worse. I personally wanted to execute them on the spot, but not until I extracted the information and inflicted pain. Lots of pain.
Turns out I was suddenly in the finger breaking mood, after all. They were lucky I didn’t have a hacksaw or a pair of pliers. They were even luckier that they weren’t my men.
Francesca would kill me if I disciplined her men. But I didn’t care. She wasn’t here, dammit. And at the moment, I was worried clear out of my mind, furious with her inept guards, and ready to throw her over my knee and spank her.
A hell of a lot harder, this time.
I just had to find her first.
“They slipped out. We didn’t see them go.”
“They left of their own accord? Are you certain?”
They looked at each other and shook their heads.
“You know this could be a reprisal? If someone thought she was responsible . . .” I let the words hang and the sentence go unfinished. If Philip’s family thought she was the one who had killed him . . . if they blamed her for what I had done . . .
The thought was far too grim to even consider.
I would never forgive myself if something happened to her. It would be even more hellish if it was revenge for something I had done. And I would sure as fuck never forgive her team. None of them. They would pay for this if anything actually happened to her.