CHAPTER 6
1022 Words
“Raphaella,”
he said, his voice a low rumble. He finally allowed his disapproval to surface.
“Your brothers would have simultaneous coronaries if they saw you in that dress. And in this place.”
A fresh wave of tears spilled over, and before I could think, I stepped into him, burying my face against the soft cotton of his dress shirt, my fists clutching the fabric at his sides.
“Stellina,” he murmured into my hair, the old childhood endearment a balm. “What in God’s name are you doing here?”
Before I could even attempt to form a coherent answer, the fire door banged open again. Chloe burst out, her face flushed with fury and concern. “Rafe, I made sure that i***t—!”
She skidded to a halt. Her mouth fell open.
She knew. I’d talked about Lex for years. The mysterious, kind, unbearably handsome friend of Vincenzo’s who never talked down to me.
Who brought me books on artists from his travels instead of jewelry. Who asked what I thought about things.
The man who was, in all the ways that mattered, the blueprint for everything I’d ever wanted and couldn’t have.
“Oh, my God,” Chloe breathed, the words barely audible over the distant music. “You’re… you’re him.”
Lex loosened his hold on me slightly, turning his head to acknowledge Chloe with a polite, inscrutable nod.
“I assume you’re the friend.”
His tone made it clear he was withholding judgment on the quality of that friendship, given our current location.
Chloe, for once, was speechless. She just nodded dumbly.
I pulled back slightly, looking up at Lex, sniffling. “What are you doing here? You’re in Milan.”
“I was,”
he said, using his thumb to gently wipe a smudge of mascara from under my eye, a gesture so intimate it made my breath catch.
“I got back yesterday. I had a meeting with Vin tonight. He was… distressed. Mentioned you were upset and had retired early.”
His eyes hardened again.
“Clearly, he was misinformed. When he couldn’t reach you on your phone, he called me. I was nearby. I know the kind of places Gabe frequents when he wants to be unseen. This was the third one I checked.”
He’d been looking for me. For Vin. But he’d found me.
“It’s my fault,”
Chloe blurted out, finding her voice, her loyalty overriding her awe.
“I talked her into it. She was just so upset after what happened with her brothers and Ethan, and—”
“Ethan?”
Lex’s voice dropped another dangerous octave. His eyes snapped back to mine.
“The boy from the university. What did he do?”
The protective edge in his voice undid me all over again. It was different from my brothers’. Theirs was possessive, a guarding of property. His felt… fierce. Personal.
“It doesn’t matter,” I whispered. “He’s nothing.”
Lex studied my face for a long moment, reading the hurt I couldn’t hide. He gave a single, slow nod, filing the information away.
“We’ll discuss it later. Right now, I’m taking you home.”
“Lex, you can’t! If Vin sees me like this—”
“He won’t,”
he interrupted, his voice firm.
“I’ll take you in through the garden entrance. Luca is the only one who might be awake, and he’ll listen to reason.”
He glanced at Chloe.
“Can you get home safely?”
“Y-yes. My car is just there.”
“Good. Go straight home. Do not stop. Text Raphaella when you’re inside your apartment.” It was an order, delivered with the same quiet certainty that had sent the other man running.
He guided me, his arm a solid presence around my shoulders, his coat shielding me from the world.
As Lex pulled the car to a stop behind a screening hedge of rhododendrons, Luca’s silhouette emerged from the shadow of the terrace.
His sharp eyes took in the scene: me in Lex’s oversized coat, my smudged makeup, the dress peeking out beneath it. His lips thinned, but he gave a curt nod to Lex.
“Thank you,” Luca said quietly, his voice strained. “Vin is… he’s in his study. He knows she’s not in her room. He’s been pacing for an hour.”
“I’ll handle it,” Lex said, his voice leaving no room for argument. He placed a guiding hand on the small of my back, steering me past Luca and through the French doors into the darkened conservatory.
We were almost to the main hall, steps from the sanctuary of the staircase, when the lights blazed on.
Vincenzo stood at the foot of the stairs, still in his vest and shirtsleeves, his hair disheveled as if he’d been running his hands through it for hours.
The relief that flashed across his face when he saw me was instantly incinerated by a towering, red-hot rage. His eyes darted from my tear-stained face to Lex’s coat, to my bare legs beneath it.
“Where in the everlasting hell have you been?!” The roar echoed in the vaulted foyer. He took two long strides toward us, his focus entirely on me, a tempest of fear and fury.
“Do you have any idea—? I had men on the streets! I thought you were dead in a ditch, or worse! And you’re out clubbing? In that? After everything we talked about—”
He was in front of me, his hand rising not to strike, but to grab my arm, to shake sense into me, to physically manifest his terror.
He never made contact.
Lex moved. It was a blur of elegant, efficient motion. He didn’t shove Vin. He simply stepped between us, his body becoming an immovable barrier. His hand came up and caught Vin’s wrist in mid-air, stopping it cold.
“Enough, Vin.”
Two words. Quiet. Calm. But they carried the weight of a vault door slamming shut.
- Writer
