Blink.
I hold my hand over my own heart, begging it to beat at the same speed. I need that connection right now. God, how I need her.
“Mr. Enzo,” a meek voice says from behind where I sit staring at the laptop.
I take a deep breath, so I don’t kill the young girl. I speak, but my voice still comes out deep and gnarly, “Yes, Yolie?”
“Kai is going to be okay. She’s the strongest woman I’ve met. No matter what happens in there, she’s going to make it,” Yolie says.
I don’t know if that shit is meant to comfort me or what, but I don’t want to hear ‘no matter what happens.’ Nothing is going to happen. I won’t let it. Kai is mine. Mine, mine, mine.
No man touches her.
“Yolie dear, why don’t you come with me? I think Langston could use another run down of how Milo’s security system works and how to override it,” Liesel says, putting her hand on Yolie’s shoulder.
“Sure, I’d love to explain it to him again,” Yolie says cheerily, before running out of the room in the small cottage we found in Italy close to Milo’s mansion.
“Langston is going to kill you for that,” I say to Liesel.
Liesel smiles wryly. “Good, he deserves it.”
I sigh. Liesel and Langston have always wanted to kill each other. Since we were kids, before life got so fucking complicated. And it seems to get worse with every year that passes. Zeke couldn’t stand Liesel either. I’m the only one who has seen that beneath her hard exterior, which often comes across as bitchy, is a broken woman with one of the purest hearts I’ve ever seen. But Liesel doesn’t let that side out often; you have to work to find it. And Langston definitely will take no part in spending enough time with her to find the good.
“You really fucked up, Enzo,” Liesel says, stretching her legs up on the small coffee table as she leans back in the couch.
I want to keep staring at the dot and heart rate on my screen. I want to stare incessantly at the screen waiting for Kai to send a message that she is ready to be rescued. But apparently Liesel needs to talk to me, and it’s not healthy for me to stare at a computer screen for twenty-four-hours a day.
“Yes, I know. But how specifically did I fuck up this time?”
“By making Milo’s child, your heir.”
I sigh. “We’ve been through this already.” I run my hand through my unkempt hair. I could really use a haircut.
“Well, we are going to go through it again, because you are a fucking idiot, and you still don’t have a solution.”
“Does it matter if we kill Milo before he produces a child?” I ask.
“No, but what if he’s already knocked a woman up and is holding her hostage in his basement? What then? If we kill Milo, his child will still become the next leader unless you are willing to kill a child,” she says.
“I’m not.”
“Then what is your genius plan?”
“I don’t care about who leads my empire. I just want Kai safe.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” Liesel stands abruptly, with that look on her face that says she’s going to win this fight. Except I don’t even understand the rules.
She grabs me by the collar of my shirt, and jerks me up from my chair, yanking me toward the door.
“Jesus, woman. Calm down, I’m coming,” I say, as I try to reach for the laptop.
“No, you don’t get to bring that. Not everything is about Kai.”
I growl.
She snaps back and pulls harder as she drags me out of the room. I could fight back, but I don’t feel it’s worth the fight. An angry Liesel would destroy this tiny cottage we are staying at, and we don’t need to draw any attention to ourselves.
Liesel stops abruptly, and I slam into her back. “You could warn me when we are stopping,” I say, but then my eyes c