She blinks her eyes open once, twice. Once they adjust to the light and she realizes where she is, she runs the back of her hand over her mouth then her hair and sits up.
I notice she’s wearing one of my button-down shirts. The clothes from our shopping trip haven’t been unpacked yet. The bags line the hallway outside. I haven’t decided where to put them. Where to put her.
“What time is it?” she asks, adjusting the blanket when she realizes one thigh is exposed.
“Late. Or early, depending.” I move to sit and wince at the pain in my side. “Are you all right?”
She nods. “Are you?”
I shrug my shoulder, catch myself too late. “Fine.”
“Did you take that bullet when you were protecting me?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me. I wasn’t sure but…did you?”
“I don’t know, Scarlett,” I lie. I did take it when I was trying to get her out of there. “Doesn’t matter. We’re both alive.”
She studies me but drops it. “What happened? Who was it?”
“Cartel. Rinaldi. Both.”
“You don’t know?”
“We killed some from both crews. Captured a few alive.”
“It wouldn’t be the cartel. Why would it be the cartel? They killed my uncle.”
“No, Little Kitten. You’re not that lucky.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that cockroach will crawl out of his hole yet again.”
“He’s alive? I thought…I saw him though. I saw him go down.”
“He’s alive.”
She processes, her forehead creased, then continues. “It’s not the cartel, Cristiano. Why would they try to kill him? He’s one of them.”
“It wasn’t a bullet that hit him.”
“What? What was it?”
“A tranquilizer. Granted it did some damage going in. He must have moved in front of you just in time. I’m pretty sure it was meant for you.”
She shakes her head, forehead wrinkling in confusion. “No way it was the cartel. It’s still my family.” She stops at that and a moment later looks up at me.
“Well, lucky for you they didn’t seem to be the most organized crew. There were plenty of them, but the operation was a clusterfuck.”
“I thought the plan was for the cartel to work with you.”
“Yeah, well, take me out and the cartel is rid of their problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s more profitable for them to work with Rinaldi.”
“Because he’s willing to make slaves of women.”
I nod. “I can’t assume it was Rinaldi, at least he couldn’t have done it alone.” Something about the whole thing doesn’t feel right, actually.
“What do you mean?”
“His family is weakened here. He wouldn’t stand a chance against me here or in Naples. Not now. It doesn’t make sense that he’d come back and have the manpower to attack alone. He simply doesn’t have it.”
“So, you think he’s working with my family? And you think that tranquilizer was to kidnap me?”
“I don’t know. It’d make sense, I guess. He marries you, there’s a link between the cartel and his family, but I don’t know.”
“But why?” I watch her as she says the words. “I mean, I’m not that valuable to the cartel. How can I be?”
“It will mean something to those who were loyal to your father. You’re valuable to them. Before, the cartel needed Rinaldi. Needed his connections. Now, Rinaldi needs them more than they need him. He’d need to get you back first thing. It’s what would pave the way for a union. Then they could attack me. Take me out. Together and with you back, ensuring the loyalty of those who’d walked away when your father was killed, they’d have the manpower to do it.”
“For money. All this just for money.”
“Money is a powerful motivator. Almost as much as love.”
“As much as hate you mean,” she mutters.
“Love is the most powerful.”
She looks up at me like she’s surprised by that. Then her glance drops to my side. “You’re bleeding.”
I look down too and sure enough, the white T-shirt I put on has a splotch of dark red where the bandage is. I lift my shirt and look.
Doctor’s downstairs eating and he’ll be pissed I’m up. I’d get Lenore but she’ll mother me too. Dante feels guilty enough not to bother him with this. “Does blood make you queasy?”
She shakes her head.
“Come with me.” I stand and wait for her to pull the covers back. She gets up, her feet bare on the carpet, the chipped polish on her toes matching the soft lilac all over this room. “She loved purple, as you can probably guess.” I walk into the hallway and Scarlett follows me.
“Elizabeth?”
I nod, enter my room and pull my shirt off over my head with my good arm. I drop it on the bed and turn to find her staring at my back.
“Frankenstein?” I ask.
“It’s not that bad,” she says, schooling her features.
“You’re a bad liar.”
“All right. A little like Frankenstein. I’m glad you’re not dead.”
I feel my eyebrows rise high on my forehead. “Why?”