When Villains Rise (Anti-Heroes in Love 2)

“Uh,” my brother shuddered as he stepped beside me. “Are you watching our mother be seduced?”

It was surreal and a little uncomfortable to now that I was watching his father attempt to seduce his mother, but I didn’t say anything, because I understood it wasn’t my place to.

For now, I smacked him in the chest. “Now who’s the prude?”

He grinned at me, slinging an arm round my shoulders to pull me in close. “Not you anymore. You seem much more relaxed than ever before. I’ll have to buy Dante a bottle of whiskey to thank him for the attitude adjustment.”

“Hey!” I protested, but I did it laughing because he loved to tease and I was finally comfortable enough with myself to take it. “You’re disgusting.”

He shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”

My phone buzzed where I’d tucked it into the pocket of my black Prada wrap dress.

“Excuse me a moment,” I murmured as I pulled it out to see Bambi’s name on the screen.

“Bambi?” I answered, moving away from Sebastian out onto the patio so I could hear her better. “I thought you and Aurora would be here already.”

“Lena, I’m scared,” came a frightened whisper. “I did what you said and met with your friend Tilda when you were gone. She helped me get a restraining order against the man I told you about, but he won’t leave me alone.”

Everything in me stilled. “It’s not Marco?” He was still in the hospital in the long-term care ward getting rehabilitation because one of the bullets had shattered his femur.

“No!” she cried. “Marco would never hurt me. But I’m beside myself. I don’t think there is any way we can stay here and be safe. I have to go.”

“Go where?” I demanded, cupping the phone to my cheek as I left the cold patio and returned inside, powering through the party to the foyer. I used the code to open the lockbox for the car keys and grab the set for the Ferrari. “Listen, Bambi, I’m going to come to you, okay? I’ll pick you and Rora up and bring you to our house. Pack enough for a long stay. We can figure this out as a family, va bene?”

She burst into noisy tears through the phone.

Cazzo.

“Bambi? Bambi, listen, I’m coming. Don’t freak out and do not leave. Where is Rora? Don’t startle her, okay? I’ll be there in ten minutes.” I hung up on her wails, hoping that she would try to come down for Rora’s sake at least.

I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the garage. As the doors closed, I saw Tore spot me from the kitchen, his face a stern mask.

I texted him while I descended, letting him know where I was going.

The streets were fairly empty for Manhattan, the sky dense with snow clouds that threatened to fall at any moment. I pulled up in front of the house that had been spilt into eight apartments in Queens where Bambi and Rora lived and sprinted up the stairs, shivering because I’d forgotten a coat.

I knocked on the door for a long minute because it creaked open and Rora appeared. Her face was tear stained, her hair a tangled mess around her pouting face. She was fully dressed even though it was long past her bedtime, even a pair of pink sneakers on her feet.

“Are you here to save us?” she asked me, sniffing through it.

My heart constricted. “Yes, gattina mia, I’m here to save you. Where is your mama?”

“She’s crying in her bedroom.”

I sighed as I stepped into the house and closed the door behind me, locking it and pulling the dead bolt across the frame. Rora grabbed my hands in both of hers, squeezing it tightly as if she was afraid I’d let go.

“Are you scared?” I asked her gently, bending to push her messy hair back from her sweet face. “What are you scared of?”

“My papa,” she whispered so quietly, I almost missed it. “He says he loves me, but he scares Mama.”

I hadn’t realized the man who’d been stalking them was her father and I couldn’t understand why Bambi hadn’t just told me. But I smiled at the little girl and stood to let her lead me back to the bedrooms.

“Bambi?” I asked as we rounded the corner and I found her sitting on her bed among a pile of strewn clothes and two open suitcases.

She was sobbing so hard it sounded like she was choking.

I went to her, sitting beside her hunched form so I could pull her into my arms for a tight hug.

“Hush,” I urged, stroking her back. “It’s okay. Calm down. Calmati.”

I held her for a few minutes with Rora standing there tugging on a lock of her hair, watching us with wide, frightened eyes.

“Can you talk now?” I asked Bambi, moving back to look at her. I pushed her hair from her face and tsked at her swollen eyes and red face. “You’ve made yourself sick crying. Everything is going to be okay, I promise, Dante and I will make it better.”