Adelina

My parents couldn’t believe their eyes when I arrived on their doorstep.

They were in shock.

They were in tears.

And they could barely stand.

I was welcomed back into their home, and like I was a child all over again, my mother slept in my bed with me because she didn’t want to be apart from me. Like I might slip away again, she hung on to me tightly.

The next day, the news media was there to interview my parents. Apparently, my story had gotten a lot of coverage since my parents hired so many private investigators to track me down. Lizzie’s parents did the same, making us some of the most recognizable people in the United States.

I had no idea.

Giving the horrible news to Lizzie’s parents was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. I felt guilty for surviving when she had a terrible death. I couldn’t even tell them where her body was so they could have a funeral. They cried—and I cried too. They said they were happy to see me, but I knew any parent would be devastated that I came back when their daughter never did.

Time seemed to move in slow motion, but everything was going so fast. The police interviewed me a few times and asked me the details of what happened. I told them the truth, but I kept Crow’s and Cane’s identities a secret. I told them Tristan and his men were dead, so there was no need to continue the investigation.

I got a lot of requests for interviews on daytime talk shows, but I declined all of them. The world was curious to know the things I had suffered, but I wasn’t interested in sharing. The details weren’t appropriate for television anyway. I didn’t want my parents to have to listen to those tales.

I spent the first week at my parents’ house. My old bedroom was exactly how I left it. They didn’t change a single thing or throw anything out. When I was going to college, I still lived with them because it saved money. The college was down the road so I didn’t need to commute far, but it was jarring living with them again.

I used to live with a gorgeous man in a mansion that I had all to myself most of the time.

My parents breathed down my neck, constantly asking I needed anything or if there was something that would make me more comfortable.

I knew they meant well, so I didn’t get irritated about it.

I was having dinner with them when my mother asked about Cane. “That man who brought you here a few months ago…”

My dad stared at his food, blocking out the conversation.

“Yeah?” I said.

“He was the one who set you free?” she asked.

“Yeah.” I picked at my corn and mashed potatoes. “He is the one who killed Tristan and his men. He got me out of there, took care of me, and put me back together. He wanted me to stay with him, but I told him I had to get home.”

“So, he’s a criminal, but he still saved you?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “Pretty much.”

“Why would he do that for you?” she asked. “Why would that man go to such lengths to get you your freedom?” Mom was thinner than she used to be, having lost at least twenty pounds. It was most obvious in her face. She set her fork down and stared at me. “I wanted to ask before, but I didn’t want to bombard you with questions.”

There was no better way to explain it than by telling the truth. “He said he was in love with me…”

My dad looked up from his food.

“Oh,” Mom said. “I see…”

“How do you feel about him?” Dad asked.

Dad had never asked me about something like that before. We never talked about boys. All topics related to sex were for my mother to handle. “I really care about him. He became a really good friend to me. I miss him…”

“Do you love him?” Mom pressed.

“I…I don’t know.” I looked down at my food again. “Everything that happened was so intense and fast. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I think he’s a wonderful man, and I’ll never be able to repay him for what he’s done for me. But I don’t understand how I feel about him beyond that. At the end of the day, he’s still not exactly what I imagined in a boyfriend…or husband.”

“You never answered the question,” Mom said. “But I think that led you to your answer.”

My heart stilled in my chest, stunned by her observation.

“I would love to speak with him, if you’d let me,” Mom said.

“Why?” I asked.

“I need to thank him for bringing you back to us,” she whispered. “I know the world is full of dark and dangerous men. He could have been like all the rest and left you to your fate. Even if his own motivations were sinister, he sacrificed a lot for you. He did the right thing when it came down to it. He deserves my gratitude.”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Dad nodded in agreement.

“I guess I could call him tomorrow,” I said. “It’s really early in the morning there.”

Mom glanced at the clock. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“Uh…” I fought the urge to call him because I didn’t want to play with his emotions. I didn’t want to give him hope that I would come back if I wasn’t sure I would. “Okay.” I pulled out my phone and found his name in the phone book. It was the only name listed. I hit send.

He picked up immediately. “Bellissima.” He spoke without emotion, sounding the same as he did when he dropped me off at the airport.

“Hey.” I lost my train of thought when I heard his voice. I was brought back to the nights where he said that name in bed. “Uh, my mom wants to talk to you. I know that sounds weird, but…is that okay?”

If he was disappointed, he didn’t indicate it. “Of course. I can listen to them yell at me.”

“They don’t want to yell at you. They want to thank you.”

“Oh…” Cane turned quiet, considering what I’d said. “Bellissima?”

“Yeah?”

“Call me later when you have some privacy.”

“Okay…I will.” I handed the phone to my mom.

She took it and rested her elbows on the table. “Cane, right?”

Cane confirmed for her over the line.

“I wanted to thank you for rescuing my daughter.” She’d hardly said a few words before her voice broke with emotion, the tears cascading. “She told me what happened. She told me that you accepted her as a loan, but then you did so much to save her…that you killed the man who took her and reclaimed her freedom. I don’t know how I could ever thank you for what you did. You could have easily forgotten about her, but you didn’t. I’m so glad you love her just as much as we do…so grateful.”

I couldn’t watch my mother cry anymore. It was too heartbreaking. I shifted my gaze away and stared down at my food.

---

When my parents went to sleep, I called him from my bedroom. I was under the covers, wearing one of the t-shirts I stole from his drawer. It was a million sizes too big, but it still held his scent. It was faint, probably because it’d been smothered against all my other clothes during the journey underneath the plane.

He answered immediately. “Bellissima.”

I closed my eyes as his voice swept over me like a gentle breeze in summer. “Yes.”

“Where are you?” he asked.

“I’m in my old bedroom.”

“You’re staying with your parents?”

“Yeah…I was living here during college. I wanted to save money while I went to school since it’s right down the road. It’s a free place to live with free food.”

He chuckled. “That’s cute.”

“And…I kinda like living here. I’ve always been close with my parents.”

“That’s cute too,” he said. “You know I don’t like to be more than five miles away from Crow at any given time…even though I don’t admit it.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I figured that out.”

He fell quiet, staying on the phone in silence.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m sitting on the couch.”

“Where?”

“In our bedroom.” He sighed when he realized the error of his words. “My bedroom…”

I felt his pain seep through the phone. I could feel his misery surround me. I used to sleep in this bed every single night, but now I couldn’t sleep well without him beside me. The mattress felt foreign. “I haven’t been sleeping well. It’s not the same without you.”

“No, it’s not,” he whispered.

“Are you looking at the fireplace?”

“Yeah.”

“What time is it there?”

“Early.”

“Are you going to the winery?”

“No.” He didn’t elaborate, like he didn’t want to share any aspect of his life. “How are things there? I’ve seen you on the news a lot.”

“You’ve been watching?”

“Yeah. You look beautiful in that red top, by the way.”

“Thanks…” It was one of the first things Cane had bought for me. “It’s been chaotic lately. I’m sure, in another week, everyone will move on to the next news cycle. I told Lizzie’s parents…they were heartbroken.”

“It must have killed them, but now they know what happened. They can make their peace with it.”

“Yeah…”

“Your parents seem happy.”

“They’re…” There were no words. “I can tell it’s been hard for them.”

“I can only imagine. I only knew you for a few months, and I fell head over heels… Imagine how they feel when they’ve known you since the day you were born.”

Every time he said those sweet things, I wanted to get on a plane and head back to him.

“What’s next for you?” he asked. “Are you going to keep living there?”

“No, after living with you, it hasn’t been easy going back to this. I’m gonna find an apartment soon. I just want to give my parents a little more time to have me in the house.”

“You should be able to buy a nice house with the money I gave you. A good investment.”

“Yeah…I’ll think about it.” I didn’t want to buy anything when I didn’t know where I would be living. I wasn’t quite sure where I wanted to settle down. “I need to complete another year of school before I can start teaching. I have to focus on that.”

“You still want to be a teacher, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“I think you’ll be great at it. The kids will love you.”

Talking to him was the easiest thing in the world. It was natural and so smooth. Talking to everyone else was jarring and painful. I didn’t have to talk about Tristan with Cane. We could talk about so many other things because he didn’t see me as some woman who was raped. He saw me as a person, along with all of my other qualities. “How are Pearl and Crow?”

“Crow is getting a lot better. He went for a run the other day and said he felt good.”

“That’s great.”

“Pearl has been having some morning sickness. But she says it’s not so bad.”

“That’s nice… Do they have names picked out?”

“Not that I know of,” he said.

“What do you think they’ll have?”

“A boy.”

“Yeah?” I asked. “Why do you think that?”

“My father was one of five brothers. My parents had two boys. I just think we’re a boy kinda family.”

“Are you excited?”

“I’m very excited to be an uncle. I’m gonna piss off Crow by giving them candy, caffeine, and booze.”

I chuckled, keeping my voice down so my parents wouldn’t hear me. “He’s gonna kill you.”

“He’s tried before, and it’s never worked. I’m not scared.”

“Well, I’m scared for you.”

“Pearl will protect me. She tends to do that.”

“You’re lucky.”

Once we ran out of things to say, we sat on the phone in silence. I couldn’t hear anything on his end, and I wondered what the weather was like. Was it a sunny day? Was it rainy? Were his boxers on the floor where he always left them?

“I should let you go, Bellissima,” he whispered. “It’s late, and you must be tired.”

“I am tired…” I closed my eyes as I sat on the phone.

Cane didn’t hang up. He sat there with me, saying nothing.

I knew I shouldn’t say it, but I wanted to say it anyway. I felt it deep in my chest. “I miss you…”

Cane took a deep breath. I could barely hear it over the line.

Before he had the chance to say it back, I ended the call. I tucked the phone under my pillow and tried not to think about him. I never should have said those words to him, but I couldn’t help it. They slipped out like I had no control over my own behavior.

My eyes closed, picturing him as if he were right beside me. I pictured that smug smile, that brightness in his dark eyes, and I imagined how his hard chest felt against my hand. I quickly slipped away, disappearing into a deep sleep.