“No one would notice if I wasn’t here,” I’d complained, but he’d overridden all my concerns.
“They would. They notice everyone who isn’t there, and you don’t want to get on the wrong side of the Orazios.”
I didn’t. I long since assumed they were the reason for my father’s disappearance. Paolo dragged me over to a man who was languid as a panther. Romeo. A man I knew of but only saw through thick crowds. Untouchable. Unattainable. My icy heart thawed. It thumped in a way I hadn’t experienced since my father left me alone. A voracious hunger took up space in my chest.
He’d looked at me, his lips parting in an inviting smile.
Every interaction with Romeo I’d filed away in a special part of my brain. The brush of his calloused fingers on the back of my hand. The soft, sharp chuckle he made when I blurted out my disgust of eggplant. The close way he’d sat next to me, pinning me with the warmth of his eyes.
Romeo Orazio was methodical. Logical. His shoes were always a pristine glossy black and free of smudges. He’d battered through my prickly defenses. No man caught my interest before. He was a shadow made of flesh, thick dark hair, and sooty lashes. I dealt in the shadows. They felt familiar and dear to me. But after that night, Romeo bulldozed into me with a furious courtship. I’d given it up. His lies fooled me. Enough to retire my legacy. To become what my mom begged of me. A wife. A mother. And I had wanted to be a good wife. To give Romeo children. I wanted him to touch me, unwrap me, and claim me. I should have trusted my gut after our wedding night.
Romeo duped my foolish heart. And Paolo aided him.
Paolo was the instigator, and I intended to find out why.
“It was love at first sight,” Paolo said with a tight smile.
“It was for one of us,” I drawled, thin lipped, as Maria bustled in with two cups and a teapot. I asked her to set it down in front of me.
“You came together in a whirlwind. Everything will shake out fine as the dust settles.” He misinterpreted my tone. Placating me with the energy of a perpetually single man, who didn’t know what marriage entailed. Ignoring him, I prepared the tea. The rim of the porcelain cup was gold, and I poured it just below. Steam plumed from the black tea. The earthy, bitter smell soothed me as I pulled out the white vial that was still in my pocket and removed the stopper. I waited until Paolo was looking at me before I dusted the liquid with a light cover of white powder.
Paolo’s eyes bulged as I stirred it with a spoon and pushed the cup over to him.
“Milk?” my teeth were sharp, as was my bitter smile.
“Anita?” he frowned, some of his unaffected façade shattering. The steam drifted up between us, languid, unaware of the ramping tension.
“Drink,” I ordered.
“Anita?” Paolo repeated, freckles stark on the slope of his broad nose.
“You have some explaining to do, cousin,” I answered, riding the rage inside me like a rabid tiger. I straddled the beast, wrenching control of the animalistic anger. It was wild and unwieldy until I tamed it.
“I-I-I don’t know what you mean?” He pushed the plate away, eyeing the vial of white powder with wide eyes. The red mark on his nose stood out, and I noticed a matching splatter on his crisp white button-up. The sound of cicadas rattled in my ears, bolstered by filtered sun peeking through fluffy white clouds.
“Don’t play stupid. It insults me. You said you’d introduce Romeo to the Gardener if he married me. Why? How could you do this to me?” Despite my efforts, my voice cracked, throat convulsing around my shattered trust. He’d set me up, led me into a loveless marriage. I should have trusted my initialreaction. Men like Romeo didn’t notice women like me, I made sure of it. Paolo’s nervous gaze flickered between the tea and my impassive face. He cracked, a sigh erupting out like a fissure.
“I meant well. You would never find a man always locked up as you were. You need more than your work. You and Romeo have so much in common. I thought he would see what a catch you are, eventually. Give it time. He’ll realize how special you are.”
I wrinkled my nose.Give it time? Wait around until a man deigned to give me his attention? As if I didn’t have worth in my own right? An empire at my fingertips. One I almost gave away. And then there was the pesky business of Romeo wanting to meet with the Gardener. He wouldn’t dismiss me so easily if he knew the truth.
What he wanted was standing right in front of him. I was The Gardener. In all her mousy glory.
“Drink.” I pointed at the cup. Sweat peppered Paolo’s brow, glistening like stolen jewels.
“Please. I know you’re perfect for each other. If Romeo would pull his head out of his—” he cut off before he cursed in front of me. Another reminder that he believed me weak. I flattened my hands on the table. Paolo needed to be reminded of who I was, and what I was capable of.
“Swallow the damn tea,” I ground out, and he lifted the cup to his lips. The porcelain shook. His throat made an audible gulp as he took the liquid into his mouth. I could imagine what he was thinking right now. He didn’t know if the white powder was toxic.
Good.
“You would have let me give everything up. I was going to devote myself to Romeo and our future family.”
Pain flared through my limbs as I landed back in reality with a thump. What had possessed me to change my entire being, for a man? My love drugged mind had kept me in a thrall for months.I thought it was sacrifice, that we were both giving up things for this marriage. But it had only been me, the ultimate fool.
“I know I—” Paolo interrupted, and I cut him off with a slash of my hand.
“You know nothing,” I hissed. My heart cracked with the force of the betrayal. Paolo was the only person who knew my secret identity. He organized the drops, rare as they were, through a network of hand picked, convoluted intermediaries. We never relied on the same person more than once, to make it more difficult for someone trying to ascertain my identity. My modest nest egg had amassed in a bank account he managed. I’d always expected to live life alone and needed to be independent. Paolo had gotten fat off my skills and now he’d moved me around like a chess piece, thinking he knew best.
