“So, it wasn’t angels after all? Are you disappointed?” I asked Massimo.
He chuckled and shook his head. “Science is one thing. I have my own opinions on you, my little angel of vengeance.”
“Didn’t you hear? I was never talking to angels, I was just tripping on the wrong meds,” I pressed.
He shook his head. “You can’t make me believe anything. Yousaw me when I first walked in, without any prior warning of the kind of person I was. You saw me, and I saw you, angel. I know what you are, just like you know what I am.”
“But you’re not a devil or a demon. You’re a man who takes in stray cats and ran back into a burning building for a little girl. You’re the man who restored this beautiful house instead of letting them tear it down. You care about things... you just don’t let anyone know it.”
“I care about you, and I don’t care who knows it. I’ll shout it from the rooftops so everyone knows,” Massimo murmured. His voice was deep, seductive, and sitting in the firelight, his face painted with hollows and shadows, making him look like a work of art, he was impossible to resist.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to get in my pants, Father Lucciano,” I teased him.
He pushed me back until I fell onto my elbows. We’d been sitting on the rug before the fire, and suddenly the location seemed too intimate. I wondered what the rug would feel like on my naked skin.
“Just trying? I better step up my game if I want to keep you satisfied, little stray. You’re awfully demanding,” he said, his dark eyes dancing.
“Are you complaining?” I wondered.
He prowled across me and laughed, and the dark intention in his voice sent goosebumps down my spine. This man was sin personified and, God help me, I was crazy about him.
“The day I answer yes to that, I’ve been body-snatched. Call the cops,” he said, giving me a wicked smile as he lowered his head to kiss me.
He was just about there when the doorbell rang. It echoed through the house.
“Shit, Paolo’s not here,” Massimo murmured. “Fuck it, ignore it.”
A banging followed, loud and authoritative.
“Police, open up!” The shout reached us on the fourth floor.
Massimo frowned. “You know I was kidding about calling the cops.”
I scrambled up. “What do they want?” Suddenly, all the illegal shit that Massimo had done felt like a huge flashing sign above our heads.
“I’ll go and see. Stay here, just like this, don’t move,” he instructed, clearly not bothered at all about the cops visiting.
He left the room, and I rushed to follow. I listened from the stairs but couldn’t hear much.
“We’re taking you in for questioning regarding the potential arson at Hallow Hall,” a loud voice announced.
I froze on the bottom step and watched the sight before me. Massimo in handcuffs. It was wrong on every level.
The detective who had been at Hallow Hall the day of the fire stared at me.
“Unless you have a warrant for her arrest, look the fuck away,” Massimo growled at him, looking mad enough to almost break the handcuffs apart with sheer, brute strength.
“We are only interested in you,” the detective said, and nodded to the officer holding Massimo’s arm.
He found my eyes with a hard stare. “Wait for me here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Then, he was gone.
I’d fallenasleep at the TV when Paolo appeared to announce a visitor. I was immediately wary, considering everything that had happened, but when I followed him to the sitting room and sawLucy, my fear melted. I hugged her hard, and she hugged me right back.
“Thank God, you’re okay,” she murmured. “I was so worried when you were gone.”
“How did you find me?”