Page 219 of Diego

Chapter Forty

Blair

I pull the phone away from my ear and stare at the screen when the call drops.

The connection is gone completely. For a second I wonder whether I accidentally hit something, but the call log shows the incoming call from Diego, my return call, and nothing else. He barely got my name out before the line disappeared.

Victoria notices. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure.” I glance at the screen again. “Diego called, but when I called him back, the line went dead. I guess he’ll call back when he’s in a better service area.”

I set the phone beside me and let it go. Diego is somewhere outside the city dealing with whatever brought his Atlantic City relatives here, and I have no idea where that puts him in relation to cell towers. A dropped call is irritating, but hardly alarming on its own.

The evening has been too enjoyable to ruin over bad reception.

Leonardo is curled against Victoria now, fighting sleep with increasingly little success. He has spent the last hour moving between toys, snacks, Julia, Victoria, me, and occasionally Emilia whenever he thought she might be hiding something edible.

Cecilia is not doing much better. She sits tucked against Julia’s side with her rabbit trapped beneath one arm, her eyelids drooping every few minutes before she forces them open again.

They have both eaten enough to explain the crash.

Emilia eventually gave up with enough prodding from us to convince her to take a load off and join us. I expected her to resist longer, but she surprised me by sitting down with a cup of tea and staying. Since then, we have somehow moved from Donna’s labor to stories about the family, then to children, then to Julia describing one of Cecilia’s recent attempts to feed something completely inedible to Mocha.

I have laughed more tonight than I have in weeks. It feels good.

There are still toys scattered across the floor and snack plates on the table, but the energy has worn down with the children. Even Leonardo has finally stopped attempting to climb furniture. He is pressed against Victoria with his cheek on her shoulder, one hand loosely tangled in her shirt.

Cecilia makes a sleepy noise into Julia’s side.

Julia looks down at her. “You’re done.”

Cecilia blinks at her mother as if considering an objection, then abandons it and tucks her face against Julia instead.

Victoria smiles. “At least one of them knows when to give up.”

Leonardo lifts his head just enough to look offended before dropping it back onto her shoulder.

I laugh and reach for my water. “I think he heard you.”

“He hears everything he’s not supposed to.”

Emilia smiles into her tea. “That starts young.”

That gets another laugh out of Julia, and I settle farther into the sofa with the blanket still across my legs. For once, I am not thinking about being stuck here. I am not counting the hours until I can go back to work, or thinking about the apartment, or wondering whether Dr. Mehta might finally loosen another restriction at the next appointment.

I am enjoying myself.

The front door slams open hard enough that the sound carries straight through the house, making me sit bolt upright.

Before anyone can speak, Giacomo appears from the entryway with three more security people behind him.

He is moving fast, which scares me.

Giacomo never moves like this around me. He is usually restrained to the point of disappearing into the background unless I deliberately look for him. Now his coat is open, one hand is near his weapon, and his attention is moving across the windows, doors, and everyone inside as though he is counting.

Leonardo startles awake against Victoria.

Cecilia jerks upright against Julia.