Undressed By The Mafia God novel Chapter 400

Chapter 400: I’ll Be Right Outside

"Okay." Vee replied.

He hesitated, then stepped closer and brushed his lips against her forehead. "I’ll be right outside." Luca held her gaze, his eyes filled with unspoken things then he walked out.

Once the door closed, Vee opened the bag and pulled out the clothes. Soft black stretchy pants. A plain oversized T-shirt. Fluffy slippers.

Vee changed out of the hospital gown quickly. The slippers went on last. Vee looked down at them and gave a little breath. "They are warm."

Val wanted to cry. This wasn’t good. There was no way this was good. Vee had completely shut off all of her emotions, and what remained was cold. Extreme cold. So frosty that Val could feel it.

*****

Luciano and Veronica arrived back home alone. She had insisted that Valentina and Marco go home and take a break. Luca didn’t like it. Vee needed her sister. That much was clear to anyone with sense and eyes. She was withdrawing from him, slipping somewhere behind herself, locking doors he could not reach. The entire ride home had been silent.

Just Vee staring out the window at the city. By the time they pulled into the courtyard, the house stood waiting. It looked unchanged, which felt offensive. Nonnina should have been there. The house should have known she was gone. The walls should have cracked. The kitchen should have gone cold. Something should have looked different.

But the doors opened. Guards bowed their heads. Staff hovered in the hallway, some with red eyes and careful faces.

The moment Vee stepped inside, she asked the inside staff to take a break. The staff exchanged uncertain glances.

Luca’s jaw tightened. Again, he didn’t like it. One by one, they obeyed. When the last maid disappeared, the silence became heavier.

"You want some tea?" she asked suddenly. "I’m making some."

"Rest," he said. "I’ll make you the tea."

She turned to him then, and for the first time since the hospital, something like amusement touched her mouth. "Do you even know how to make tea?"

She said it lightly. It should have comforted him. It didn’t.

"I think I can manage," Luca snapped as he walked to the kitchen.

She followed behind him into the kitchen. The room was too large for two people and too quiet without Nonnina in it. Usually, even when the kitchen was empty, it carried her presence. Now everything sat polished and still beneath the warm lights.

Luca moved to the counter and put the kettle on. Vee watched him from the doorway.

"The herbal one," she said. "With milk and honey."

"I know." His answer came too sharp. Luca grabbed a mug from the cabinet with more force than necessary. The ceramic clicked loudly against the counter.

"Are you mad at me or something?"

"No." He opened another cabinet, searching through tea tins. "Do I have a reason to be mad?"

"That’s exactly why I was asking if you were mad."