When it’s finished and he pulls out, we clean her and lie together on the bed, the three of us with our Dandelion in the middle. She kisses my mouth, then turns to Amadeo and kisses his. He holds her gaze, and I think about the things Amadeo told me about his visit to Tilbury. What they did to her. What she did.

“What did he tell you about me?” she asks in a near whisper as if reading my mind.

“Nothing that matters, Dandelion. Close your eyes. No one’s ever going to hurt you again. You’re safe now.”

She blinks, and I think she’s going to ask a question, but something gives inside her. I can almost see it. She nods, closes her eyes. Maybe it’s easier this way. I hope so because I don’t ever want her to remember what happened to her. And I’m grateful when her face and body relax, and she drifts off to sleep.

We leave Vittoria to sleep while we make our plans.

“Lucien Russo has vanished into thin air,” Amadeo says.

“Expected as much. He’ll reappear once we’re gone.”

Amadeo nods. “Dominic’s men will keep an eye on that. But that’s not priority right now.”

“Dandelion.”

He nods. “I want her out of this city. Out of his reach.”

She’s due at Brady’s office at the end of the afternoon to sign the paperwork that will transfer her inheritance.

Amadeo told me about what he’d learned. Described the video he’d seen, and I can imagine the ones he didn’t. We’re now scrolling through page after page of Russo’s undeveloped properties to find the one where those men had taken her. I swear Russo owned half the East Coast.

“He’d have had her guarded,” Amadeo says. “No way two men could just get to her.”

We need to find out their names, but we’ve been through death notices and police incidents for a month around the time she was admitted as an inpatient of Tilbury, but nothing matches what we need. Although it’s not surprising. I’m thinking Russo had the bodies disposed of and everything neatly covered up.

“She always seemed a little off, but do you think it’s been worse since what happened in Naples?”

“Yeah, I do. And it makes sense. Let’s get the paperwork signed today and get her back to Italy. She’ll stay at the Ravello house. I want to find out what happened exactly. Find the property and see who had access.”

“Who had access to what?”

We both turn to find Vittoria standing in the entryway of the dining room. It’s an open floor plan so no doors.