“Huh,” Cristiano said, his brows pulling together. “You know, I always wondered why that crazy bitch took her hands and feet. She hadn’t planned on Nova getting a tattoo. I guess she took them to freak Ryan out, but also to hide the lack of ink.”

“Keep your theories to yourself, moye zolto,” his wife advised, keeping her gaze locked cautiously on Mom. “We don’t need to think about that poor girl at the moment.”

“I’m just saying, Sheena wasn’t stupid.” He shrugged before taking another drink of his coffee. Standing, he placed the cup on the table between the two couches. As he approached, I felt my heart melt a little. Cristiano had always treated me as one of his own. I was just as much a daughter to him as Samara. The emotion on his face matched my dad’s from the day before when he’d first seen me. “I’m so happy to see you, figlia.”

He wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug and lifted me off my feet. I hugged him back, releasing a light laugh. “You’ve gotten even more beautiful than I remember.” He placed me on my feet and cupped one side of my face. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.” I couldn’t help myself and hugged him again. “How was the flight? Have you been shown a room?”

“Don’t worry about us. Your parents have us taken care of.” He glanced at Cali then the empty doorway. “Has my son finally rolled out of bed yet? Now that I know he wasn’t out of his mind last night, I’m curious to know how he’s taking your rise from the dead.”

I still wasn’t sure what Ryan was thinking about everything. He’d been so caught up in…other things, that we hadn’t talked about anything important. Like how angry he was that I hadn’t come home to him right after killing Manuel. An angry Ryan sent people running for cover, but I’d never been a recipient of it. I didn’t know what was going to happen.

51

Ryan

The moment I opened my eyes, I knew Nova wasn’t beside me. My heart dropped, and I wondered if the night before had been nothing more than a dream after all. But then I shifted and felt the scratches on my back and knew it was reality. She’d been a lioness, her nails like claws raking over my flesh, marking me as thoroughly as I had her.

The need to see her, touch her—fucking hold on to her every second of the day—became too overwhelming. I jumped out of bed and jerked on clothes in a rush before going in search of my angel. Somehow I’d been given a miracle, and I wasn’t about to waste even a minute of having Nova back.

Retracing my steps from the night before, I found the family room where Felicity and Jet had been with Garret, but as I drew closer, I heard familiar voices. Glad my parents had arrived, I was already wondering how fast we could get a priest to the house when something Mom said caught my attention and had me pausing just outside the door. Instinct told me I wanted to hear what they were talking about without interrupting, so I fought the need to have Nova in my sights.