Not that I needed him or anyone else to oversee my safety. I could take care of myself just fine, thanks to Anya. But no one outside of her and I knew that little detail. Part of me felt guilty for keeping such a huge secret from Ryan, but I’d made a promise to his mom all those years ago never to tell him. She’d been so worried back then—and continued to worry—about him possibly hating her for teaching me all her skills, that I couldn’t break her trust.

The driver stopped outside of an office building downtown. It was the Vituccis’ legitimate place of business. They owned the entire skyscraper, and every one of their legit businesses had its own floor. From construction to accounting, which dealt with the payroll for the entire corporation, to any number of other enterprises I wasn’t fully aware of. All I really knew about the building itself was that Ryan had an office on the top floor, just as Zayne did—and his sister would once she finished law school—along with Cristiano and Scarlett as well. Over the past fifteen years or so, the Vituccis had tried their damnedest to turn their business ventures into something more…respectable.

Pietro stepped out and opened the back door, but Ryan hesitated before taking off his seat belt. As he turned to me, I felt his gaze skimming over me lovingly before he gave me his sweet smile. “See you soon, my heart.”

“See you soon,” I echoed softly, watching him walk away.

My heart felt heavy on the ride to the compound. To distract myself, I pulled out my phone and turned it on, letting my parents know I’d made it to New York safely. Then I pulled up my social media and saw that I had a message. Discreetly, I checked to make sure Pietro wasn’t watching me before I opened it.

Fuck.

I’d barely walked through the door of the Vitucci mansion when I was being engulfed in welcoming hugs. Ciana was the first to come running, followed by Anya and then Vito and Bennie.

As Bennie placed me on my feet, Anya frowned at the still-open door. “Where is Ryan?”

“He had a work emergency,” I explained. “We dropped him off on the way. Don’t worry, though. As soon as Pietro and the others brought me home, they rushed back to the office.”

Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t comment on it further, instead motioning for the housekeeper to take my things up to my room. “Are you hungry, l’vitsa? You look as if you could use something to eat.”

I was starving, but food was the last thing I could think about right then. “Ciana and the twins are taking me shopping,” I told her.

“We are?” Vito asked with a grunt. “I thought that shit wouldn’t happen for at least a week. Figured it would take that long for you and Ryan to release each other to resume regular daily activities.”

So had I, but I wasn’t completely disappointed in that disruption to my normal routine. Not after the message I’d gotten earlier. “Well, it looks like it’s your lucky day,” I told him with a smirk. “You and Bennie get to do all the things Ryan normally would have done with me.”