Shadow Keeper

by Feehan, Christine

  “We need to double the guard at the Center to keep her brother safe. In fact,” Giovanni said, “we’ll have to make certain only those we trust are looking after him.”

  Sasha stiffened. “What do you mean by that?”

  “The tabloids will want his photograph and any information they can get on him. They’ll bribe the staff to cooperate. The woman who gave the interview was named Harriet. She’s Goodman’s trusted secretary. She was the one who announced our engagement. In order to speak for you and Sandlin’s care, I had to be a family member.”

  Sasha put the heel of her hand to her forehead. “Giovanni, I’m really, really sorry. I seem to always be apologizing to you. You’re so deep in my mess, I’m not certain how to get you out of it.”

  “Giovanni will have to go to Europe. We’ll send you to Sicily …” Eloisa began.

  “Baby.” Giovanni ignored his mother. “I told you I was in love with you. As far as I’m concerned, the engagement stands. I hope we’re past that.”

  He waited a heartbeat. Two. She didn’t pull away, nor did she respond, but he took her silence as a response. He wasn’t going to allow her to pull away from him, not with his heart pounding, roaring in his ears, and desperate chaos threatening his mind.

  He took a chance that she wouldn’t argue in front of his mother. “I’m grateful we are. It gives us the opportunity to focus on what’s important here, which is the safety of your brother as well as your own.”

  “I can take care of myself. You don’t have to worry about me,” Sasha assured.

  “I know you can. You’re strong, Sasha, but the paparazzi are relentless. Let me protect you just a little. Give this to me. I need you to trust me. Trust my family. We’ve been doing this a very long time.”

  Sasha’s sapphire eyes searched his face for what seemed an eternity to him. He felt the tension fade from her body before she nodded. “That makes sense. Thanks, Giovanni. I’m not exactly certain how to handle a picture like that on every counter of every grocery store in America. It’s the first time I’m grateful my parents aren’t around to see it. Or maybe not. I’d rather have them and be embarrassed than not have them.”

  She moved into Giovanni and he put his arm around her. “I know you have to be hungry. Come have some breakfast.”

  “I really do need to make certain Pietro can find a substitute today.”

  Giovanni shared a look with Stefano. Stefano had already made the call, waking Pietro as soon as the tabloid was delivered to the penthouse by one of the bodyguards. No way could Sasha go to work at the deli. The family had already been through that nightmare with Francesca and they didn’t want Sasha to have to go through it as well.

  “And I have to go to work tonight at the club.”

  “She still works at the club?” Eloisa’s voice nearly squeaked with outrage. “Seriously, Giovanni? A waitress? Can you set your standards any lower? At the very least, she should have been fired.”

  He all but pushed Sasha into Stefano as he whipped around to face his mother. “That’s it. I’ve had it with you. You barged in here and as usual are spewing crap you don’t know a damn thing about just to stir up trouble. You aren’t breaking us up. I’m in love with her. I’ll always be in love with her. She isn’t beneath us, if anything she’s way too good for me.”

  “Really? You don’t think she’s after your money?” Eloisa turned to Sasha. “I’ll give you five million dollars right now, under the table, tax free, to walk out of our lives.”

  Francesca gasped. “Eloisa, stop. I mean it. You’ve done nothing but insult Sasha since you walked into my home. It’s one thing for you to insult me, but not a guest in my home. I understand you love your children and are trying in your own very abrasive and rude way to protect them, but you’re going too far and I’d like you to leave my home.”

  Eloisa glared at her. “The little mouse thinks she can throw me out of my son’s home. This hotel, this penthouse, it belongs to Stefano and my sons and Emme, not you. Never you.” Her furious gaze slashed at Sasha. “Well? I mean what I say. My word is good. Will you accept the money?”

  Stefano put his hand on his mother’s arm while Sasha simply stared at her. Eloisa shook him off. “Ten million then. Ten million right now to leave my son alone.”

  Sasha sighed. “You won’t be able to understand this because clearly you were raised to believe money is some kind of measure of worth. I wasn’t. I might need it in order to give my brother the best care possible, but I’m willing to work for it.”

  “Would you stoop so low as to prostitute yourself for money?” Eloisa sneered.

  “For my family? My brother? In order for him to have the chance to live better, regain his abilities? Give him the best care?” Sasha leaned forward and stared Eloisa straight in the eye. “Damn straight I would. Fortunately, I have a job that allows me to make a good deal and I don’t need to prostitute myself or take money from someone like you. I have no problems with working for what Sandlin and I need.”

  “Stefano, I would like you to remove your mother from our home,” Francesca said.

  “You’re done,” Stefano said immediately, when his mother opened her mouth. “You’ve insulted Giovanni’s fiancée and my wife for the last time in our home. This is Francesca’s home. If you’re too blind to see that, it’s on you, not us.” As he spoke, he walked his mother toward the elevators. “Francesca was nothing but nice to you, Eloisa. She tried hard to get us to accept you into our lives, but this is the last straw. You should have known better than to insult her in front of me. She might keep your poisonous barbs to herself, but I protect what’s mine, and Francesca is definitely mine.”

  “Ours,” Giovanni corrected. He strode across the room to pace along with Stefano. “Francesca is the center of our family. She holds that place you should have had but were too busy to bother to take, Eloisa. Sasha is my choice. She’s forever my choice. You didn’t bother to get to know her before you accused her of being a gold digger.”

  Eloisa shrugged off Stefano’s hand and stomped to the elevator. “The two of you are absolutely ridiculous. At least Francesca has the right blood, and if she’d just get pregnant and do her duty, I’d be happier. That one”—she waved her hand toward Sasha—“she waits tables. Why would we want children from her? She isn’t even of our blood.” Clearly, she hadn’t noticed Sasha’s shadow, although the lights were dim in the early morning hours.

  Giovanni would have hit her if she’d been a man. The contempt in her voice lashed out at his woman. He had never understood his mother. She appeared cold and unfeeling most of the time. Certainly, when he was young, he couldn’t remember a time when she held him. There were no sentimental pictures of her holding any of her children. It was Stefano, a young boy, who had taken the role of caretaker of his brothers and sister, never Eloisa. Francesca had made every effort to integrate her back into the family circle, but rather than embrace Francesca, the longer it took for Francesca to get pregnant, the worse Eloisa acted.

  The elevator doors slid open and Eloisa stepped inside. She turned to face her sons. “Giovanni, you have a duty to our family. You must produce the right children. You can’t marry a woman who does not have what that takes. You’ve known this since you were a toddler.”

  The doors shut before Giovanni could respond. Sasha could produce riders, but Eloisa didn’t know that because she hadn’t seen shadows cast by her in the dimly lit rooms. It didn’t matter to him whether she knew or not, she had no right to make matters for Sasha worse than they already were by jumping to conclusions and raining a nasty, barbed diatribe on her.

  Stefano whipped out his phone and called down to the manager. “Did I not say I wanted the code changed on my private elevator?” There was silence. “If it was changed, then how did my mother get up here?” Again, there was silence. “I didn’t put her on the list of people who could have the code.” He listened, his face darkening. “No, it wasn’t an oversight and if you want to keep your job, you’ll have the
code changed again. Not a single person who is not on that list is to be given the code. If this happens again, you will not be working here. Do you understand?” He slammed the phone down.

  Giovanni and his brother exchanged a long, frustrated look before turning back toward the kitchen. “Are you certain that woman is our mother?”

  Stefano shot him a look that slowly turned into a grin. “I don’t know. If there are aliens, it’s possible they stole our real mother after I was born and left behind a robot. That would mean the robot is your parent, and I got the real, sweet mother.”

  Giovanni couldn’t picture his mother being sweet. He’d never witnessed her sweet, not even when Emmanuelle was born. Stefano had held the new baby, looking down at her with love on his face, but not Eloisa. She’d immediately gone to the training room and had begun to work to get her figure back. None of them believed for one moment that anything said or done would change Eloisa. None of them tried anymore. Only Francesca seemed to see Eloisa’s goodness beneath her abrasive, nasty barbs. Francesca insisted Eloisa’s concern for her children was there, and that she tried in her own way to protect them. Maybe after this she’d give up trying, but he doubted it.

  Sasha and Francesca, both seated at the table, were calmly drinking coffee. He could have kissed Francesca. He could always count on her, the way they counted on Stefano. She’d kept on as if Eloisa hadn’t just insulted the hell out of her and she’d made certain Sasha was put at ease in doing so.

  Sasha looked up when they entered the room, her gaze moving over him and settling on his face. She sent him a small smile. “Are you all right?”

  That was supposed to be his question. Giovanni felt warmth infuse his body and the tension coiled tightly in his belly ease. He hadn’t even known it was there, but Eloisa could do that to all of them—make them tense and edgy just by walking into a room.

  He stalked across the room and bent to brush a kiss across her mouth. “I did neglect to mention my mother. I was hoping I’d actually have the wedding ring on your finger before you met her—or even knew about her.”

  “She who must never be mentioned,” Stefano intoned in a ghostly voice.

  Francesca burst out laughing. Stefano had followed Giovanni into the room, eyes only for his wife. He relaxed the moment she laughed. He took the chair across from her. “I’m just grateful I already ate before she arrived.”

  “Sometimes I wonder what she thinks is going to happen when I have a baby,” Francesca said. “Does she believe that she’d suddenly turn into a doting grandmother?”

  “Not a chance,” Stefano said. “That woman won’t touch one of the babies. Not ever.”

  “You can’t possibly know that,” Sasha said. “Babies transform people. You put a baby in their arms and they turn to mush. It just happens.”

  “Not with Eloisa,” Stefano said, helping himself to the fresh coffee Francesca had put on the table. “She gave birth, sent the baby to the nursery, summoned one of her sisters to the hospital and they carried the child out. I fed them. I was just a little boy and remember getting up because the baby was crying. She never got up. Not one time that I can recall.”

  “Really?” The shock showed on Sasha’s face. Like everyone else, she had tremendous difficulty believing the reality of their lives.

  Giovanni nodded. “It was always Stefano who took care of us. Eloisa rarely even showed her face, and there was hell if a baby cried for more than a few minutes. She would fly into a rage.”

  “She hit Giovanni more than once because he would always guard the door to slow her down so I could get the baby outside where she couldn’t hear it cry anymore,” Stefano said.

  “You couldn’t have been very old,” Sasha said to Giovanni.

  He shrugged. “Ricco took more of a beating than I did. If she was really angry because the baby had the croup or something and cried at night, he was the one who had to face her.”

  “She wasn’t turned into Child Protective Services? No one knew?” Sasha asked. She put down her coffee cup and looked around the table at their faces. “This is for real? And you still have dealings with her?”

  It was obvious to Giovanni that she would have tried to kick his mother’s ass had she been in the room. He loved that Sasha was outraged. She was all about family, and he could see she’d take care of their children, not palm them off on someone else. In a weird way, Eloisa felt the same. Family came first with her, and he knew, once she calmed down, his mother would respect Sasha for standing up to her and for the way she felt about supporting her brother.

  “She’s our mother,” Stefano said. “The weird thing was, even as children, we knew no one else could ever touch us or she’d eat them alive. She was fierce in her protection of us. Even from our father. Only she could ‘discipline’ us. She doesn’t come around that often, just enough to stir up trouble and then disappear again.”

  “She doesn’t like me,” Francesca said.

  Giovanni was happy there wasn’t hurt in her voice. He took the chair beside Sasha, moving it just a few inches as he did, so they were close. He wasn’t certain why he liked being near her all the time, but he did.

  “She doesn’t like anyone,” Stefano said. “I know you try to see the good in her, but, baby, it isn’t there often enough to make the effort.”

  “That’s not true,” Francesca protested. “You know, with her, she’s all about family. She was harsh, but you said she didn’t allow anyone else to punish you. It’s clear she doesn’t realize Sasha has shadow blood in her.”

  Sasha held up her hand and both men stiffened, going alert immediately. Francesca looked horrified and put her hand over her mouth, shifting her weight toward her husband, her gaze meeting his.

  “I don’t know what ‘shadow blood’ means. I do know that both my brother and I have this weird thing where we can feel other people when our shadows touch theirs. We talked about it all the time. We could hear lies, and sometimes, I could persuade people to tell me things I wanted to know. Sandlin could do it all the time. His ability seems to have amplified since the accident and the brain injury, almost as if it magnified the capacity.” She looked at Giovanni. “Is that why you’re interested in me? Because of my strange abilities with shadows?”

  He shook his head, reached for her hand and pressed her palm over his heart. “I saw you in the club, in the dark. Then, the colored lights were flashing and we were moving through crowds. No shadows, remember? I couldn’t take my eyes off you and was mortified when you overheard our conversation.”

  “Why is having ‘shadow blood’ so important to your mother?”

  Giovanni took a breath and let it out. This was one of those moments he hadn’t wanted to get to until he knew Sasha was as much in love with him as he was with her. His eyes met Stefano’s. He detested that he would either have to put her off or risk losing her.

  “Baby, I’m going to ask you to wait for me to answer that. I swear to you I will, but I fell in love with you because of who you are, not what. I’m hoping you did the same with me. Can you wait on that answer? Trust me that much?”

  She was silent, studying his face. Her gaze went to Francesca and then Stefano. The clock seemed overly loud. Time stretched. Giovanni didn’t realize he was holding his breath until his lungs began to burn.

  Sasha nodded slowly. “I won’t stop thinking about it, and just to let you know, I’m very good at solving puzzles. For instance, I know whoever broke into my apartment is someone who was in the club that night. I know it. Nothing else makes sense.”

  “Babe, someone can be across the street and see you and begin to fantasize,” Giovanni said gently. “It could be anyone.”

  She nodded. “You’re right of course, it could be, but it isn’t. It’s someone in Aaron Anderson’s or John Darby’s party. Or one of those cameramen who were close to them.”

  “Tell me why you’re so certain.”

  “Because when someone’s shadow meets mine, I feel them. Sandlin felt you immediately and he c
ould tell certain things about you. He practiced more than I did and he’s very good at reading people. I just get feelings, like dread.” She pulled her hand away and pressed it to her stomach. “I feel slightly sick if the person’s intentions aren’t very nice. I felt that in the club. The camera light and cell phones threw shadows all over that upper tier, and in particular, those two tables. That feeling was there and it was the same when I was in my home and also in the parking garage.”

  Giovanni couldn’t deny that she was right. He’d felt dread as well. Even inside the Hendrick Center, he’d had the feeling that something wasn’t right, that they were in danger. Or he was. Or Sandlin was.

  “That’s pretty damning evidence,” Stefano said. “If you felt that and recognized it, Sasha, why didn’t you say something to Giovanni?”

  “Umm, maybe because we barely knew each other and I would have sounded like a loon?” The smile faded and Sasha shrugged and speared eggs Benedict onto her plate from the warmer. “I don’t ever talk about how my shadow connects with someone’s shadow and I can tell if they’re lying. Or that I can feel what they feel. It doesn’t matter that Sandlin talks about it all the time, no one believes what he’s saying because he has a brain injury. If I said it, they’d lock me up.”

  Stefano nodded. “There are a few people in the world who can do that—feel emotions and intent when shadows touch. It’s exhilarating to say the least and nice when others have that ability so you don’t feel like you’re slightly crazy.”

  “I definitely would have felt that way without Sandlin. When he first talked to me about it, I was really young. I’d been to the doctor’s office and they said I probably wouldn’t have to get a shot, but they all knew I would. I was upset that they’d lied to me and it didn’t make sense when I knew they’d been lying. Of course, I went to my big brother for answers because that’s what I always did. He told me that sometimes when my shadow touched another’s I would feel things about that other person. He said when I did, I needed to believe it. That I had it right. Then he explained that he had noticed it when he was very young as well.”