“Yes, when I choose.”
Paul stirred, moaned softly. “Toni?”
“I’m here, Paul.” She tugged her hand free to rest her palm on her cousin. “You’re going to live, but you mustn’t move around too much.”
“I had strange dreams.”
“I know. It can happen that way, Paul. How did this happen? Tell me. We need to talk to the police.”
“No. You can’t do that, Toni. Promise me. Please promise me you won’t go to the police.” His agitation rose sharply.
Byron rested a hand on his shoulder, calming him instantly. “Tell us, Paul. We will handle whatever it is together.”
Do not mention the authorities again. He will undo all we have wrought.
“I know you thought I was stealing from the family, Toni. I don’t blame you for believing that. I wanted you to think I was gambling again.”
“Why, Paul?” There was hurt in her voice, pain in her heart.
Byron’s fingers curled around the nape of her neck, began a slow, soothing massage to ease the tension out of her.
“I went to a party a few months ago on a yacht. The owner had a priceless painting on display. It was one of ours, Toni. I went immediately to the police, and they told me they had been investigating the theft of treasures from prominent families for months. I knew someone in our family had to be helping whoever was behind the thefts. No one knew the way to the vaults, let alone the codes to get in, except you,
Nonno
, and Justine. I knew you and
Nonno
would never sell out our family. So I volunteered to help the police find the thieves.”
“Paul, what were you thinking?”
“I was perfect for it. I already had the bad reputation. I always needed money. I was believable. It was easy enough to start paying attention to Justine.” Paul’s voice was weak, his breathing labored. “She was under suspicion, the one person who would have access to all the security codes. And she would know the way to the art rooms and the vaults.”
“This is too hard for you,” Antonietta said. “We’ll talk later when you’re stronger.”
Paul’s hand covered hers. “I fell in love with her, Toni. I know you’re angry with her, and she probably deserves to be in jail, but I’m asking you to let her go. Tell her to go back to America. Just don’t put her in jail.”
Byron shook his head.
She is not involved in any conspiracy other than trying to help Paul find a way to pay off his gambling debts. She has never stolen anything from the Scarletti family. Unlike your family, Justine is easy enough to read.
“I would never believe such a thing of her. After all these years, why would she suddenly decide to steal?” Antonietta asked Paul.
“It has to be her. There is no one else,” Paul said. “She had access to everything. She’s the one who drew me a map to the vault and gave me the access code.”
“You were willing to die instead of going to a hospital so she wouldn’t go to jail? Lie and take the blame for missing objects, for Justine? Paul, you aren’t thinking clearly. You should have come to me with this immediately.”
Antonietta, Justine did not steal. She regretted giving Paul the codes and the map. She wanted to give him money, but he refused. She believed he was in trouble and wanted him to tell you, but he refused that option. He convinced her he would be in danger from the men he owed money to. It is clear he thought she would involve him in the theft ring, but she did the only other thing she could. She gave him a map and the codes. I felt it was a betrayal of your friendship. But that is all it was. She is not involved in any theft ring.
“I’m not going to turn Justine over to the police, Paul. But you need to tell me who did this to you. They have to be dealt with.”
“Stay out of it, Toni. These people play for keeps.”
He did not see his attackers. There is nothing he can tell us about the men who assaulted him. The thing uppermost in his mind is protecting Justine.
“Send him to sleep. I’ll let Tasha and Justine in to watch over him tonight.
Nonno
must have been informed by now; I can’t see Franco keeping it from him.”
You know Marita is more likely to be the person stealing and handing the goods over to someone else. And it was the elder Demonesini she was going to meet with the Handel score. Franco will be devastated if it is so.
She made her way to the sitting room while Byron issued the order for Paul to sleep. Tasha and Justine practically fell into the room with Franco and Don Giovanni on their heels.
“He is alive,” Antonietta reported. “Just barely. He needs sleep. And plenty of liquids. Can you clean him up and fix the bed? We’re both exhausted. Byron has a talent for healing much greater than mine, and he did most of the work.”
“I would like to take Antonietta to my home where she can rest,” Byron added.
I can’t go anywhere. Paul will not wake until we return. Just enough for them to give him fluids. Too much is happening. I need you this night, Antonietta.
“Your family excused themselves,” Don Giovanni explained. “They could see we were uneasy. I’m afraid we didn’t make much of an impression on them, my boy.”
“They understood,” Byron assured. “Have the police left?”
“They’ve questioned everyone but Paul and the two of you. We said Paul was out, and you two would be available tomorrow,” Franco said.
“
Grazie
, Franco,” Antonietta said, “I doubt if I could sit through more of their questions.”
Byron took Antonietta’s hand firmly in his. “Good night everyone, we will return tomorrow evening.”
“What are we doing?” Antonietta lifted her face to the wind. She hadn’t been out on the battlements in years. It was far too dangerous. Even with Byron, she was afraid. It would only take one careless slip, and she would fall to her death. When she inhaled, she could scent the faint odor of the cat’s presence lingering. The idea that the jaguar could be near, could be watching them at that very moment, was terrifying.
“I am going to take you flying. You said you wanted to try. The sky is clear, just a trace of fog rolling in. I think you will enjoy it after such a difficult evening.”
She studied his voice not the words. “What is it, Byron?” He pulled her to him, buried his face against her neck. “You are in my keeping, Antonietta; always your safety comes before all else. Your acceptance of what and who I am means everything to me. I want to give you something special. Something you will always remember.”
Her fingertips moved over his face. Byron found it curiously intimate each time she read his expression. There was a caress lingering on his skin whether she knew it or not. He knew she was reading his apprehension of what was to come. She was too connected to him. So much had happened from the moment she awakened, so much more would be demanded of her.
“If flying is so memorable, why are you afraid for me?”
For the first time he caught her wrists and pulled her hands from his face, cradling them against his chest. He leaned his forehead against hers. “I have to talk to you tonight about what I am, about what being my lifemate means to both of us.”
“And you’re afraid I can’t accept you? I’ve already done that. I won’t say I don’t have a million questions, Byron, but how can I be afraid of what you are, if you aren’t afraid of what I am, especially now when some jungle cat is killing people? I feel the jaguar in me sometimes. My skin literally itches to change. Or are you afraid for me because you think the killer is someone in my family, perhaps Paul?”
“It is not Paul. Or if it is, he has no memory of taking the shape of a jaguar.”
She sagged with relief. “I was so afraid. I don’t know what to think about Paul and his bizarre behavior. Why would he think he could help the police uncover a professional theft ring? Believe me, I know Paul; he’s not the undercover type. It’s just like him to be stabbed and come here instead of going to a hospital and to manage to convince everyone he can’t go. All to save Justine from prison.” She shook her head. “