Through the car window,Adriana noticed a cake box sitting on the passenger seat.
It was vanilla-flavored,Gianna's favorite.
She had heard that cakes from that bakery needed to be ordered a week ahead,the kind of place that turned scarcity into a price.Once,Adriana had paused outside its window,admiring the work behind the glass.
But Marco had dismissed her interest then,saying,"There's nothing special about that bakery.They just use the waiting list as a hook to reel people in.If you want cake,I'll take you to the shop next door.They've got plenty ready."
In the end,Adriana hadn't bought any cake at all.
Now,she realized that while the bakery might not have been special,people certainly could be.
She wasn't special enough.Not even for a simple cake.
"Adriana,Adriana?"
When she didn't respond,Marco frowned,impatient."If I came looking for you,it means I've already forgiven you for last time.You should know when to back down."
Seeing that she still wasn't responding,he reached over and pulled her into the car.His expression stayed sour.
Since their last bad parting,he had been waiting for her to lower her head and apologize.That was what Adriana always did,after all.But this time three days had passed without so much as a call or a word.
An unexplainable unease crept over him,as though something precious was slipping out of his grasp.The signet ring of the Fontaine alliance sat heavy on his finger,and without meaning to,he turned it.
He had gone to the Castellano estate,needing to see her in person,convinced her presence would quiet the alarm he couldn't name.
Yet she hadn't been there,and even the household staff claimed they didn't know where she had gone,eyes lowered the way the help always lowered them when the truth was inconvenient.
So he had driven through every street the territory allowed him until he finally spotted her outside the hospital.
Now,glancing at her in the rearview mirror,he felt some of it ease.As long as Adriana was within arm's reach,the bells in his mind seemed to quiet.
But during the drive,Adriana remained silent,not a single word.
That had been impossible,before.
The unease surged again.Marco hit the brakes hard,stopping the car in the middle of the road.
The route up to the Castellano villa was usually empty,but Adriana was startled.She instinctively grabbed his sleeve.
Seeing her still clinging to him,his panic melted into satisfaction.
But he masked it,keeping his tone distant and commanding."Since you know you were wrong,you should give that account to Gianna."
Adriana understood at once why Marco had come looking for her.
Since childhood,Adriana had loved the work of her hands.Even after she was banished to that remote outpost,where there was no money for instruction or proper supplies,she practiced every day with nothing but a pencil.
To keep herself going,she had built a name no Family knew belonged to her."Rosa,"she signed it,and through that name she let her work move quietly through the underworld's finest circles.
Her technique and her style drew a following fast,until even the legendary Maestro Vesari sent word for her.
The Maestro was a towering figure,the most respected mentor of forgers and artisans alive,and his summons was as good as a declaration that he meant to take her as his last protégé.
But before Adriana could even answer him,Gianna wept and said she wanted to train under the Maestro too.
Of course,a man like Vesari would not take just anyone.
