After My Heart Died, The Don Begged Crying at My Feet novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: The Robe

Anneliese finds Gia in her kitchen wearing her robe and has two guards walk her out; Gia says to ask about the ninth of November.

Fitz drove us up the hill without saying a word.

Our house sat behind a gate on a quiet street, with two of Dominic's men in a black car at the curb.

They got out when they saw my face.

"Mrs. Ventresca," one of them said.

"Is anyone inside?" I asked.

The guards looked at each other.

"Miss Falcone came by at five this morning, ma'am. Mr. Ventresca's orders were to let her wait inside."

"His orders."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then come with me, both of you."

I didn't need my key.

The front door was unlocked, and the house smelled like coffee.

Gia stood at the counter in my lavender robe, with her black hair wet and a slice of my leftover lemon cake on a plate.

She looked up and smiled the way she smiled at every customer who came into the bakery.

"Annie! Oh, thank God. I've been so worried about you."

I looked at the plate.

"That's my cake."

"I couldn't leave without making sure you were all right. Dom was frantic, he asked me to wait here in case you came home."

"You're wearing my robe."

"Mine was wet." She laughed, a small, easy laugh. "I got caught in the fog on the way over."

"You were at the club until after midnight, and you posted at seven."

"I didn't sleep."

"Where did you get the key?"

She slid her hand into the pocket of the robe and took out a ring of keys with a small silver anchor on it.

"Dom gave it to me in the summer, in case of emergencies. I water your orchids when you're traveling."

I had never traveled in the summer.

I had never had an orchid.

The smile on her face didn't change, and I saw that she knew I had noticed.

"Take it off," I said.

"Annie, you're upset. Let's sit down and talk like friends."

"We were never friends. You ordered eleven cakes from me and let me tell you about my marriage over every one."

"That isn't fair."

"Take off the robe."

She tightened the belt instead.

I turned to the two men standing in my doorway.

"Please walk Miss Falcone out of my house."

The taller guard shifted his feet.

He glanced at Fitz, and Fitz gave him one small nod.

That was all it took.

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

Gia's mouth fell open.

"Excuse me? You work for Dominic. He told you to let me stay."

"He told us to let you wait," the shorter one said. "Mrs. Ventresca says go."

"She can't give you orders."

Neither man answered her.

They each took a step into the kitchen, and Gia backed against the counter with her hand on the lavender sleeve.

"Fine," she said.

She stripped off the robe and dropped it on the floor.

She was wearing the sequined dress from the club underneath it, creased and sagging at the zipper.

"You think you won something," she said. "You think he's going to crawl back to you because you made a scene in front of the captains."

"I think you should leave my key on the counter."

She looked at the ring in her hand.

Then she worked the key to my front door off the silver loop, slowly, and set it by the cake.

"He told me everything about you," she said. "You know that? Things you would never say to a friend."

"Get out."

"Fourteen months. I know what you sound like when you cry. He told me."

The guards took her by the elbows.

She let them walk her through my front hall, with her heels in her hand and her face perfectly smooth, until she reached the door.

There she turned and spoke over her shoulder.

"Ask him where he was on the ninth of November."

The door shut behind her.

I stood in my kitchen with her coffee going cold on the counter.

The ninth of November was the night I lost the baby.

I had never said the date to Gia.

I had never said it to anyone but my husband.

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