CHAPTER 323
CHIARA POV
I stiffened the moment I saw him.
The movement was almost instinctive, my spine straightening before my brain had even caught up with what my eyes were seeing.
Don Romeo. He was walking toward us.
The afternoon breeze drifted lazily through the gardens, stirring the roses and carrying the scent of freshly watered earth, but somehow the peaceful atmosphere seemed to disappear with every measured step he took along the gravel path.
He wasn't walking quickly. He never seemed to. Everything about him was deliberate.
Controlled. As though the entire world naturally slowed to accommodate him.
I swallowed quietly.
No matter how many years I'd spent living at the estate, I still hadn't gotten used to him.
Nonna was family. That wasn't an exaggeration. She treated me like I belonged here, even though I constantly reminded myself that I technically didn't.
