She made herself a cup of tea, flooded the house with soft music and sank into one of the luxurious, overstuffed chairs to read. She lost herself in a book for a long time, grateful for the chance to just be still. It was the phone that brought her back from the grand adventure she was on along with the characters in the book. This time it was the Vitale home.

Bruno, Theresa’s grandson, told her that Emme had just left and Theresa had taken a fall. She was in the bathroom and refusing to come out. He’d heard her fall but she’d locked him out and was asking for Francesca. His grandmother was crying and upset and nothing he said or did would make her budge. Francesca assured him she would come immediately.

Francesca immediately texted Enrica to let her know that she would be needed after all, and to meet her downstairs. Then she called Stefano and told him what had happened. She was very proud of the fact that she remembered already to have her bodyguard in place so her man wouldn’t lose his mind. She promised she’d text him the minute she got to the Vitales’ and let him know what was going on.

Enrica was waiting at the elevator and escorted her out to the car. “I don’t like driving and watching over you. We should have a two-man team on you,” she said as she slipped behind the driver’s seat.

“I could drive,” Francesca offered. She hadn’t driven in a very long time and traffic in Chicago was intimidating.

Enrica sent her a look and Francesca grinned at her as her bodyguard started the car. “We could have walked. The house isn’t that far.”

“There’s a big storm coming.” Enrica indicated the sky. “It’s supposed to be bad. Thunder and lightning. Pouring rain. I don’t want to get caught in that, but more, I don’t want my cousin to kill me, which he would if I let you walk around with only one bodyguard. Believe me, Francesca, he wouldn’t like that.”

Francesca rolled her eyes. “He has a serious problem and needs help. I think for his birthday I’m getting him a counselor.”

Enrica laughed. “You’re good for him. He didn’t smile much before he found you. Now he’s more relaxed and he laughs a lot. I love that for him. I love that he has you. We’re hoping the others will find someone to love them.”

Francesca thought it was a very odd way of putting it. “Why do you all guard them so carefully? They’re so well trained.”

“So are we,” Enrica said. “Don’t you understand how important they are? Not just to our family, but to the world? Things have changed so much, and the laws allow criminals to slip through the cracks all the time. The gangs keep getting more violent and claiming more territory. The cartels are recruiting our young kids and using them to assassinate anyone in their way. The riders can slip in and out of anywhere without being detected. No one knows how they get in or who they are. They can get to anyone at any time. That’s important. It’s important to someone whose family has been wiped out by the cartel and just as important to someone like Signora Vitale. We revere the riders.”

“Every life is important, Enrica, including yours. I’m uncomfortable with having bodyguards. I’m not a rider, you know, and I never will be.”

Enrica pulled the car into the Vitales’ driveway. “You’re not a rider, but you’re going to marry one. You complete his life and can give him children. They sacrifice all choices when they’re born. Their lives aren’t like ours. I have a choice in what I do. I can marry whomever I please. If they don’t find the one they can love, they’re forced, through duty, to be with someone they don’t. They don’t have normal childhoods. Stefano and the others had crap childhoods. So bad. You can’t imagine.”

She slid out of the car and went around to the passenger door before Francesca could answer. Francesca knew enough to stay in the car until Enrica decided to open the door. She waited, contemplating the idea of having children and making certain their lives were happy and filled with love. She was beginning to realize she had no real knowledge of what Stefano and his siblings had gone through, but she knew Stefano was absolutely determined that his children wouldn’t suffer the same fate. She loved him all the more for that and for the fact that he trusted her to make his life and their children’s lives wonderful. She knew he was counting on her.

They hurried up to the front door, Enrica one step behind her, her gaze on the rooftops, the garage, the street itself. Francesca couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be a bodyguard responsible for the safety of another human being. Bruno opened the door and he looked . . . terrible. He was pale and sweating. There was a bruise by his eye and his lip was swollen and cut. He stepped aside to let them in.