Reunion
Zorah launched from the SUV and ran up the steps to throw herself into Icaro’s waiting arms.
“Amoré,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion as he rocked her in his arms. “Oh, my love, I cannot tell you how good it feels to hold you in my arms.”
She sobbed against his shoulder as he lifted her clear off the ground to hug her tight to his chest. “I missed you.”
“I was very worried I would never see you again or I would find you and you would not want to see me. Your family gave you the escape you were dreaming of, and I feared you would not want to return.”
Zorah was surprised to hear his voice was as broken as hers. She looked up at him to see tears clinging to his lashes and his bottom lip betraying a slight quiver. She squeezed him tight, “I did not want to leave you Icaro. None of this was my idea or my plan. I meant what I said when I told you I wanted us to try, that I wanted to try. I want us to be together.”
He pressed kisses to her forehead and cheeks as he slowly lowered her to her feet. “I love you, Zorah. I love you so much.”
She reveled in his words as she snuggled closer to him, his arms wound tight around her middle.
“Perhaps we should take this inside away from prying eyes and curious onlookers?” Chester asked as he approached from behind them.
Icaro met his eyes, keeping his arms around Zorah, “thank you for keeping her safe when I failed to do so.”
“Don’t let it happen again. Next time shit like this goes down, I’ll have Orlando pick us up and move us to a location nobody will ever find us. I didn’t fight this hard to back to my daughter only to lose her due to your security flaws.”
“Dad,” Zorah felt embarrassed as her father bluntly told Icaro off.
“He’s right Zorah. We fucked up. I fucked up. I trusted Vodingo when he said he was covering all bases.” Icaro led them into the house with Chester close behind. He sighed as he regarded his new father-in-law, “Vodingo wasn’t telling us the full story. He is struggling with his feelings and Sidonia. It seems he is not as confident in his marriage as he portrayed himself to be. He finally admitted they fight more than anything because he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing, and he spends so much time trying to figure out how to make her love him he’s missing everything going on around him.”
“Sidonia told me this week when we chatted on the phone, he is not very good with boundaries and respectful space.”
“He is not.” Icaro agreed. “However, he is also terrible at asking for help. It is my fault for not noticing he was falling behind in his duties. I was focusing on you as I’d taken a step back from most of my duties while we were on our honeymoon. I did work when we were at the farm because you were upset with me, and I was giving you space.” He winked at her, “see, unlike Vod, I know how to respect my wife’s request for space.”
“Zorah,” Orlando came out of his office and rudely interrupted the conversation, “do you and Icaro want to come into the office here please so we can take a look at the surveillance we’ve set up and discuss next steps?”
Zorah frowned, “already? Can’t I have some time with Icaro before we get into all of this insanity?”
“You absolutely can but Icaro will need to call it into his father who is chomping at the bit to get his hands on Ippocrate Giannone. He wants a full plan in his hand now you’ve had a chance to meet with your mother,” he grimaced, “she’s not changed an ounce, has she? Greedy bitch.”
“Orlando,” Chester warned him with a look as they all filed into the office. He made a face as Icaro took a seat and pulled Zorah onto his lap and held her tight there. “There are plenty of chairs in the room Icaro.”
“There are, I agree, but this is where I want my wife.” Icaro didn’t back down. “Zorah, do you want your own chair, or can you stay with me?’
She shook her head at his antics, “it’s fine, Dad.”
“You moved to calling him Dad pretty quickly.” Icaro commented dryly. “I hope there was no pressure on you to do so.”
“Icaro. I’m fine,” she gave a laugh at his words. “He is my father and I’m fortunate and blessed to have him in my life. He and I are already remarkably close, and I imagine as we get to know each other more, we’ll be even closer still.”
“He lives in Tampa,” Icaro said seriously. “How do you intend to build your relationship if you’re with me in New York? Do you intend to move us to Tampa?”
“We have a house in New York,” Orlando shrugged carelessly.
“Are you a couple?” Icaro waved between them. “You share houses all the time?”
“No but they’re closer than brothers. Orlando has a thing for Keturah.”
“Keturah? How the hell does he know Keturah?”
Zorah made wide eyes and looked at Orlando who was shooting her death glares. “How is he here and doesn’t know?”
“Because she asked us to keep it quiet for now!” Orlando huffed. “She ran and hid.”
“Keturah is here?” Icaro looked at Zorah. “How long has she been with you?”
Zorah shrugged. “After you told her she could be my new guard when we returned to America, she decided she would start early. She’d been tailing me when everything went down on the beach. She managed to track us all the way to Tampa. We went to spend the day at Disney to get to know each other and we caught her following us. She thought I’d run away with Dad because I kissed his cheek. She was really angry with me until we told her he was my father. She’s been working with Orlando, Dane, and Dad to sort out my security and come up with a plan for when we travel. Mostly though she simply pisses Orlando off.”
“I think she’s waiting for someone from your family to notice she was gone.” Orlando stated.
“I did notice,” Icaro shook his head as he pulled out his phone and sent a text. “Her brother and father are currently tearing Catania apart. They thought perhaps she got caught up in the Gallo shit since the last time anyone saw Keturah she’d punched Sveva in the face. Can you get her in here please so I can see for myself she is unharmed, and I can ease her mother’s mind?”
As Orlando picked up his phone and texted Keturah, Icaro squeezed Zorah’s thigh.
“Are there any more secrets I should know or are they all out in the open now?”
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