Blaze (Heat #3)
Deborah Bladon
CHAPTER 1
I stare across the room for a full heartbeat, trying to make sense of what I'm seeing. How is it possible that Sergio Firi is standing less than twenty feet from me in my boyfriend's apartment?
"You're not going to say hello, Cadence?" Tyler looks at me. "You're the love of his life. You should be rushing into his arms."
"I'm the love of his life," I repeat, a wave of emotion cresting inside of me. "He used to tell me that. He said I was the sunshine of his days."
"What?" Tyler's voice is laced with anger. "Why didn't you tell me about him?"
I glance back into the room. Sergio's still standing in place looking at me. He's aged well. His graying brown hair is shorter than I remember. He's thin, his slender face unable to disguise the signs that he's no longer the twenty-something chef who took New York City by storm decades ago.
"Is he alone?" I whisper, swallowing hard. "Is she here?"
"Who?" Tyler asks tightly. "Who are you talking about? What exactly are you to him?"
Once, a long time ago, I was everything to him. Now, I'm nothing.
"Come to me, sweetheart." Sergio's accented voice cuts through the air. "Let me look at you."
"Go," Tyler sneers. "Go to him, sweetheart."
His words drip with sarcasm. I know he's pissed. He was cast into the middle of this without any warning. I wanted to tell him about Sergio. I knew that I'd have to eventually. I just didn't know how.
"Don't call me that." I pivot on my heel so I'm facing Tyler directly. "You don't understand."
"What don't I understand?" he asks, seething. "Tell me what the f*ck is going on, Cadence. How long have you been the love of his life?"
I suck in a sharp breath not wanting to be reminded of those words. I was the center of Sergio's world at one time. He would have laid his life down for me. So much has changed since then. It's been years since I've heard his voice. Our last communication was a text message sent by him telling me that choices aren't always easy but his was necessary.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I just want to know if she's here. Did he come alone?"
"I've missed you, my beautiful girl." Sergio steps toward me, then stops. "I'm alone. She's not here."
My heart leaps with his words. I shouldn't give a shit that she's not here with him. It doesn’t matter. She's somewhere close. She always is, keeping him chained to an emotional leash that is wrapped snuggly around his heart. He'd do anything for her. At one time he would have done anything for me, or almost anything.
"She? Who the f*ck is she?" Tyler's arms cross over his chest. "I have a right to know."
"My wife," Sergio interrupts as he moves a foot closer to us before he stops again. His hands dive into the front pockets of his black trousers. "It's my wife that she's asking about."
"Wife?" Tyler turns toward Sergio. "What's going on with you and Cadence? You told me that you love her."
"I do." He closes his eyes. "I love her with everything. She's my life."
"That's not true." I bite out. "You can't say that now. You can't say that after everything that's happened."
"What the hell is going on?" Tyler steps in front of me, his body a physical barrier between me and Sergio. I know he's not doing it to protect me, but it feels that way. I look into his face but I'm met with blatant indignation. His nostrils are flared, his jaw tight and firm. His eyes are vacant. The only emotion I can see is frustration in the furrow of his brow.
"I can't be here," I say the words quietly; acutely aware of how weak I sound. Tyler doesn't want me here. He practically told me to go to hell when he answered the door. Sergio doesn't want me here either. If he had wanted to see me, I would have heard something from him the past few years. I would have been his first call when he arrived in Manhattan. He has my number. He knows where I live.
"I was wrong, Cady. I shouldn't have let her come between us."
"Where is she?" I lift an eyebrow, ignoring the nickname only he calls me.
Sergio's eyes lock on mine. "She's here. She's in the city."
"How long have you been here?" I prod. "When did you get to New York?"
A vein pulses in his neck. He waits a beat before he exhales audibly. "Two days. I've been here for two days."
I shake my head. I'm not surprised. It's not the first time he's been in Manhattan since we last spoke. He was here, seven months ago, at the launch of a new restaurant in Greenwich Village. His money and name helped give wings to the project and when he showed up at the opening that doubled as a charity fundraiser, it made the local news.
I sat on the couch next to Sophia that night watching Sergio being interviewed just a few miles from my apartment. I went to bed in tears and woke up with the hope that he'd call. He never did.
His gaze dips to the floor. "I wanted to see you, Cady. I wanted to call you."
"You would have gone back to Rome without contacting me again. If I hadn't come here to see Tyler, I never would have known you were in New York."