Protecting The Principessa (Complete)

~ Chapter 50 ~

"You think he's the one behind this?" She couldn't fault her dad for questioning it, but it just seemed so perfect too.

"Actually, both Adriano and I are questioning it. Which is why I wanted to talk a little more to you about it, see what I could find out."

"That's why you were both in the library?"

"Yes, but we had no clue what we were looking for, so we had no idea where to even start with anything." He sighed and threw his napkin on the table. It seemed like their meal was done and she didn't mind it. Again, she had no desire to eat at all, not after spilling all of that and it seemed like he didn't want to hear anymore. She couldn't imagine the thoughts rolling through his mind at that moment.

"There might be some yearbooks that had us there or something. You're welcome to look." He was about to stand up but paused, looking at her. "But look, nothing else. I don't care to hear my daughter having sex in my house again." He stood up but paused at her chair, touching her shoulder lightly. She looked up at him and saw his eyes bright, and she couldn't help but wonder if those were tears. "You might find it odd for a father to have a favorite child when he has four of them already, but do know, Ignazia, you were never second best, you were always my first and favorite.

"Sara grew up in a shadow that she had no clue about and could never figure out. I tried very hard to keep her from seeing it, but it was there, nonetheless. You might not have known it, but I did a lot of comparing between you and Sara and she never held a candle to you. Maybe that's why she is the way she is, and I have no one to blame but myself for that one. But you're my princess, and you will always be." For the first time in the longest time, he placed a brief kiss on the top of her head and then walked away, leaving her with a smile on her face. She didn't want to put that on Sara's shoulders, because she knew how painful all of that could be, but it eased her eleven-year-old heart at the same time.

She pushed her chair back and grabbed her purse, ready to pay the bill. But as she walked up to the hostess, asking for it, she said the man had already covered it. Leave it to her dad to pay for something even though she asked for it. With a smile, she walked out of the restaurant, not surprised to see Adriano standing there with the door open already.

"I talked to Carlo for a brief moment, he said you would be heading out shortly." Ignazia smiled and then gave him a light kiss before getting into the car, not missing the smile of surprise on his face. "Everything go okay?"

"It was rough on some levels, but I got the information you wanted. However, I'm drained, can we look tomorrow?"

"Honestly," he told her, pushing the car into drive and smiling at her, "I had no intention of taking you back to his house. I want to take you back to mine and kiss you fucking senseless for the rest of the night." Izzy smirked, knowing she could totally be on board with that.

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"How well do you know the family history?" Ignazia asked as they walked up to the library. In an odd move, Carlo had taken the family out, leaving the two alone to do what they needed to do. Izzy was not about to ask why they could have done it with the family there, but she was okay with that plan too.

"I suppose enough of it, why?" She walked into the room and looked around before turning to him.

"My dad said some stuff, sure, gave us a starting point, great. However, we're still stuck. We're trying to find some connection between this man and my dad, right? Something that would tie him to wanting to hurt my dad, or me. But what if it's beyond that?" Adriano walked over to a yearbook and pulled it down before taking a seat on the couch that they were just using the day before. Izzy flushed at the thought as she watched him and had to turn away.