Page 138 of Beautiful Obsessions
The house sat on a stretch of land that rolled endlessly into green hills and sunlit fields.It had soaring white walls with wide windows and open space.
It wasn’t built for war or power or control.It was built for comfort.A place to raise a family.And somehow, we’d made it ours.
For the first time in a long time, things felt… steady.Safe.
Archie’s voice shifted slightly in the distance, pulling my attention back to him.
I watched as his posture changed.Subtle, but unmistakable.
His shoulders tightened.His head dipped slightly, like he was listening harder now.
Something in my chest went still.Whatever was being said was important.
The call didn’t last much longer.When he ended it, he didn’t move right away.
He just stood there for a moment, staring out over the hills, the phone still in his hand.
Then he turned.And started walking back toward me.
I straightened, pushing off the doorway.
His expression stopped me before he even reached me.Solemn.Quiet.Too controlled.The old Archie.
“Archie?”
He didn’t answer immediately as he closed the distance between us, his gaze locked on mine, unreadable in a way I didn’t like.
“That was Russia,” he said finally.
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“My uncle.”
A beat.
“And?”
Something flickered in his eyes then.A coldness I wasn’t accustomed to from him.
“My father’s dead.”
The words landed between us, heavy and unmovable, even though the world didn’t react.The sun still stretched across the hills.The breeze still moved through the trees.Somewhere in the distance, a bird called out like nothing had changed.
But it had.I felt it.A shift beneath the surface.Quietly dangerous.
I wondered what this meant for Archie.How it affected him.I didn’t know much about his family in Russia-a subject he never so much as touched on-so I wasn’t sure what sort of relationship Archie had with his father.
I searched his face, my voice quieter now.
“What does that mean?”
His gaze didn’t waver.
“It means,” he said slowly, “I have to go back to Russia.”
And just like that—Tuscany didn’t feel so safe anymore.
