Book II - 35

AUDREY

The painting displayed in the living room was already glorious, but obviously, Gabriel kept the finest ones in one place in this room. He took my hand and drew me to the wall at the left, and presented me with the enormous painting of an angel.

And it wasn’t any regular painting of an angel with wings. Its body was male with the face of a female, and it was nude but with no genitals. But that wasn’t what made the artwork brilliant. The angel’s wings had two shades of black and white and spread up above.

“Redenzione dell’angelo caduto. The Fallen Angel’s Redemption. Bello, no?” he murmured.

“Sì, signore, bellissimo. Chi ha creato questo?” I said, unable to take my eyes off the painting.

“A painter and friend I talked about earlier. Tu parla Italiano, si?”

I shifted my gaze to his gorgeous face. “My mother was Italian. She taught me. You? You speak it very well, Mr. Stark like it’s your mother tongue.”

His eyebrows knitted together, but his eyes gleamed in apparent delight. “Be