She gave a small shake of her head. “Callie guessed a while ago. She felt she had to tell Dante, but I know she wouldn’t have told anyone else.”
That landed like a punch. “Danteknows?”
“She told him the other day. I think she thought he’d be on her side about telling you, but he agreed with me.” The glimmer of a smile played on her lips. “He thought you might jilt the bride if you knew about the baby before the wedding and that hellfire would rain down on everyone.”
He pulled his hand from her clasp and dragged his fingers over his stubbled cheeks. He needed a shave, he registered dimly as the sting of betrayal coursed through his veins. Dante was his oldest friend, the person he trusted above everyone. That he knew about the baby came as much of a shock to Niccolo as the pregnancy had done.
“He was trying to protect you,” she said softly into the long silence that followed.
Tilting his head to the ceiling, he sighed heavily. If there was one person in the world who would put his life on the line for him, it was Dante. “I know,” he admitted. “You both were.” He lowered his gaze back to her. “And now it is for me to protect you and our baby and put into action a plan to stop the hellfire.”
Her eyes shone. “So you do have a plan?”
“Yes, but it will only work if I can get hold of Dante, so I need to find a way to hack into Benjamin’s computer.”
“What do you want Dante to do?”
“I want him to use his vast wealth and resources to get us to Switzerland. I don’t have enough cash on me to do it, and right now it’s too dangerous to access my bank accounts.”
Her hopeful expression faded, the shine in her eyes fading. “I can’t leave the country, Nic. I haven’t got my passport.”
He bit back an oath. The only way for the plan that had been forming and solidifying in his head to succeed was to get out of England. Leaving Georgia behind was out of the question. “We will get your passport.”
“How? It’s in my flat. Won’t they be watching it?”
He rubbed his stubbly cheeks again. “I saw two men watching your flat last night. They would be stupid not to have men inside it too, and we know the Espositos are not stupid.”
“Then no passport.”
“Dante can help us with that, too… If I can hack that damned password to get hold of him.” If not, he’d come up with a new plan.
“Wow, this really is serious if you’re prepared to ask for help.”
His grin formed without any warning. Now that they were discussing a way out, Georgia’s mood had visibly lifted.
“I am famous for asking for help when it’s needed,” he deadpanned. He didn’t need to be a mind reader to know she was thinking of his failure to ask for or accept help at any point since Lorenzo’s blackmail.
Screw his pride. When it came to Georgia’s life and the life of their unborn child, he would do anything to keep them safe.
Her eyes suddenly narrowed. “I don’t suppose you know Dante’s phone number off the top of your head, do you?”
“No…” He thought back to their childhood. “But I know his father’s.”
“Off by heart? How?”
“He’s had the same number since we were children. He made sure Dante and I both memorised it in case we ever needed to call him. I’ve never forgotten it.” Or forgotten how Dante’s father had been more of a father to him than Niccolo’s had ever been.
Although it had never been spoken of, Niccolo had been aware from a young age that the Coscarellis suspected what went on behind the closed doors of the Martinelli estate. Poor in money but rich in love, his best friend’s parents had gone out of their way to treat him like a second son. If he’d been marrying Georgia instead of Siena, the Coscarellis would have taken his parents’ place at the wedding. His own parents had only been invited to the wedding because it was the whole pointofthe wedding: Lorenzo tying his family to a duke’s family.
“They why don’t you use the house phone to call him?” Georgia suggested, her eyes now dancing with excitement.
“What house phone?”
“The one in the hallway next to the downstairs bathroom…” Her brief burst of excitement dimmed a little. “Unless it’s just an ornament and not a real phone. It looks like an antique.”
He was already on his feet. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Georgia perched herself on a leather armchair and crossed her fingers, arms and legs that this would work.
