After a lingering goodbye kiss, Luciano and Aida took separate cabs to the hotel, staggering their return times. They texted Yumi and Felix via Signal the whole way back.
When I talked with Sophie, she said they had no leads on Effie, Aida said.
Maybe we should look at the Greek myths again. Or the Roman ones. There might be something we’ve missed, Felix suggested.
We’ve spent hours poring over them, Aida said.But if you want to try again...
We have to do something.
Aida agreed. She only wished she knew what.
Aida barely slept that night. Between Pandora’s refusal to help them immediately and the worry that MODA would know they had gone to see her, her nerves were on edge. When morning arrived, she made herself look as presentable as possible despite the soft bags under her eyes, then headed to the MODA suite.
Mo was nowhere to be seen. When Aida inquired, Disa informed her that he was attending to personal matters in New Zealand. Aida merely nodded, but her heart was soaring with gratefulness for Sophie’s interference.
When they were done, Fran told her that they expected a new lockdown within the next few days and that it might be a while before she was sent back out into the field to work.
“But do not fear. Your job and paycheck are safe,” she reassured her.
Even if my sanity is not, Aida thought as she let herself out the door.
26
September–December 2020
Aida returned from London with a heavy heart, not just from the weight of their unfulfilled mission but also from the impending sense of isolation as the second lockdown began. The streets of Rome quieted once more, a somber silence punctuated only by the sound of sirens as more and more people were rushed to the hospital with the virus.
With the rise in cases, the Italian government announced a series of measures that would once again restrict movement and shutter businesses deemed nonessential. International travel was still banned, and flights were restricted, but the second lockdown was thankfully slightly less limiting on a local level.
People were allowed to go for walks, and there were provisions forcongiunti, or cells of no more than six relatives. You were still required to be masked and remain at least two meters apart. But the terminology ofcongiunticaused a stir among the Italian people, who were frustrated by the idea that they could not include friends in their cells. The government quickly clarified that relatives meant spouses, live-in partners, civil union partners, anyone sharing a stable emotional bond, and blood relatives up to the sixth degree and kin up to the fourth degree.
I would consider what we have a stable emotional bond, Aida told Luciano with a wink emoji.
Anch’io, he said.Me too.
As far as MODA was concerned, this stable emotional bondconsisted of Felix, Yumi, and members of the palazzo household, but when they could, Luciano was regularly looped into their more private gatherings. There was a curfew in place, so most of their meetings took place during the day, outside, properly distanced, with Luciano spoofing his location to be his apartment.I read a lot of books, he said he told Dolores.
The rains of November didn’t help the situation. The days grew shorter and the nights longer. A new puzzle appeared on the massive dining room table in the salon, this time one with 42,000 pieces. Dante informed them that it would go all the way to the table’s edges. Ilario was elated until Pippa began crying. The idea of the world closing up again was beyond stifling.
But, on occasion, Aida would sleep over at Yumi’s new apartment off the Via Margutta, a stylish street not far from the Spanish Steps, in an area traditionally known as the “foreigners’ quarter.” The best part about Yumi’s apartment—at least in Aida’s mind—was that she lived only a stone’s throw from Luciano.
One night at the end of November, Aida made a bold decision during one of their sleepovers. When the time was approaching midnight, she sent Luciano a text, then gave Yumi a hug and headed out.
“Be careful.” She gave Aida a sock in the arm. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“That gives me a lot of leeway.” Aida grinned before letting herself out the door where Luciano was waiting so she wouldn’t be walking alone in the dark.
“I hope this isn’t a bad idea,” she said as they hurried down the street, hoping to avoid detection by thepoliziawho were on the lookout for anyone ignoring curfew.
“Of course it’s a bad idea,” he told her. “Doesn’t that make it more exciting?”
“I think you’re exciting enough without the extra dose of danger.”
“If there is any one thing I’ve learned in the last few months,it’s that life is short,” he told her as he opened the door to his apartment.
And then Luciano’s mouth was on hers, his hands roaming across her cheeks, entwining in her hair. She was just as needy, her body heat rising, the tingle between her thighs building with every kiss. Aida pressed herself against him, running her fingers hungrily through his hair to bring his lips even harder onto hers, banishing any last thought she had about the gods. There was onlythis—the delirious feeling of Luciano, her longing and desperation for him to fill her.
They never made it to the bedroom. Instead, Luciano bent her over the low back of the living room’s mid-century couch. When he thrust into her, Aida arched in pleasure. Then she was lost, her body merging with his in an intense, pounding beat. It took every last bit of restraint she had not to scream her pleasure.
