“You tired?” he?—
The soundof my laughter echoed on the deck of the yacht, and it brought me out of the memory. I clasped the gold coin around my neck. After the trip to the cave, when I’d gone in search for a pair of earrings in my jewelry bag, I’d found the necklace. Aphrodite’s face was stamped on it. It looked like someone had hand drawn her portrait with thin lines, making her seem real but not. A ruby heart, as red as blood, was imbedded next to her. I didn’t thank Capo for it because there was no use. He didn’t want to hear it. So, I’d lifted it and told him how beautiful it was. His eyes had concentrated in that intense way, as he’d reached for the chain. His fingers caressed down my neck to my chest, and it sent a tremble through me.
He had once told me to learn to speak to him without words—actions were louder. I’d been wearing it ever since.
Even though he was giving me experiences, he was also giving me things he knew I’d treasure. Even down to the silk scarf and the new blue notebook to write my thoughts in.
Though I knew Capo lived his life in the dark, I also had a feeling that he…did certain things in honor of his mamma, Noemi. He’d told me that his father wasn’t a bad man but a bad soul. If that was the case…what kind of life did Capo and his mamma have? I wondered if maybe he was trying to atone for his father’s sins—but with me.
It was just a thought, and I didn’t want to assume…but it’s all I had. Assumptions about the things he wasn’t ready to tell me, if he ever would be. Maybe his father had nothing to do with anything, but I found that hard to believe. No matter how hard we try to run from our past, it’s never far. Especially our own blood, since it’s in our veins.
A sigh that released some pressure from my chest slipped past my lips. I took a sip of coffee and kept my eyes on the horizon. By the end of the cup, a shape in the distance started to take a solid form. We were moving toward it.
“What the fuck?” I muttered to myself, narrowing my eyes against the glare.
It was a ship—the same ship we’d taken to the cave of Aphrodite. Out in the middle of nowhere, it seemed. With so much water surrounding her, I would’ve sworn shewasa pirate ship.
I went to turn, to let Capo know, but he was right behind me, and my face collided with his chest. He’d been on a lounger before.
Before I looked up, I inhaled, breathing him in for a second. He always smelled so fucking good. Pointing behind me, I cleared my throat. “The pirate ship is back, I think. The one that took us to Aphrodite’s cave.”
“Pirate ship?” His eyes narrowed on the figure in the distance, growing closer by the second.
“That’s what it looks like to me,” I said. “Is Captain a modern-day pirate?”
“What makes you ask?”
“Dunno.” I shrugged. “Just seems a little piratey to me. Maybe it’s the smile, or something about him that I can’t really pinpoint.”
“Piratey, ah?” He grinned, moving a piece of hair from my face that had come loose with the wind. “He’s a treasure hunter.”
“A pirate then.”
He grinned. “He doesn’t board other people’s vessels looking to plunder and kill for whatever they have on board, but he does go looking for sunken treasure.”
“You said Rocco trusts him?”
“As much as usual. Captain teams up with them from time to time.”
Ah. Them.The Fausti family. Criminal enterprise and considered royalty all over the world. Figured that their dealings didn’t stop on land.
“Is Captain bringing us somewhere else today?”
Capo came to stand next to me, and I turned to face the water again with him, watching as we seemed to glide right next to Captain’s ship.
“No, they ran into some problems.”
“Other pirates?”
To my surprise, he nodded. “Pirates still exist,” he said.
“What do they want from Captain?”
“This sea is rich with sunken treasure,” he said. “They found a galleon—a Spanish ship. It was carrying antiques, barrels of wine and oil and things like that, and gold, silver, and gems.”
“What does he do with the antiques? He doesn’t sell them, does he?” That didn’t seem right. Those antiques probably represented a culture and how they did things years ago.
“No. He told me he wasn’t into stealing history and selling it, but the other things—gold, diamonds, gems, pearls, that sort of thing—is finders’ keepers. Those things still exist today, he said. He hands over the antiques to the government, so their archeologists can preserve whatever he and his crew find.”
