“I don’t tell lies.”
But Roz knew Deuce would not have tracked her down to New York just to tell her Mick was going to Rome on business. She knew him better than that. And she also knew Deuce, from the moment she first met Mick, always looked out for her best interest. “Who went to Rome with him, Deuce?” she decided to ask him.
Deuce looked to Big Daddy again. He’d already told Charles. Coming from him, Deuce felt, might make it easier for Roz.
“Bella went with him,” Big Daddy admitted.
Roz’s heart dropped.
“He hasn’t phoned you?” Deuce asked her.
Roz shook her head. “No.” Then she looked at Big Daddy. “You didn’t know he was in Rome either?”
“Not until Deuce just told me.” Big Daddy was inwardly angry with his younger brother. “You can take my plane, Roz. I can fly you there.”
Roz looked at Big Daddy as if he’d lost his mind. “For what? I’m not chasing that man down.” Then a tear tried to escape her big, clear eyes. “He wants her, he can have her,” she said, and got up to leave.
“Ah Roz,” Big Daddy said as he attempted to pull her into his arms. But she broke free. “I’ve got to review the notes session before we wrap up,” she said, and headed back for the stage.
Deuce looked over as Big Daddy clenched his teeth. “Sometimes I can just kill my brother,” he said as he pulled out his phone and called Mick. But it went to Voice Mail.
Charles left a particularly nasty message.
But it would be nearly an hour later, when Deuce had already left the theater and Big Daddy was driving Roz the hour-and-a-half-long ride back to Philly, before Mick bothered to return his call.
When they both saw Mick’s name on Big Daddy’s car screen, Big Daddy exhaled and answered quickly. “Where your ass at?”
“And hello to you, too, Charles.”
“Where your ass at?” Big Daddy asked him again.
“Rome.”
“What reason?”
“I’m taking care of a situation.”
“What situation?”
“What do you want, Charles?”
“You called Roz?”
There was a pause. “No.”
“Does she know you’re in Rome?”
“No.”
“Does she know you’re in Rome with Bella Caine?”
Yet another pause. “No,” Mick finally said.
Big Daddy was angry. “You’re gonna lose that good woman if you keep this shit up, Mick!” And then he added: “You don’t even try anymore,” and then he ended the call. “Bastard!”
Then he looked at Roz. But Roz didn’t want to hear it either. She continued to stare out the window.
Then her cell phone began ringing. When she saw it was Mick, she refused to answer.
