The tears come faster. My chest burns with the effort of crying silently, every muscle tensed to keep the sobs from echoing off these walls.
What am I supposed to do now?
How do I compete with a ghost who isn't dead?
How do I fight for a man who might already belong to someone else?
The pillow muffles another sob.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Lorenzo
Ifind Vittoria in her tech cave.
"Anything?"
She doesn't look up from her keyboard. "If there was, you'd already know."
"Check again."
"That's not how this works, Lorenzo." Her fingers never stop moving. "The phone's been wiped professionally. Military-grade encryption on the deleted files. Whoever Luna's working with knows what they're doing."
I drop into the chair beside her, rubbing my temples. The lack of sleep burns behind my eyes, but that's not what's killing me.
It's the sound of Sophia crying into her pillow all night, thinking I couldn't hear.
"How long until you can break it?"
"Days. Maybe weeks." Vittoria finally looks at me, and something in my face makes her stop typing. "How are you?"
"I'm pissed. Twenty years of loyalty from Giovanni, and he sells us out for what? Money he'll never spend?"
"That's not what I meant." She swivels her chair to face me fully. "How are you handling the Luna situation?"
"There's nothing to handle. She's a threat. We'll deal with her like any other threat."
"Lorenzo."
"What?"
"She was your first love."
"She was a mistake."
"And now she's back." Vittoria's voice goes soft, the way it does when she's about to say something I don't want to hear. "How's Sophia taking it?"
"She's... managing."
"Managing." Vittoria repeats the word like it tastes bad. "Did you talk to her about it?"
"There's nothing to talk about. Luna's a problem. We'll handle it."
"Jesus, Lorenzo." She shakes her head. "For someone so smart, you're incredibly stupid sometimes."
"Excuse me?"
"Sophia just found out the woman you loved is alive. And your response is to what? Pretend she's fine?"
