“I’ve been quiet thus far. If he finds outnowthat I’ve known about this all these years, he’ll never forgive me.”
“It’s not about forgiveness at this point, Rosa, it’s about loyalty, and in this situation, our loyalty is with Ignazio. Do you understand?”
My mom is silent, and I’m not sure if there’s something else going on in there.
My dad continues. “Ignazio has been a friend for decades, and he is extremely influential here. If we lose him as an ally, do you know what it could do to our family?”
I furrow my brow, not fully understanding. Ignazio might be powerful here, but when we’re in the states, our influence is substantial. And now that we have an alliance with the DiMaggios, it extends our influence even more. How couldIgnazio have more power than our families combined? Not to mention, we now have an alliance with the Velasco Cartel, thanks to Amalia Velasco. They’re in every major city in the US and all over South America. I don’t fucking understand.
“I know,” my mom sighs out. “I know. I’m just… I didn’t expect to have to outright lie to our son like this.”
My heart fucking drops.What the hell?
“I know, Rosa darling.” There’s a pause before my dad continues. “It might not seem like it, but this is the best thing to do for our family. Besides, it’s not like she has a bad life. She has a great one. We’re not doing anything wrong by keeping this information from him.”
What? Who isshe?
“I just didn’t think we’d end up in a situation where we’d have to hide it from him is all.”
“I didn’t either, but here we are, and now we have to make sure he never finds out. Do you understand, Rosa?”
“Yes. Yes, I understand.” She sounds defeated.
I slowly back away from the door, then turn around and head toward the living room. I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, but now that I know my parents are keeping something serious from me, I need to find out what it is, and so help me God, I’ll find out one way or another.
38
LIANA
The sun has set by the time Gui and I get back to the villa. Everything went as smooth as it could’ve gone at Balistreri’s. They’re just making a minor adjustment to one of the mermaid gowns, and then I’ll be able to take them home.
All the hard work, all of the late nights, all the stress, and all the frustration finally paid off in the end, with persistence from Izzy, our team, and me.
“Massi?” I call out as me and Gui enter the kitchen, but no one responds.
We’ve been in contact all day, and the last thing he said to me was that he was on his way home. That was earlier this afternoon, so unless he went somewhere, he should be here.
“I’m going to go find your brother, but I want to thank you for coming with me today.”
“Yeah, no problem. It was actually kind of fun. I learned way more than I ever needed to learn about wedding dresses, but hey, maybe I can use it to impress my future wife.”
“There’s nothing better than a well-informed man.”
He chuckles. “Let me know if you guys need anything,” he says, then heads to the other side of the villa where his room is.
I walk through the living room and call out Massi’s name again. When he doesn’t answer, I head down the hall, peeking into the rooms as I pass by.
Stopping at our room, I change out of my clothes and slip my blue silk robe on. The lace dangling at the seams reminds me of our night at Midnight Escapes. I smile at the memory of how good Massi made me feel that night. How completely out of my comfort zone it was, and how I would absolutely do it again.
I call his name again when I walk down the hallway, peering into each room to see if he’s there.
When I get to the other end of the villa, I check the last place he could be—the study—and sure enough, he’s sitting there, seemingly deep in thought, with one elbow on the arm rest bent so his chin can rest in his hand.
“Massi?”
He snaps his gaze to me. “You’re back,” he says, surprise but also a hint of relief in his tone.
Closing the door behind me, I saunter toward him. His eyes light up when he realizes what I’m wearing.
