“What’re you … When did you get here?” I say to Gio, who’s leaning against the counter.
“Gui called me last night and filled me in on what was going on. You didn’t think I’d make you guys deal with all this shit on your own, did you?”
I let out a sigh, exhausted from everything that’s gone on, but also relieved knowing my brother showed up when we’re going to need him.
“You’re supposed to be the one making sure business is running smoothly back home.”
“Everything will be fucking fine in New York. You two being in Sicily on your own when shit just hit the fan is a nonnegotiable. You need me here.”
“He’s right,” Gui says, and I run my hand through my hair.
“I know he’s right. You’re both right. It’s good you called him.”
I take a seat next to Gui at the island. “So did you guys find anything out?”
“Yeah, but you’re going to want to brace yourself for this shit,” he says.
“Just spit it out,” I say harshly, the lack of sleep catching up to me.
“Unfortunately, we’re pretty confident Liana’s dad is dead,” Gui says.
“What makes you guys say that?”
“Because Cassius confirmed the plane crash and was able to gain access to classified photos of her deceased dad, but strangely enough, none of her mom.”
“And we think the only reason her mom has gotten away with being alive is because she’s doing it under a different identity,” Gio says.
“A different identity?”
“We heard our parents over their microphone’s, and they called her Vittoria.”
“Cassius dug into her mom’s past, and it turns out she used to live here. She was part of a small family who is no longer around, but you’re not going to guess what else he found out,” Gui says. “She was once engaged to Ignazio.”
“Engaged?” I say, my brows reaching my hairline.
“Yeah. It seems she fell in love with Liana’s dad, though, and fled to New York with him,” Gio says.
“So she was engaged to Ignazio before, left him for another man, started an entire life and family with him, to then come back here and get with the original man she was engaged to? This doesn’t make any fucking sense.”
“We’ve been putting the pieces together, and we think we’ve come up with a theory,” Gio says. “When I was playing back a conversation between her and Mom last night, she sounded … off. I could hear the nervousness in Mom’s voice, surelybecause of the shitshow with you guys showing up to the ball unannounced. But Liana’s mom was acting as if everything was normal. Playing into this charade Mom, Dad, and Ignazio put on as if they’re lying to her too. That tells me she doesn’t know what’s going on, and I have this feeling that she …”
Gio pauses, glancing at Gui then back at me.
“She?” I repeat, urging him to continue.
“I have a feeling she doesn’t remember.”
“Remember …”
“Yeah, like I think that plane crash she and her husband were in was real, and he did in fact die from it, but I think she survived without her memories.”
“And what? Ignazio just happened to stumble across her and took advantage of her memory loss to keep her for himself?”
“I know this seems insane.”
“No, thisisinsane.”
“But it would explain her leaving me,” a small voice sounds from behind me. I whip around, and Liana’s standing there in my T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, one arm hanging down while the other is folded across her body, holding that arm in a way that makes her look so fragile and vulnerable. Her hair is disheveled, but she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
