“What is going on, Vittoria?” His voice is stern this time, and I have to guess it’s because of my reaction to him. He’s going to become suspicious if I don’t do something quick.
I fight through the pain and drop my hands into my lap. Glancing over at Ignazio, I force a small smile on my face. “It’s nothing. I was just having a nightmare, and when I woke up, I was extremely disorientated. The last thing I remember was falling asleep in the library.”
Ignazio extends his hand out to me again, placing it on my shoulder. It takes everything in me not to pull away from him.
“I carried you in here when I found you asleep on the couch. What was your nightmare about?”
I tense, knowing I need to think of something quickly or he’ll catch onto my lie.
“Oh, I don’t remember much. I just remember you and I were on a boat and you went overboard. It was nighttime, and the last thing I remember is screaming for you.”
I swallow down the lie, looking over at Ignazio. He’s staring at me intently, as if to read through me, but when he doesn’t say anything, I take a deep breath.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” I say.
“You never have to apologize for something like that,tesoro mio. Let’s talk more about this nightmare you had.”
“Oh, no. No, no, no. We should both get back to sleep.”
Without thinking about it, I roll over and turn my back on Ignazio, cradling my head in my hands. I close my eyes and silently pray he doesn’t think twice about this, but after that dream—memory—I had, I can’t bring myself to fake that with him.
None of this makes sense, but Iknowthat was another memory coming through, I just can’t figure out why I didn’t remember that from when I was in the hospital.
I have more questions now than I ever had before, but what I do know is that my entire life with Ignazio Faraci has been fabricated by his own doing, and he’s a dangerous man who I need to get away from.
53
LIANA
I’m pacing in the living room while Gio and Gui sit on the couch and Massi sits in the chair. “It’s been way too long. Maybe I should just text her.”
“You could,” Massi says.
“But what if she’s not ready to talk to me again? I kind of threw a lot at her at the spa.” I stop to face the guys. “I mean, clearly she’s not ready to speak with me again if she’s not texting me.” I run my hands through my hair. “Ugh, I just wish there was something I could do besides sit around and do nothing.”
We spent the last week keeping a low profile, and even ended up moving villas as a precaution, just in case Ignazio was hot on our trail. The guys have been ignoring phone calls from their parents. Their dad messaged saying he hopes we listened and went back to New York, but they’re all adamant about cutting off communication with him.
I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’m livid they knew all along about my mom, but Massi, Gio, and Gui have grown up in a loving family home. I know how it feels to lose that, and I don’t want to be the reason it happens to them.
“You have to stop being hard on yourself,mia moglie. I’m sure your mom will reach out soon.”
“What if something happened to her? What if Ignazio found out she met with me at the spa and now he has her locked in that fortress of his?”
My head is swimming with possibilities, and clearly not the good kind.
Massi walks over to me and takes my hands in his. “We’ve been listening in on our parents’ conversations. From what we heard, it sounds like everything is normal over there. Other than Ignazio still trying to find us… And I guess our mom being kept away from your mom.”
“She’s being kept away?”
“Yeah, apparently, Ignazio is worried she is going to cave and tell your mom everything, so Ignazio told our dad to keep her away.”
“I don’t know how he continues to keep up with this lie.”
“He’s a psychopath, that’s how,” Gio grumbles.
“I just wish I knew why she hasn’t tried to reach out to me yet,” I say.
“Like you said, you gave her a lot of information last week. I’m sure she’s still trying to process it. She’ll reach out soon,” Massi says.
