Enzo gave her a cool, measuring look. “Kathleen, I can’t guarantee your safety if you come. I will do my best, but I have been around long enough to know that if anyone says they can guarantee the outcome from a meeting like this, they’re lying. I cannot control all the variables. There is a significant chance you will get hurt. I cannot have that on my conscience. Your brother would never forgive me. I would never forgive myself.”
“Then we’re at an impasse because I am going tonight. You are not responsible for me or my safety. I will go whether you help me or not.” She glared at the man across from her.
He swore softly. “Fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “But you will do exactly what I say, when I say it. Agreed?”
Kathleen put her free hand behind her back and crossed her fingers. “Agreed.” She would do what she thought best,no matter what Enzo said. She’d spent too many years on the sidelines being told what to do and how to do it. She’d felt half-alive. As strange and screwed up as this was, this situation made her feel alive in a way she hadn’t felt since before her son was born. And she wanted to hold on to that feeling.
She thought briefly of Connor. Not that she wanted to do anything that might risk her ability to go home to him, but she knew she needed more. She needed this. To be in the thick of things. For too long, she’d been swaddled in bubble wrap, even after Jamie had found her and everything with her ex was sorted. She understood why, but still… she’d spent too many years under lock and key.
Now she wanted freedom. As crazy as it sounded, even to herself, she wanted to be at that exchange because she wanted to do something. To be part of something. To feel alive again.
She took a sip of wine and repeated, “So, what’s the plan?”
Enzo gestured to the sofa. She crossed the room, sat, and popped a cracker topped with Italian meat and cheese into her mouth.Divine. Like all things Enzo touched.
“The plan is to meet them in the square outside the Duomo, by the Galleria,” Enzo said.
“Isn’t that a little exposed?”
“Yes, but it gives us more cover, in a way. A lot of people around.”
“Well, in theory, that’s good for us,” she said. “Doesn’t it also mean they get cover too? Hide in plain sight?”
“True,” he admitted. “But after today’s excursion, do you really want to meet them in a dark alley?”
A valid point. Kathleen suppressed a shudder. “Okay, I get it,” she said. “We’ll meet them in the square outside the Duomo. But if it’s late, won’t it be empty?”
“There are always tourists walking there. It’ll be fine. Plus, I am bringing security.”
“What security?” Kathleen asked as she took another sip of wine.
“Just some extra men who will keep an eye on things. Always helps to have extra eyes on the situation.”
Kathleen nodded. Sounded reasonable. “Okay. What time?”
“Seven p.m.”
She glanced at her watch. Just past four. No wonder she was starving; she hadn’t eaten since leaving the hotel. “What do we do until then?” She took another bite of a cracker with cheese.
Enzo waved her off. “I’ll leave you to explore the house. There’s a library down the hall.” He gestured. “Unfortunately, I have some business.”
Kathleen nodded. Enzo offered a quick smile and left the room.
Strangely, his sudden absence left her feeling lonely. It wasn’t just that his presence was reassuring; it was that he carried this electric energy with him. The kind she hadn’t felt in years, if ever. Dangerous, yes, but she wasn’t planning to act on it. Still, it was part of what made her feel so alive.
She ate more cheese and crackers, sipped her wine, then wandered down the hall. Napping was out; she’d slept too much in the car.
She pushed open a door and gasped in delight. The library was gorgeous. Again, stone walls, French doors opening onto the terrace. Books upon books lining the shelves, Italian and English, fiction and nonfiction. History, modern bestsellers, a little of everything. Picture frames sat scattered along the shelves.
She stopped to look at each one. People she didn’t know. Enzo appeared in some of them, younger, laughing. But one picture stood out. Enzo and Jamie in their twenties. Jamie grinning, Enzo’s head thrown back in laughter. His hair was longer then, both of them full of the optimism of youth.
Kathleen’s chest tightened. That must have been after she disappeared. Jamie looked lighter, happier. She suspected it was because of Enzo. From what Jamie had told her, in some strange way, Enzo had saved him. She would have to thank him for that someday. But maybe, just maybe, Jamie had saved Enzo, too.
They looked so incredibly happy in that picture, those two young men frozen in time. Kathleen was glad for them. She tried to think of her own moments like that, but she couldn’t. Her bad choices had robbed her of so much.
Then she reminded herself that if she hadn’t made those choices, she wouldn’t have Connor. And Connor was, without question, the best thing she had ever done. And she was free now. That was the important thing. She had her whole life ahead of her to live her way. She just hoped that it was longer than the few remaining hours until tonight’s meeting.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
