Courtney’s tears picked up. “Cosimo Clemente.” She reached for her handbag, took out a photo, and handed it to me. “The love of my life.”
I looked at the image and couldn’t believe my eyes. The man at my party last year, flirting and dancing with Isla. What in the fuck was happening?
After Isla had run out of my room, I’d gone off the rails. As the party wound down, and I’d had way too much to drink, he,Cosimo, had gone into my private study. I’d found him rifling through my desk…
“What the fuck are you doing?”I barked at him. “Get out!”
“Where did the blonde bombshell go?” Cosimo asked with a smirk. “Did she dump you?”
“I’ll ask you again. What are you doing in my office?” I moved closer to him, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“Just looking for her phone number. I didn’t want to ask you for it. Thought it would be uncouth.” He smirked again and it pissed me off.
“You stay away from my woman.” I pointed my finger at him and stumbled forward.
“From what I heard, she’s a free woman. Everybody at the party was talking about it. Your breakup was the excitement of the night.” Cosimo stood tall, about my height, and stared at me in the eyes. “I thought I could comfort her.”
I lost it, cursing in Italian that I would kill him for just mentioning Isla. He might have fought back. He might not have. I hadn’t noticed, wholly impassioned.
My hands wrapped around his neck, and I squeezed as hard as possible while yelling at him.
Time lapsed at that point. Cosimo had stopped trying to push my hands off him. His gaze was vacant, but I continued to strangle him for mentioning My-la.
“Ciro, stop!” Roman tugged on my shoulders. “He’s dead.”
It was then that I realized I’d crushed his esophagus.
“Is that the guy who was talking to Isla outside?” Roman asked.
“Yes, but he won’t bother her now.” I got off the floor and kicked the dead man lying on my expensive rug. At least there wasn’t any blood.
“Why did you kill him?” my brother asked. “What was his name?”
“I don’t know. He deserved to die.”
“Jesus, Ciro.” Roman combed his fingers through his hair.
“Clean it up.” I flicked my hand at the piece of shit on the floor and left my office. I would never think about the man who set his sights on my woman ever again…
“Do you hear me, Ciro?”Courtney’s voice cut through my thoughts. “But I don’t know if it’s true or if she was lying.”
“What? Lying about what?”
“That Cosimo was Alessio’s son. He was born the sixteenth of October, a few weeks before you.”
October sixteenth was Pippa’s birthday. This was too fucking surreal.
“I’m sure she was sleeping with other men besides my father.” My knees felt weak. Had I killed my half-brother?
“I’m sure you’re right. I never believed her and Cosimo didn’t either. But that’s why he was at your party last year. Do you remember seeing him?” She pointed at the picture in my hand.
“No. There were a lot of guests. I don’t recall seeing him.” I gave the photo back to her.
“I figured. You’re always so busy schmoozing.” Her sobs had stopped but she continued to weep. “He was supposed to be gone for only a couple of days. But I never saw him again.”
“What happened to him?” I’d left my mess for Roman and Luca to clean up. All I knew was the “intruder” had smashed his rental car into a tree after the party. The vehicle had caught fire and there wasn’t much left of his remains.
“A horrible car accident. The news of his death devastated me, and a week later, I miscarried our baby.” She rubbed her stomach. “I have nothing left of him.”
