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She let out an exasperated sigh. “The one who sent me the notes.”
"Notes?” His gut rolled. Whatever was going to come out of her mouth next wasn’t gonna be good. He just knew it.
“Seriously? Can’t you just admit it?” She smacked her hand on the table then shook it as though the action hurt. “You sent me the notes about coming to Venice to find out about my family. What the fuck is the big secret?” she demanded.
He closed his eyes briefly. It was worse than he’d anticipated. He opened his eyes again and then leaned closer to her. “Are you telling me someone you don’t know sent you notes telling you to come to Venice and you came all on your own?” So much worse.
Uncertainty took up residence in her eyes and her gaze faltered. “You make it sound so irresponsible. It wasn’t like that, really,” she said licking her lips.
“So, what was it like then?” he asked, his voice deceptively quiet. His shoulders knotted. She was so fuckin’ naive and it was going to get her killed.
“I—I just wanted to know.”
“Know what?”
“About my family. I wanted to know about my birth parents. The writer said they had information about them and if I came to Venice and stood on the bridge at night they’d tell me.” She touched the necklace when she spoke, but he was pretty sure it was an unconscious gesture.
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You hopped a plane and came to stand on a bridge in Venice all alone at night in the fog hoping that some stranger was going to tell you something about your birth family.”
She took a sip of her wine and ignored the question.
“It never occurred to you that it could be dangerous? That someone might have ulterior motives?” God, he wanted to put her over his knee and spank her. And then soothe the sting with a lingering caress. He shook the thought away. Focus!
She shrugged and played with the stem of her wine glass. “I…I was desperate, okay? I…just wanted to know if I still had family anywhere in the world. I’m looking for a connection to…something.”
“Riss, look at me.” He captured her chin forcing her to meet his gaze. “You almost died last night, and you were in trouble a few minutes ago in the piazza. If would be smart for you to leave this alone and go home.”
She bit her lip. Her eyes had turned the purple of rain clouds. “I need to know about my family. You said you would tell me about them.” Her voice had dropped to a thready whisper.
He still held her chin. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to shake her hard enough to knock some sense into her or pull her into his arms and kiss her again. Both options held appeal. The problem was he’d be out of his mind to tell her about Alicia now. It would just draw her in more and he didn’t want that. An error in judgment on his part would put her in danger, but also might help him find out the truth.
He let go and sat back. “What did the second note say?”
“What?” she demanded.
“The second note. You said there were notes. Did all the notes tell you to come to Venice?”
“Er, no. Just the first one. The second one told me to go to the piazza.”
He sighed. “Where you almost lost your purse and had your jacket slashed.” He took a long drink of his beer. He didn’t want her involved in this mess. It made his stomach roll just thinking about it, but it wasn’t up to him. The Lock and Key Society had to know. Archer Gray had to know what Alicia had been up to and the only individual who might be able to help them was this woman.
He had no doubt now that she was related to Alicia. They’d found similar notes in Alicia’s room after her death. Cash trusted his gut instinct that she’d been playing some kind of game of both ends against the middle. A deadly game, in the end. Someone had slashed her throat and she’d bled to death in a quiet cobblestone alley.
Riss sipped her wine. “Tell me about Alicia. You said you have a picture.”
Cash wanted to slam his fist against the table. Riss needed to get out of there if she had any chance at all of being safe. Asking her about Alicia had been a major tactical error. He could see that now. He needed Riss to leave town and now she wouldn’t go without a major fight. It was a fight he wasn’t sure he could win.
He reached into his coat and pulled out Riss’s purse. The one he’d rescued from the bridge’s railing last night after he’d rescued her. “Listen to me very carefully. You need to go home. Back to New York. Forget the notes. Forget you ever came here. Just. Go. Home.”
She looked down at the purse. “You found my purse? Were you on your way here when you saw me in the piazza?”
“No. I was here, and I saw you leave so I followed you to catch up.” It was a version of the truth. He didn’t mention that he’d watched her in the piazza for a while first. If she didn’t put that together then it was all the better and at this point, she seemed so discombobulated he doubted it would come up.
“Oh,” she said.
“You’re not safe on your own here.” He laid a hand on hers. “Please go home.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I need to know about my birth family. Both my adoptive parents are dead, and I… I don’t have anyone else left in the world. I just want to know if I have any relatives. Anyone I can connect with. That I’m not alone.”
