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Dario cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t even know her name?”
“I didn’t get to choose who I fell in love with,” I said in irritation.
“True.” He stroked his beard for a few seconds, then said, “Maybe I can help you find this girl. I have… certain resources on the outside.”
I suppressed a smile. If Gunnar couldn’t find her with all his hacking skills and ‘homies’ in MI6, I doubted some small-time gangster in an Italian prison would have much luck.
Not to mention, I didn’t want a bunch of shady mafia types poking around and asking questions. If they did get lucky and somehow find her, they would probably blow her cover – and there was no way she could continue in MI6 if a bunch of gangsters knew all her secrets. Secrets she’d taken such care to hide from me.
Plus, Dario’s ‘resources’ might tip off my old boss. And I didn’t like to think about what Alistair might do if he thought I was talking about him to Italian gangsters.
“Thank you,” I said, “but I have a friend looking into it.”
“But he hasn’t found her yet?”
“Not yet. But he’s very well-connected – and he’s still looking.”
“Trust me, whoever this friend is, he might not have all the resources I can tap into.”
“Thank you, but I’m good,” I said firmly.
Dario looked at me for a long moment, then nodded once. “As you wish. Just know that the offer stands if you change your mind.”
“Thanks… I appreciate that.”
“A word of advice?”
“What,” I said impatiently. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
“If this girl is the One… once you get out of here, go after her. Find her. Let nothing stand in your way. You go to her and lay your heart on the line, and you do everything in your power to get her back… and if she is the One, she’ll say yes. If she is the One, she won’t have been able to move on without you. The day you come back to her is the day she can finally breathe again. You two will start your life over together, and it will be like nothing ever changed.”
The passion and conviction in Dario’s voice were so real, so raw, that I couldn’t make a joke or say what I really thought, which was: It’s a lot more complicated than that.
He spoke with the fervor of a true believer – a man totally convinced of True Love. He wouldn’t be swayed by logic or common sense… so I just nodded.
Dario shook his head. “What I wouldn’t give to have a woman I love like you love her. If you change your mind, just tell me – and I’ll do everything I can to help you find her.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, touched by the real concern in his voice.
“What’s her name again?”
“Rachel.”
“Rachel,” Dario repeated, then smiled. “A good name for a good woman.”
Then he turned and started punching the wall again.
What I didn’t know at the time was that one day, I would take Dario up on his offer…
And he would deliver where Gunnar had failed.
But by then, it would be too late.
99
Ayear passed.
I called Gunnar collect every week on the prison pay phones. I’d assumed Dario would have access to contraband cell phones, but he explained that San Vittore used jammers to make sure there was no reception. It was so the mafia bosses couldn’t run their businesses from prison. You could bribe the staff to shut the jammers off late at night, but unless you were discussing illegal activities, it was too expensive and not worth the trouble.
