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"I wish it was some kind of mix-up, but the footage is clear. After you left her in the safe room, she made her way down to the vault—alone. She disengaged the outdoor lock, used the retinal scan, entered the passcode—she probably watched you enter it—and took the diamond. Then, she left quietly like nothing happened."
I stare at him, searching for any indication that this is a joke. But Rico isn't one to jest about such things. My hands curl into fists as anger and disbelief war inside me. Romola was supposed to be different. She was supposed to be better than all the others.
"Are you sure it was her?" I ask. " Could someone have forced her? Were there any signs of foul play?”
Rico shakes his head. "There's no sign of a struggle. No one else on the cameras. Just Romola, cool as a cucumber, cracking the outside lock like she's done it a hundred times before."
My heart hardens to stone. The woman I thought would be my salvation has only brought me ruin. I trusted her, I loved her, and this is how she repays me.
Betrayal is an old friend. I should have known better than to think I'd escaped its grasp.
“Find out where she went,” I say icily, ready to exact revenge.
I pace the floor of my bedroom, my heart burning with pain like it’s being dipped in acid. I told her things I’ve never told a soul. I let her into my heart because I thought she was different from all the others.
Maybe finding happiness with a woman isn’t in the cards for me. My throat chokes from the tension that refuses to go away. I loved her. But in the end, she's proven herself just another gold-digger.
I’d started dreaming of a future with her, believing in a family…someday. I grabbed a vase and threw it at the wall.
I need to let this rage out, but it doesn’t help.
Why did I ever let her close? Why did I ever…?
The questions become so consuming, so painful, that I need someone to talk to. I can’t deal with this alone, I need answers, or I’ll drown in a dark pit of misery.
I pick up my phone with trembling hands, knowing only one person I can call.
“Sybil.”
“Fiero,” his torn, old voice comes through the phone.
“You lied to me Sybil,” I raise my voice. “You told me Romola and I are bonded by fate, that there’s a grave danger looming above us, that I need her to survive it.”
“Ah, I see,” Sybil mutters. "You're hurt and angry because Romola stole from you. But you must look deeper, Fiero. Not everything is as it seems."
"You knew? You saw that this would happen and didn’t think to warn me? And now you tell me that not everything is as it seems?" I scoff. "She picked a lock and cracked my vault. What more is there to see?"
"Your heart led you to Romola for a reason," Sybil says patiently. "You must trust it now, even when things seem dark. Romola is not the thief here."
"The cameras show otherwise," I snap. "Or has your sight failed you now, Sybil?"
Sybil clears his throat, unruffled as always. "My sight is clear. Yours has been clouded by anger and betrayal. You must look past that. Romola is innocent."
“She took the Heart of Italy,” I scream into the phone. “What innocence is that?”
“In your rage,” Sybil tightens his tone, his anger shining through for the first time in years. “You forget the Heart lies in the caves?”
I clench my jaw. “She doesn’t know that,” I defend myself.
“Ah, yes. But then she didn’t steal it, did she?” he argues with logic I can’t deny.
“What are you saying, Sybil?”
“I’m saying I saw what I saw. She loves you. She’d never hurt you this way unless there’s a very good reason. Trust your heart in this Fiero, not your mind. Look within, feel the hurt, the pain, the betrayal and search and search and search every crevice of your heart and tell me you don’t love her.”
I close my eyes, the red of rage burning through. I curse her in my head, but the image of her at the bar filters in. I call her a traitorous bitch, but the sweetness with which she kisses me in bed hugs my memories. I call her an opportunist, but her anger at being whisked away on a private jet without due notice draws me to reality.
“So?” Sybil whispers. Which is it? Your heart or your mind?”
