“Those are private matters, Signorina.”
“Women, you mean…” I growled, my tone too harsh.
Camillo Vicari was my kidnapper, a psychopath, a mobster, and would eventually be my murderer. What he did in his private life was none of my business, nor should it interest me.
Right?
Luca blushed even more. “Private matters, Signorina.Allora, andiamo. You need to call your famiglia.”
I inhaled as much air as my lungs would allow. Images of Camillo in bed with other women flooded my mind, but I tried to push them away.
It’s none of your business, Daisy. He’s a criminal and he’s going to kill you eventually. Snap out of it.
I followed Luca into the villa, down the large hallway that divided the central part of the house and opened into the main hall. As soon as we left the hall and entered it, on the left there was a small living room, which I had been told was where visitors were received, and on the right a modest office for quick, unimportant, yet formal matters. Next, on the left, was the immense staircase leading to the upper floor, and finally, beyond it, a guest bathroom. On the right, however, right after the office, was a room securely locked.
It was the video surveillance room, to which only Luca and Camillo had access. It was a sort of office lined with monitors, a desk, and a safe in which Luca kept the phone I used to call home. I had been there a few times before, to make the occasional call.
I waited for Luca at the entrance. He returned with the phone in his hand, locking the door before handing it to me.
“I’ve been analyzing the situation, Signorina, and I think it’s best to prepare your famiglia for your extended stay. Stick to the same narrative of the passionate romance. It was a good idea and makes your desire to remain in Italy believable.”
I sighed, squeezing the black device between my fingers.Extended stay. It was a curious way of putting it.
Luca motioned to me, and we walked the rest of the way down the hallway, stepping out into the main living room. Midday light streamed through the glass shutters and fell directly on the two massive black leather sofas positioned in the middle of the rectangular room, spreading out to the bookshelves filledwith books that lined the walls and gently touching a granite fireplace.
I took a seat on one of the sofas, and Luca took a seat right across from me. When he motioned for me to start the call, I nodded.
“Honeybee!” Aunt Lizzie answered on the first ring, and I smiled with a twinge of sadness, seeing her cheerful face on the screen. “How’s that adventure going?”
I smiled back, swallowing the usual lump that formed in the middle of my throat every time I called home. I missed my aunt, but I couldn’t let her tell. “Very well! Pasquale is… wonderful.”
“Ooohhh! So, things are getting serious?”
If only she knew.
I nodded, forcing a smile, while Luca’s watchful gaze monitored the situation down to the last detail. “He… wants me to stay in Italy.”
The corners of Aunt Lizzie’s mouth turned down very slowly, her joy evaporating. “Daisy.” My name slipped from her lips in a disheartened whisper. “What do you plan to do?”
I took a deep breath and my cheeks ached as I held the smile. “I don’t know. I miss you all, but he’s very special.” It hurt to say that. Every conversation I had with Aunt Lizzie or Olivia always felt like the last one, and it always sounded as if I were trading them for a dick. It wasn’t like that. It would never be like that. “Pasquale… I never thought I’d find someone who made me feel this way after Lester.”
Those words made me stumble over my own emotions, and I had to bite the inside of my cheeks to pull myself together, because I realized there was some truth in them. Camillo was my future murderer, and yet something was revived inside me after meeting him.
There was sadness in Aunt Lizzie’s expression and, at the same time, a smile full of tenderness. “Love really is a complicated thing,” she told me. “If staying in Italy makes you happy, do it, Honeybee. Life doesn’t stop, so you might as well seize it while you can. And Lester, my love, won’t come back, no matter how much you wish for it.”
“Thank you…” I whispered, my eyes filling with tears. I took a deep breath and tried to hide it. “And Oliver, how is he?”
Aunt Lizzie sighed, and a mischievous expression appeared on her face. “He’s fine. Ready to be… adad.” My heart skipped a beat, and a deep, sincere smile spread across my aunt’s face. “In about five months, you’ll have to come to Mississippi to meet your little cousin, Daisy.”
This time, it was impossible to hold back the tears. Like a little child, I cried quietly, my free hand trying to cover my face. Aunt Lizzie was pregnant… and Iwasn’tgoing to meet that child.
“Oh, Daisy! No!” Aunt Lizzie groaned. “Please, Honeybee! This pregnancy can’t overshadow your happiness!”
“But… Aunt Lizzie… I’m in Italy, while you’re there, pregnant and—”
“And I’m a grown ass woman and I have Oliver already settled here at home! Fulfilling his duties as the grown ass man he is.” She fired back, but suddenly her brow furrowed. “Speaking of adults… Isn’t there anything you want to tell me?”
I sniffed a few times until I regained control of my emotions and blinked at the phone screen. “Tell you what?”
