“Now I have a question for you. Who was the guy at the club in L.A.?”
She tenses and looks out the window, buying time.
“Which one? There were plenty of guys at the club that night,” she says, flicking her hair and trying to distract me with her theatrics. “Look at me darling; I’m a catch.”
Honestly, I wonder if acting is her calling.
“The guy with the bleach-blond buzzcut, in the background of the selfie you sent me.”
“Jealous?”
“No. I’m just wondering why it sent you into a spiral.”
“Who said it did?”
“Chiara. I’m a lawyer. I can tell you’re not only stalling by answering a question with a question, but that you’re hiding something, because your spine has stiffened, you’re bouncing your foot, and your jaw is clenched.”
I watch her squirm some more and apply a little more pressure.
“Marco told me you had a panic attack, and they’re often triggered by the reminder of something unpleasant or a trau?—”
“Yes, Raf. No need to mansplain to someone who has panic attacks,” she snips.
“Ah. So you admit you did have a panic attack?”
“This feels like a cross-examination. I need my lawyer present—oh, wait. That’s meant to be you.”
“Not anymore. You’re living with me now, so it’s a conflict of interest.”
“You’re being an asshole.”
“And you’re avoiding the goddamn question, which tells me there’s a reason you reacted the way you did to seeing him.”
I had Avery investigate it, so I know enough to know the guy is bad news, but I want to hear it from her.
“Fine. You want to know? Well here it is. He’s the man I was fucking when my parents were killed. The supposed love of my life. The gold standard.” She laughs mirthlessly, chin quivering. “He was older than me and I fell for all his charms, never doubting for a second every promise he made to me about the life we would build together. He promised as soon as I turned twenty-one, we would marry, create a home, and have a family together.”
No longer just feeling overheated, I’ve reached boiling point as white-hot rage sears through me, and the arm rest creaks from how hard I’m squeezing it to stop the fury I feel over that con man ever having his hands on her. Or maybe it’s that all the things I’d been imagining with her, she had planned to have with someone else. It’s crazy given I didn’t even know her then and that I swore I’d never let myself believe I could have those things again after Victoria, but here we are.
Her shaky voice brings me back from the brink of murderous thoughts.
“Except after my parents were killed, he disappeared. I never heard from him again. The number I had for him no longer worked. He completely vanished, and I was left even more heartbroken than I already was. AJ is the only one who knows I was with him. He’s convinced that Alessandro was working for the people who killed my parents. That the plan was to lureme away that day, because my parents would never flee to save themselves without me.”
“Alessandro? Is that his name?”
She nods, and I decide not to tell her that’s probably not his real name right now because I just want to keep her talking so I can relay as much as possible to Avery.
“He looks so different now, but I’d know his eyes anywhere. And…” She hesitates.
“And what? Chiara, if you’re in danger, you need to tell me.”
“And the night in L.A., he called me by his nickname for me and told me he missed me.”
I have an overwhelming urge to punch the window pretending it’s his face.
“And what? He’s come back for you, is that it?”
“I don’t know, Raf! I didn’t exactly stick around to find out, as you well know!”
