Page 98 of Blue in the Deep Blue Sea

“What is?”

“Loving you.”

“You… love me?” he repeated, drawing out each word.

“I’ve loved you all this time.”

I pulled him closer, crashing my lips against his. His mouth claimed mine instantly, his tongue slipping between my lips until they tangled together in a slow, desperate dance. His hand slid to the back of my head, holding me against him as he deepened the kiss, as though he couldn’t bear to leave even an inch between us.

I caught his lower lip between my teeth, tugging it gently, and a smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

My fingers brushed along his jaw. The face that was usually clean-shaven was now rough beneath my fingertips, a few days’ worth of stubble covering his cheeks and chin.

I smiled.

“I have to ask you something. A thought just crossed my mind.”

“Are we going to fight afterwards?” he asked.

“No.” I laughed. “Did you tie Lorenzo up in front of my house?”

His forehead dropped against mine as he let out a quiet laugh.

“I found out he bullied you, so I gave him a taste of his own medicine.”

“Legend says he is still there singing a song,” I laughed.??“What song?” he asked with a smile, looking at me.

“I think it goes…” I sang softly.

“Call not her name when fog is near,

The drowned still watch, the drowned still hear.

A lantern glows where none should be…

Another soul belongs to the sea.”

“Blue,” he said suddenly. “I think Gianni might be alive.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“There’s this story my father used to tell me when we were kids. It’s about an island near Amalfi. Part of it’s been bought and turned into a hotel now, but there’s a lighthouse there that was built in 1809.” He paused, piecing the memory together.“He always said it was built for everyone who drowned in the shipwreck. There’s a marker with an arrow that points to where the ship sank, and it wasn’t here at Li Galli. The map was wrong. I think Gianni figured that out.”

“But the letter says…” I whispered.

“If my mum was referring to the gold, she might’ve been using that word for the paintings she stole. But the real gold could be somewhere else. I think Gianni wanted everyone to believe he was dead so he could find it before Bianchi and my father figured it out. We never gave him the chance to reappear. We left the island and made our own conclusions.” His expression softened. “If he’s alive, I’m willing to fight for you, even if he never approves.”

We’d been so wrapped up in our own distractions that, for a while, we forgot about all of it. About Gianni, Isabella, Bianchi… Everyone whose lives were tangled up in theirs, everyone still in danger as long as they were out there.

For a moment, the thought that Gianni might still be alive made my heart race. If we ever made it off this island, another battle would be waiting for us, and this time it wouldn’t be about survival. It would be about us.

Here, it was easy. There was no one else.

Out there, there was everyone.

And I was terrified we wouldn’t survive that.

“Whatever gold is out there, whatever he was searching for…” I lifted my face to his. “I hope he found happiness, because I don’t want to lose mine. Not here with you. Not over the hope that there’s something else out there worth chasing.”