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When the door opened, her breath smelled of mint but her hand was on her tummy. “Feeling better or should we wait?”
“Better.”
“Lucia mentioned a back way into the house,” I said as we approached the villa.
“That way,” Pia said, pointing left. “Stop here.”
I didn’t see anything that looked like a way in, but followed her around a corner and down some stone steps while Rile waited in the SUV. “What is this?” I asked when we came to what looked like an ancient-looking door that had rarely been used.
“It leads to the cellar, where there is another set of stairs that go back up.”
The secret staircase took us to the second floor and Countess Maria’s bedroom.
We knocked and entered when Pia’s mother called out to us to do so. The moment the door closed behind us, she threw back the bedclothes. Underneath, she was fully dressed.
“I’m sorry, Pia. We wanted to tell you before now, but there didn’t seem to be a good time.”
“You are well, Mamma?” she murmured, holding tightly to my hand.
“Sì. Lucia is the one who figured it out.”
“Figured what out?”
Lucia looked at me, and I nodded. While I didn’t want to divulge this information yet, Pia would see my refusal as hiding something everyone else seemed to know.
“You and your mother were being poisoned,” Lucia told her.
“What?”
“Sit down, Pia.” Her mother patted the bed next to her. “In your condition, you shouldn’t be under a lot of stress.”
Pia didn’t budge. “I’m aware of that, Mamma. However, sitting down will not do a thing to alleviate it.”
It was time for me to take over the conversation, and I did, telling the other people in the room the same things I’d told Pia earlier. When finished, I turned to her.
“Given all of that, I think it would be best if you left Valentini temporarily.”
“I spoke with Matteo. He suggested that she and Countess Maria go to Casavetti,” said Lucia.
“It’s a viable solution,” I said when Pia looked up at me.
“For how long?”
That, I couldn’t answer and said so.
“No.”
25
Pia
I had no intention of leaving my home, now or ever. I certainly wouldn’t be forced out by the likes of Paolo and Georgio. However, I didn’t feel comfortable continuing this conversation in my mother’s bedroom.
“Lucia, you take Mamma down the back staircase. There’s someone waiting there who will drive you to the farmhouse. Mylos and I will walk.”
We were halfway there when I noticed he was smiling.
“What?”
