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“Why here?” I couldn’t look at him.
“Because,” I heard the flex of his jacket as he rubbed his face, annoyed with my questions, “she’s like clockwork. She’d never miss a day to flaunt her power to the other men.”
Sweet Lord.
“I think I might faint.”
He cut me a quick glance then shook his head and cursed.
My entire body froze with fear, and my eyes went wide at the sound of the handle being pulled. The door opened to reveal a woman with eyes as black as coal in a face with skin so white it almost glowed. Her dark hair was pulled tightly back into a bun, and a pair of glasses hung from the collar of her blue blouse. Her perfectly ironed gray slacks stopped at her ankles just above her small-heeled boots. Both hands rested on a glass ball that sat on the top of her black cane. I felt like I had been transported directly into a nasty scene from a Disney movie.
“Ugo.” She only spoke his name then closed her eyes slowly, and when they opened again, they were on me. I stepped back, but Ugo pressed me forward, rooting me back in place. She was like a cobra only inches from my face. It made me want to run and scream at the same time, but my brain seemed to have shorted out at the simultaneous commands.
So, I just stared.
“Nonna Rosa,” Ugo addressed her, and I felt him look down at me, “I want you to meet someone.”
A cold chill passed through my body, and I became lightheaded as my heartbeat pulsed in my ears. “This is Theo’s Alessia, your granddaughter.”
She lifted her eyes to stare at him for a brief moment then turned those black pools back to me. Her colorless lips pressed into a hard line as she tried to see inside my soul.
“Prove it.”
I stood frozen, completely unable to respond. She had awakened such a deep fear inside of me I was completely at her mercy.
Ugo reached for my hand and held it up to show her the ring.
She grabbed my hand between her icy fingers and held it close to her face. She closed one eye and twisted the band around and gave a low gasp.
“Impossible.”
“Why aren’t you more worried?” I glanced at Francesco as I sent off another text to Ugo, who promised me Sienna was just fine. She wasn’t; I could feel it.
“Because she’s a grown woman who just had her heart broken for the second time in her life. She needs space.”
“Space is not what she needs.”
“It’s exactly what she needs.” He stood and checked the time on his phone.
“But she’s in danger.”
“But she’s with Ugo, right?” He arched one eyebrow, making his point.
“I’m her mother, and she should be calling me back,” I fumed, annoyed no one else was taking this seriously.
“You are,” he nodded as he came forward to block my constant pacing, “but you also just came into her life. Her natural instinct is not to call you.”
“Then who?”
“I’m guessing that would be her best friend or, up until a few weeks ago, Elio.”
“Don’t,” I shoved a finger in his face as fire festered inside of me, “mention that boy’s name in front of me.”
“That boy is a very well-respected man who loves Sienna very much.”
“Is that why he turned his back on her and made her slip away in the wee hours of the morning?”
“Love doesn’t come without it’s challenges, Elenora. You of all people should know that one.”
