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She sounds frazzled on the other end of the phone. “Giulia. Thank God. You need to come home quickly, darling. Your father and I demand it.”
This is the first time they’ve contacted me since I left their tense house almost two weeks ago. I had expected them to try asking me back, but this seemed soon.
“I’m taking a year off. I made that clear.”
“Your cousin Tyson was murdered by the Giovanni Don’s son.”
I freeze. She means Roberto. But… “When was this?”
“It must’ve been days ago, but it’s hard to tell from the bloating. He was fished out of the ocean near Catalina this morning.”
“And how do you know it was a Giovanni?”
My mother makes a frustrated sound. “It has all the telltale signs of one of their moves against us. You haven’t seen this feud from the front lines as long as your father and I have darling—we recognize the pattern. Other Russos told us about that Don’s sondaringto show up at that party for you, and Tyson was very vocal about wanting to end the stalemate, but it seems thatfottuti bastardomade a move first.”
I wince a little at my mother calling Roberto a “fucking bastard” since she rarely swears so vehemently to me. I hesitate for only a moment before shaking my head. Roberto might be reckless and sock Dante Parisi in the face for my honor, but he wouldn’t have killed my cousin, not without real cause and not without telling me.
“Mother, I don’t think— "
“We need you home. I know you left for your mental health, and your father and I have decided to respect that for now. But it won’t make your stress levels any good to miss Tyson’s funeral when we Russos mustuniteat such a time.”
I sigh and then catch the underlying meaning in her tone. “Unite? You mean…retaliate. Mother, we’re in a stalemate. The feud can’t go on.”
“Don’t be blind. It’s already gone on. Their trespasses against our family have been great—but murdering such a high-profile member of our family, someone we all loved, while we’ve been working so hard to maintain peace? It’s too far. Your father and I are discussing the best way to retaliate.” She sniffs. “Apparently, the Giovanni Don has a civilian mistress. Taking her out might get the message across to them most clearly.”
My blood goes cold. My parents are thinking about offing Gabriella. Not even a real member of the Giovanni family. They really are pissed, and I need to do something to stop it.
“It wasn’t Roberto Giovanni,” I say quickly. “I…he’s been in Italy.”
She’s quiet for a long moment. “How do you know this? Can you prove it?”
I lower my voice, glancing at the hotel. He’ll understand why we can’t stay in our happy little bubble here any longer when I tell him about all of this. This might be the only way to protect his family from mine until we get to the bottom of Tyson’s murder.
“I know because I’m in Italy, too.” I scramble for an excuse while saying everything with utmost confidence and detachment. “You know the Don’s son was working as the Giovanni representative forVitalen. I forwarded everything to the Russo you and father appointed, but I agreed to meet him, briefly, in the Salerno province to discuss the change in assignment and make sure he would work flawlessly with the new Russo representative.”
My mother hums. “It is very like you to be thorough about passing on information for such an important assignment. But that particular Giovanni has the reputation of a hellion, and I hope you didn’t let him linger in your company.”
“Of course not,” I say breezily, even as my hand twists in the hem of my shirt. “Anyway, as I understand it, he’s been here on some business for days. It couldn’t have been him, and I doubt it was a Giovanni because they need thisVitalendeal to work more than we do. You always tell me that we Russos never act rashly. I’m as upset by Tyson’s death as the others, but it’s no excuse to accidentally be the first to break the stalemate before beingabsolutelycertain of who murdered him, don’t you agree?”
She is quiet for another moment. Finally, she huffs. “Very sensible, darling. I’ll speak to your father about delaying retribution until we have more proof. Even as we speak, our family is hunting down Roberto’s location. If you’re right about him being in Italy, we’ll get down to the bottom of it, and we don’t need to rush things.”
My pulse quickens at the mention of Roberto being tracked. Shit, this is not good. Roberto and I absolutely cannot be in the same place for a few days—it would make my family suspicious, and they would know exactly what was going on if one of my family members discovered that we’d been staying in the same town, in the same hotel.
“In the meantime, come home for Tyson’s funeral,” my mother commands. “I know you will argue with me, but— "
“I’ll take the next flight out,” I say a little too quickly.
Luckily, she doesn’t seem to notice how anxious I sound. “There’s my darling. I’ll see you soon.”
After hanging up, I take a deep breath and try to devise a plan of action. I’ll go home, attend the funeral, and act like nothing matters when I leave again for my “year off.” Roberto needs to drum up some real business here in Italy to back up my story. I can get down to who really murdered Tyson Russo, and all of this will blow over so we can keep our relationship secret and both families from ripping each other apart.
“Cutie? You still on the phone?”
I glance over my shoulder as Roberto steps out of the hotel, a curious expression on his face.
“You didn’t happen to kill my cousin before you flew out here, did you?”
He blinks, but there’s nothing but complete honesty and confusion in his warm brown eyes. “I didn’t kill anyone before flying out here. Why?”
