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“Are you really okay, Dave? Are you healing?”
He nods. “Yeah. The docs said I’ll probably have a permanent limp, but I won’t always need this.” He taps the head of the cane, resting against the side of the bench seat. “It’ll just take time, and a ton of physical therapy, to get back strength and muscle tone.”
“That’s good. I mean, not about the limp, but about the fact that it will mostly heal.”
The server arrives at that moment to deposit our coffees on the table and, when we decline food, wanders off to take an order from another table.
“I read about your past in the media,” he says, not touching his drink. “It’s all over the internet. The fact that you were a Carlotti once upon a time. A Mafia princess. I did some research while I was convalescing. That family—yourfamily, I guess—was apparently once as powerful as the Agostis are today.”
“Yes, so I’ve been told. The media have been enjoying the fact that I emerged seemingly out of nowhere.”
“And you can’t deny they’re fascinated by the fact that you married the bastard who kidnapped you off the street. You fuckingmarriedhim, Bree? Come on. Why thefuckwould you do that?”
Pain darkens his expression, and I wrap my arms around my middle, trying to hold in the sob that wants to burst free.
That’s the million-fucking-dollar question.
I decide to be as honest as I can with him. He deserves no less from me. After all, he did try to save my life that day, and he’s entitled to his bitterness now.
“At first, I think I was in shock.” My voice is husky, and I clear my throat before continuing. “I was numb. Then utterly terrified. Then I became angry. So damn angry. I did try to escape once. But Rio did what he does best. He threatened to hurt the people I care about if I didn’t do as he commanded. You, and Shelley, and everyone else who works at Lots of Paws. Probably my dad too, if he can ever find him in the remote Thailand mountains.
“Then, through the discovery that I’d been born Bianca Carlotti, I realized I hadn’t been abandoned by my birth parents as I’d always thought. I want to know more about who I was—who Iam. And learn as much about my birth family as I can. There are people in Rio’s circle who knew them, Dave. Stefano and Rina Carlotti. They were real, and from what I’ve heard so far, they truly loved me. They handed me over to the nanny to hide me because they suspected what was coming and wanted to protect me.”
I blink hard, determined not to cry. Besides, I need to gather my courage for the next bit, which is much harder to admit to anyone other than myself.
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Later, I found there was something about Rio…something that drew me in and held me…something I’ve never felt before…”
“What?Love?” His tone is dismissive until he looks deep into my eyes and reads the truth buried there.
“Jesus, Bree! You actuallylovehim? You fucking loveRio Agosti?” His lip curls up, transforming his face into a look that can only be described as disgusted.
I sit up straighter in my seat. “Please don’t call me Bree, Dave. If you’ve been reading up on me, then you know I go by the name Bianca now.”
His mouth thins. “Wow. I have no words. I mean,wow.” He lifts a hand and runs it through his hair, leaving the blond mop more ruffled than it usually is. “You’ve changed, Bree. I mean,Bianca. I never expected that of you. He’s amurderer, for Christ’s sake. A common criminal. A—”
“Rio Agosti is many things, but he is notcommon. And as awful as this whole situation has been the past couple of months, he is also now my husband.”
Dave gapes at me as if he has no idea who I am anymore, and then he shakes his head. “He’s really done a number on you, hasn’t he? Jesus, the Bree I knew would never have let herself fall under the spell of a Mafia murderer.Never.”
I slide out of the booth and stand, leaving my coffee untouched. This meeting was clearly a huge mistake. I should have left it at the phone call. “The thing is, Dave, I’m not Bree. Not anymore. And I guess you never knew the real me. Which isn’t surprising, givenInever knew the real me either. I just didn’t realize that until I met Rio.”
I nod to Leon, the security guy who answered my unspoken query earlier, indicating that I’m ready to leave. “I’m so sorry you got hurt, Dave. It is truly terrible what happened to you. And I’m sorry that Shelley is experiencing PTSD. I suspect I’ll have that too, at some point, when all is said and done and I stop tamping everything down.
“But I need to find out more about who I am, and…and… Yes, I do hate who he is and a lot of what he does, but Ihavefallen for Rio. I never wanted or expected to, but that’s how it is. And I need to understand what that means for me moving forward.”
I lift my chin and walk away from Dave and his still-horrified expression. Away from my old life. Away from everything safe and familiar. Away from all the hopes and dreams about my future and the beautiful things I used to think my future may hold.
And I can barely see the exit for my tears.
23
“… there are no wrong turns, only unexpected paths.”
Mark Nepo
Bianca
I spendthe next twenty-four hours holed up in my suite, crying quietly into the pillows for the loss of my innocence. That’s how I see her—Bree. She was my innocent side. Before Rio.
