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Nico grabbed his jacket and took the elevator down to head for home.
He did not need to ponder further to know the answer: there was way too much history between them.
CHAPTER THREE
The night that neither can forget…
‘YOU CAN TELL Nico that I’m not leaving my home.’
Just hearing Nico’s father say his name had Aurora’s heart both soaring and shattering anew.
It was a regular occurrence in Silibri. Nico Caruso’s name was mentioned often.
‘Since when did I have a direct line to your son, Geo?’ Determined not to give herself away, Aurora responded light-heartedly as she plumped the old man’s cushions behind him. ‘I haven’t spoken to Nico in ages.’
‘He’s sending his helicopter to take me to Rome.’
Aurora’s cushion plumping was paused for a moment.
Geo got confused at times, and was also known to exaggerate, but even by Geo’s standards this was too far-fetched to be believed.
‘Who told you that?’ Aurora asked as he rested back in his chair and she straightened up.
‘The doctor did.’
‘Oh? And is this the same doctor who told you that your drinking would kill you?’ Aurora checked.
Geo gave a reluctant smile.
‘The same doctor who said that you couldn’t manage here alone and needed to be in a nursing home?’ she continued. ‘Because I thought you told me that that doctor could not be believed.’
‘Perhaps,’ Geo conceded, ‘but he was telling the truth this time—Nico is sending a helicopter to fetch me.’
Wildfires had been ravaging the south coast of Sicily and steadily working their way towards their small village for more than a week. They had been told to get out—of course they had—but, like Geo, her father had refused.
She didn’t doubt that Nico wanted his father away from the fires, but a private helicopter was way beyond a boy from Silibri—even a successful one!
Geo’s lies were becoming more and more extreme. A few weeks ago, when Aurora had dropped off his shopping, he had told her that she had just missed seeing Maria. Maria, Geo’s wife and Nico’s mother, had died the year Aurora had been born—some twenty years ago.
Last week he had said that Nico owned three hotels across Europe. When Aurora had refused to believe him, Geo had corrected himself: Nico owned four!
‘He stole from me!’ Geo said now, and cursed. ‘He took what was mine.’
‘You tell tall tales, Geo,’ Aurora said gently.
‘Well, he can stick his nursing home in Rome. I hate him. Why would I want to live closer to him?’
Aurora knew that father and son did not get on. She knew it very well.
But, though she loathed Geo’s treatment of Nico, she could not walk past the old man’s house and not drop in. It was worth it if it made things a little easier on Nico to know that his father was being cared for.
‘Now,’ Aurora said. ‘Is there anything else that you need me to do?’
‘Take some money from my dresser and run down to the store.’
‘I’m not getting you whisky, Geo,’ Aurora told him.
‘Why not? We’re all going to die in these fires!’
