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“So full of yourself,” I giggle, my eyes landing on the yearbook once again. “I bet you were voted ‘most likely to take over the world’ in high school.”
He shrugs.
“Oh my god, you were!” I exclaim.
“There wasn’t really a need to vote me anything. I was already in charge of this town by the time I left high school.”
“Of course,” I laugh. “You said your parents also went to the local high school?”
“My mum did. My father went to Sicily. The only reason I didn’t follow in his footsteps was because my mother died when I was twelve.”
“I’m so sorry,” I mumble, my chest feeling tight all of a sudden. “Why didn’t you go to Sicily?”
“Angelo and Luca, I didn’t want to leave them on their own…they were too young when it happened. Angelo was eight, and Luca was five. Sometimes—” he trails off, his fingers stroking my hair, “I think I’m the only one who remembers her.”
“I’m so sorry, Dante. How old was she?”
“Thirty-four,” he says so quietly I can barely hear him.
“Your dad,” I start, the burning desire to find out the truth making me stumble over my own words. “He said she gave you a pocket watch.”
Dante stiffens beneath me.
“Elena. He said her name was Elena and that she gave it to you.”
“What pocket watch.”
“I—I found one a long time ago. He said it was yours.”
“He’s a senile old man. He must have been mistaken.”
Feeling the lie between us, I chew on my bottom lip. “The engraving is the same as the one on your money clip. I thought—” I rush.
“That’s why you asked me to find out where it was from.”
I can feel the chasm opening up between us and growing with every word he utters, despite him holding onto me like I’m his life raft.
“I thought I’d be able to find out where it was from and how it got to me.”
“I didn’t,” he interrupts me. “I’d tell you if I knew anything.”
“Right,” I say in a small voice, fighting the heat behind my eyes.
“Alessa,” he soothes. “Trust me, baby.”
The thing is, Ididtrust him. If you asked me a minute ago, I’d say I trusted him wholeheartedly.
But right now?
Not so much.
41
ALESSA
All throughout the rest of the day I can’t stop thinking about Dante’s words.Trust me.
I want to. I’d give anything to go back to the moment before he lied to me, where I was willing to believe anything he’d tell me. And maybe I could if I knew why he’s withholding information.
