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Luca’s gut rolled uneasily. ‘Were there...repercussions?’
‘Not physical ones. It might be hard to believe, but Franco never laid a hand on me in anger. But he was furious like I’d never seen before.’ She paused, eyes lowering to her glass. ‘After a week of me barely speaking to him, he had all of my personal possessions packed into suitcases and put in the foyer. Then he laid out my choices. Stay and be an obedient wife, or leave—and never see my boys again.’ Eva’s chin lifted. She looked at Luca. ‘I hauled those cases up the stairs one by one and unpacked them, because for me there was no choice—I couldn’t leave you and Enzo.’
Luca felt his throat thicken. He didn’t know what to say. He looked away, but Eva leaned forward and touched his arm.
‘I know you think I was weak for loving your father,’ she said. ‘But the truth is I stopped loving him a long time ago. It was my love for you and Enzo that made me strong. Strong enough to endure an unhappy marriage. Strong enough to stay so I could try to protect you.’
Luca swallowed. In the back of his mind, words Annah had spoken three weeks ago bounced and echoed. ‘It’s your emotion and your compassion for people that make you strong.’
He looked into Eva’s face. ‘Why did you let me believe in him for so long?’
Her sigh was heavy. ‘I couldn’t risk turning you against him when you were young—Franco would have known. I hoped the right time would present itself as you got older, but...’ She grimaced. ‘I waited too long.’
‘And then we both failed Enzo,’ he said darkly.
Eva shook her head, sorrow etched on her features. ‘Enzo wasn’t strong like you. He was impressionable. Always wanting to please his papà. I saw that same darkness in him that I saw in Franco. Nothing would have changed your brother—not even Franco going to prison.’
Luca looked at her sharply.
‘Yes, son,’ she said. ‘I know more than you think—including the fact that you love Annah.’
Luca’s head jerked back. He opened his mouth to disabuse her of that notion, but she didn’t let him get a word in.
‘Do you think I didn’t see how you looked at her over the breakfast table every morning?’ She shook her head, though a smile touched her lips. ‘I also know you threw yourself between her and the gunman outside the restaurant that night.’
A scowl formed on his face. ‘Who told you that?’
‘I have my sources.’ Eva’s smile was only slightly smug. ‘That sounds to me like the action of a man protecting the woman he loves.’ She paused. ‘I also heard Annah did something similar—trying to protect you.’
Eva stood up, looked down at him for a long moment. ‘You might want to think about why she did that,’ she said.
And then she turned and went back inside, leaving Luca alone with his thoughts.
* * *
Annah’s hands shook so badly she could barely hold the mug of tea Chloe handed her without spilling it.
She took a sip, but her writhing stomach didn’t appreciate even that tiny bit of liquid. She put the mug down, turned imploring eyes to Chloe’s boyfriend, Ben, who looked suitably serious and official in his police uniform. ‘Please,’ she said, her throat hoarse after forty-five minutes walking the rapidly darkening woods, shouting Ethan’s name. ‘I just want to be out there looking, not sitting here answering a million questions.’
Chloe’s arms came around her, and for a second, as much as she appreciated her friend, Annah wished it was Luca’s arms offering her strength and support.
Then it occurred to her that he was more likely to throttle her than offer comfort when he found out their son was missing and it was her fault.
She pressed her lips together, holding back tears.
‘We’re getting a co-ordinated search underway,’ Ben said, his tone professional but sympathetic. ‘Plenty of volunteers have turned up, so, Annah, you should stay here.’
‘What?’ She gaped at Ben. ‘No! I need to be out there looking for my son!’
Ben and Chloe exchanged a look.
‘When we find him,’ Ben said, ‘the first person he’ll want to see is his mother. You should be here for when that happens.’
Annah was grateful for Ben’s use of when, not if, but she still wasn’t happy.
Chloe squeezed Annah’s shoulder. ‘You’re exhausted. Why don’t we both stay here? We can keep the tea and coffee flowing for the volunteers.’
She was exhausted. It was the whole reason this had happened. She’d been sleeping terribly. Missing Luca. Second-guessing her decision to reject his proposal every time a pouting Ethan asked when they were going to see Papà and Nonna and Timmy again. She’d thrown herself into work and parenting, proving she was strong and capable—that she and Ethan didn’t need anyone else.
