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"Fiero will visit from time to time," he mentioned after the silence had gone on for too long.
I wondered why he, of all people, and not one of Vincenzo'sbrothers.
"Other than that, no one ever really comes by," he continued as if he had followed my train of thought.
"Do they even know where you live? Your siblings, I mean."
"They know at least the rough coordinates. But none of them have been there yet."
"Aren't you going to invite them?"
"I prefer to visit them at Emilio's villa."
"What about your wife? Did you live together in Tramonti?"
He looked at me. The expression in his eyes said one thing above all: I told you, I'm not talking about that subject.
A sigh escaped him before he shook his head. "No. I didn't move there until after."
A short time later, the car turned into a long driveway lined on the right and left by giant trees. Barely a ray of light made it through the leafy canopy. At the other end of the avenue waited what Vincenzo had described earlier as a villa. A somewhat larger house of old construction, as one was used to in the Italian countryside. Large. Spacious. Airy.
Upstairs, the curtains billowed in the gentle breeze blowing from the surrounding mountains.
Although we were still in front of the house, I could see two much smaller houses behind the villa. In the past, that had not been unusual.
I promptly missed my little house right on the Amalfi Coast. It hadn't had much to offer, but it had become my home in recent years. I doubted that this run-down patch of earth could do the same.
To the right and left, stretched meadows with fruit trees, and in between, I recognized trails that led into the adjacent vineyards.
Out the back was nothing but forest. Forest, forest, forest. As far as the eye could see. I wondered what kind of animals crept across the property at night.
goosebumps formed on my arms. Vincenzo had tolerated my inspection of the surroundings, but now he opened his door and got out.
I wondered how he had come to live here, of all places. The other families would not only laugh at him for his choice of residence but outright disown him.
Was this the punishment for killing his wife? Had Emilio banished him here, or was the little story he told me earlier true?
Carefully, I got out and shielded my eyes from the sun. Hesitantly, I followed Vincenzo up the stairs to the old wooden door. It didn't look as if it would necessarily withstand an intruder.
He pushed it open and thus cleared the way for me into the comparatively cold interior. As I had suspected, the floor was darkly tiled, and the windows were covered to such an extent that hardly a ray of sunlight penetrated. The house seemed to be open to the back – at least currently- because the pool view was unobstructed.
The interior merged practically seamlessly with the terrace. At least the pool seemed well-maintained because the water shimmered blue and cast bright light spots on its surroundings.
It was hard for me to imagine Vincenzo in a bathing suit, sitting in the pool and enjoying the water. Did he swim naked?Merda. I was definitely not prepared to live together like in a shared apartment.
"You can look around the house yourself. I would just ask you to stay away from my side. The cellar is also off-limits. Unless you plan to see how a rescue operation with search dogs goes. You can use anything you want, any way you want. If you need anything or have any questions, the best thing to do is contact me. The kitchen is back there, the key for the car is next to the front door, and the important areas are video monitored. Just in case one of the tourists gets lost, and I don't have a shotgun handy."
I stared at him and nodded. That did sound relatively reasonable. "And what about everything else?"
"What about everything else?"
"My father has clearly told me that he expects offspring."
Vincenzo snorted. "Taddeo can go fuck himself. For all I care, you can tell him I'm biologically incapable of it."
I opened my mouth slightly but closed it again immediately. That was more than convenient for me. I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life as an almost single mother.
"Okay," I finally replied. "See you later."
