Page 52 of Doll Face

Strangely, she did too. “Yes,” she replied.

When he smiled at her, she couldn’t help but smile back.

Chapter Nineteen

After Matteo left, Caelian and Mauro joined her in the sitting room. She raised an eyebrow as she relaxed into the sofa cushions.

“Do you believe him?” Caelian asked.

“I don’t know,” she murmured, her mind replaying the entire conversation. “He doesn’t know I’m Macy, so why would he lie to Gianna?”

“To save face? To make him not seem like a bad guy?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure.”

“He sounded sincere,” Mauro stated.

“Can a person be that good of an actor?” she mused to herself.

“Anything’s possible,” Caelian replied. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I don’t think he was acting. I think he was sincere.”

“I agree,” Gianna said. Mauro brought her a mug of coffee and handed it to her.

“Thanks,” she said, wrapping her hands around the heated ceramic.

“I have some news,” Mauro told her.

“Good news, I hope.”

He nodded. “There are only two elders left in the Romanelli Famiglia. Great Aunt Julia, so pretty sure it’s not her. The other is Angelo, who is eighty-five years old and battling liver cancer. I’m going out on a limb here and say it’s him.”

“Cancer would’ve prevented him from traveling, as well as taking all his attention, so now we know how Pietro was able to get away with his deception.” A thought occurred to her. “If Seth can find where the money is, we can present everything we have to Angelo.”

“What if Seth finds out something damning about Matteo?” Caelian asked.

She took a deep breath. “Then I won’t care what the real don does to him.”

That’s what she said, but if she were honest with herself, it would break her hopeful heart all over again if he turned out to be the monster she thought he was.

****

“Why are we stalking your girlfriend?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Matteo muttered. He and Rocco followed behind her, trying to stealthily blend into the other traffic.

“Okay, your fiancée. Is that better?”

“You’re such a smart ass.” He watched as she turned into a parking lot. “Where is she going?”

“More than likely, she’s shopping,” Rocco sighed insufferably.

“She’s not shopping.”

“What are you hoping to discover?”

He didn’t answer right away as he tried to find the right words tumbling through his mind. “She told me a pun.”

“I’m not sure what that means.”

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