She rubbed her eyes again.
"You're not dreaming. I'm real."
And the moment she heard it, Cat kept rubbing her eyes all the more, knowing that if she stopped—-
Fingers wrapped around her wrists.
Her hands were lowered to her lap.
And it was exactly as she feared.
The tears started to fall, and they were endless.
"I'm sorry," Ezio said hoarsely. "Will you let me explain?"
She shook her head, unable to say a word because crying had taken everything out of her.
"Last month, Giancarlo and I found out we had a traitor in our midst."
She wished she could tell him tostop.
But she was still crying.
Oh, why couldn't she stop crying?
"All we had going for us were a couple of clues. That the traitor was a woman. That she was a part of our inner circle. And that she had ties in New York."
She knew where this was going.
She even understood why everyone, herself included, had to be considered a potential suspect.
That was just how it was in their world.
But...
"I don't have ties—-"
Cat saw his lips tighten, and she realized right away what could have convinced him otherwise.
"You know about Lorenzo," she realized tremulously.
"Sì."
"And t-that's why you cheated on me."
"That's why I made you think I cheated on you."
She wished she could believe him. But could she, really?
"Do you remember when Giancarlo and I flew to Miami for business?"
"You...youliedabout that, too?"
Ezio's chest tightened at the catch in her voice.
"Perdono,"he apologized quietly. "At that time, Giancarlo and I were determined to handle things on our own. And so I couldn't tell you either that we were meeting with the FBI."
"Drake Morrison." He was the only person in the FBI that thefamiglietrusted, since Drake's own wife wasfamigliaas well.