Page 20 of Ruined in Vows

“Yes, goddamnit, Nic. It was Dante.”

“Okay,” he rumbles placatingly. “You asked him to come here.” It’s not a question but I answer anyway.

“Yeah. I told him how long we were staying. He got spooked but something tells me he will come to us,” I say hopefully.

“Good. We cannot just ambush him in his hotel. We don't know who is watching.” He takes a seat beside Ocean, taking her hand in his and peppering a couple of kisses as if he needs to be touching her for strength. “So, we wait. And if he doesn’t show, we will have a couple of the guards follow him. At some point they will find an opening to get him alone and they can bring him to us. It's a last resort, but at this point, I need to see him with my own eyes and assess what we are dealing with.”

Sagging back on the couch, I let Nico’s words sink in.

I can be patient.

Because one way or another, whether by force or of his own free will.

I will be seeing Dante in the next couple of days.

Chapter 14

Luca

Marching through the lobby of The Palazzo Hotel, I feel even more disoriented and confused than when I walked out of here.

The girl who sparked a live wire and flurry of emotions inside of me, leading me to all

but stalk her, called me by another man's name. Told me that it wasmyname.

But that can't be right.

Can it?

I shake the thought from my head. No. Surely, she was lying or just has me

confused with my doppelganger… Wasn't she?

The small voice in my head, a whisper of something, telling me that she seemed

so sure, so genuine, spikes even more doubt inside me. Fucking hell. Like I need any more of that.

Punching the button for the elevator, I flinch as the haunted look in her eyes

when she looked at me assaults my memory. How her olive skin had paled as if she had seen a ghost. The way that my chesttightened; heart twisting in discomfort at the fearful, pained look on her stunning face.

A look that should never touch such beauty.

A look that makes me want to question everything.

The elevator doors slide open, snapping me from my reverie and I step inside,

mulling over everything. Of what I think I know, and what I have been told since I woke up. My name is Luca Mancini. Check. I have a wife, Caterina. Check. I co-own this hotel with my best friend, Vincenzo, who also happens to be my wife's brother. Check. There are pictures of me on my wedding day, smiling down happily at Cat. Check. I have seen the fucking marriage certificate. Check. Check.

Blowing out a breath of frustration at this fucked up situation, I lean my head back against the mirrored wall, and close my eyes. With the proof right there, how can I even begin to question Vincenzo or Cat? Sure, I’ve had a niggling voice in my head, but why would they lie to me?

The only logical explanation is that Allegra, as she said her name was, must have

me confused with someone else. Or she was hallucinating and seeing what she wanted to see. Clearly, she has some sort of trauma, and I have heard distress can play tricks on your brain. Maybe she has completely shut down and this is her mind's way of protecting itself. Of coping after the loss of the man she loved.

What other way would there be to explain her story?

The elevator shudders to a stop, the doors sliding open in the next second. I step

---