Page 23 of Twisted Obsession

‘I’m not sure you do, Giovanna,’ he carried on. ‘I’m convinced you have no idea what happens to a man when he finds the woman who takes him over, body and soul, and then can’t contact her,’ he explained.

‘Body and soul.’ The words left my mouth without me thinking. I had to be dreaming.

‘Body and soul,’ he repeated. ‘When he’s worried about the pain she’s going through without him. When he wants to hold her tightly to him until he absorbs the agony and makes it his own. When her safety and wellbeing is the only thing he needs… Not oxygen, not food, not anything. Because everything else around him pales into insignificance.’

‘No, I don’t,’ I whispered into the phone. Listening with the whole of my heart and nothing more.

‘Then I’m going to take the rest of our lives to show you.’

‘You are?’ I questioned hopefully. I knew he’d said the previous day that he wanted to be my someone, but could this really be happening to me?

‘I am,’ he concurred.

I wanted to find words, better words to tell him how much I wanted just that. To tell him I was convinced, even without any prior experience, that he was going to be the one my nonno had told me about, but my capability to do so felt lacking. So instead, I released a nondescript acknowledgement that I’d heard him.

A soft laugh left him and I imagined his tongue playing with his teeth, as was his way.

‘How did it go with Nonno?’ he gently questioned.

I scrunched my eyes shut tight in a bid to control the anguish I knew would follow his question, ‘We said goodbye.’

For a few seconds, the line between us went silent.

‘I want to hold you, Giovanna.’ I could feel his impatience.

‘I wish you could… I love my nonno. I’m worried about who I’ll be once he’s gone,’ I admitted.

‘Don’t be. You’re strong, you just don’t know it yet.’

‘He said something similar to me.’

‘A wise man,’ Dante offered. ‘What else happened last night?’

‘I have no idea. I shut myself away in my room.’

‘So, you’ve spoken to no one else?’

‘No.’ I shook my head a little feeling confused.

‘Good girl. Now, I have something to tell you. But before I start, you need to understand that we have already found her—we have her back.’

‘Her?’ I questioned, feeling on edge.

‘Mia was taken yesterday from the party.’

‘Taken?’ I heard my voice rise in panic. ‘Your sister Mia was taken from the party?’ I enunciated each word as I searched for clarification.

‘Taken. But we have her back. Mia is safe.’ He spoke deliberately making sure I grasped what he was saying.

‘Who?’

‘We think it was Enzo. Our families came together to find her.’

‘Did you?’ I asked, as guilt took hold of me.

‘Yes, I made it back in time to search. Alessio and me found her on the beach behind some rocks.’

‘How is she?’

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