Page 137 of His Two Hidden Masks

Lissa saw it and laughed, playfully swatting him and following it up with a kiss.

“Is Leo there yet?” Lissa said.

“No, he arrives this afternoon. I sent a car for him.”

“He has the samples.” Lissa played with her necklace, resting the other hand on her enormous belly. “How did the meeting with the buyers at Nordstrom go?”

“They would like to feature Bella Baci in their holiday catalog,” I said, grinning. Bella Baci now shipped internationally.

“Perfect,” Lissa said. “After this shipment, I am going to have these babies and we are all going to go on holiday.”

“Are you on with Bella?” I heard my mother’s voice in the background. “I told you to interrupt my show.”

“Ciao, Maria,” Roberto said, rolling his eyes. “Can you see what you’ve left me with here? Managing these women.”

“And you are managing them well,” I said. Sitting at my desk in my new apartment talking to my family back home, I loved my new life.

The blue lagoons of Venice would forever be in my heart, but so were the foggy gray skies of Seattle outside my window. Making the decision to leave Venice had been one of the hardest things I’d ever done, and the best.

“Are you eating?” my mother asked. “You look thinner. Please don’t tell me you are turning into a vegan or doing that no-glooobie thing.”

“It’s Gluten,” I said. “Some people can’t eat it, Mama.”

“Nonsense.” She pushed her small round face in between Roberto and Lissa. “There is no such thing as a gluten problem. We Italians eat it all the time, and we have no trouble. The government wants you to think there is trouble.”

“Okay, Mama,” I said, laughing. “Is Papa there?”

“No, he left for Milan yesterday. I’m going to join him later this week.”

My parents were still together and my father and I had started the process of healing our relationship. “Tell him I love him,” I said.

“I will, my darling.”

I heard keys jingle at the door. “I’ve got to go,” I said. “The driver is here with Leo.”

“All right, amore,” my mother said. “When are you coming home?”

“Carnival, Mama,” I said. “You know I wouldn’t miss it.”

“I love you, my darling.”

I disconnected the call. The door opened and Leo walked inside. Behind him stood my driver, Dylan.

“Hello baby,” Dylan said. He walked across the room and gave me a long slow kiss.

Dylan was writing music again and working on his first solo album as Dylan Street. Of course, he bought a music studio in Fremont because he could, but I did convince him to rent an apartment like a normal person.

“But I’m not a normal person, Bella,” he’d said, sighing.

“And that’s what I love about you.”

We spent most nights together, but I wanted to have my own space too. Strand was not as well known in Seattle as in Europe or Los Angeles, so we were able to walk around Seattle incognito.

Once or twice, someone recognized Dylan, as the unmasking of Strand went viral on YouTube. But like everything else, the news carried on, and soon the world was talking about other celebrities behaving badly.

Fans still swarmed Dylan from time to time, but recently, I’d gotten stopped by a woman while walking around Green Lake who had read about my company in a small business journal. It seemed we were both building our own celebrity following.

Leo grinned and dropped his bags. “Am I staying here?” He looked around my small apartment. “There’s no room for both me and my bag, Bella.”

---