Page 64 of Promise Never

Alessandro and his guard stopsearching and look over. “You found something?”

“Mmhm.” Iwave the paper. “It’d be easy to miss.”

He draws closer as I unfold it.There’s handwriting in Italian.

“What’s itsay?”I ask him.

“It mentions a woman. Andrea. Says he can’twait to set sail with her, and he’ll make sure to bring two bottles of herfavorite wine.” He pinches his thick brows in thought. “A note for a woman?” Helooks around the cabin. “Odd.”

I shift in the spot, considering thedetails of the note. “Yousaid Vito was never seriousabout anyone. He was a womanizer. This Andrea seemed special. Is she Zeno’smother?”

That gives Alessandro a pause. Hiseyes widen. “No. But Andrea could be the name of another boat.”

“Two bottles of wine?” I murmur.

Realization blooms in his features.“Zero two is the harbor on the other side.” He sputters a short laugh. “Tiana,I wouldn’t have considered another boat had it not been for you.”

“Pfft. See? I told you I could help.Let’s—mm—” He stops the rest of my words with a passionate kiss.

The guard harrumphs and exits thecabin, giving us space.

Pressing my palms at Alessandro’schest, I back up from him to try to stabilize my emotions. “You just couldn’thelp yourself, could you?”

“Not at all.” He closes the gap tocaress my arm. “Tiana, once this is over—”

“Stop. The focus is on Zeno.Solet’s see what’s on that other boat.”

He rumbles under his breath then tellsme, “All right. Let’s go.”

We climb off the shabby vessel andhead back to the cars, driving to the harbor nearby.

The guards stay close as we approachthe info post at the entrance.

Alessandro draws the attention of theolder man inside.“Signor, hobisogno del tuo aiuto.”

He comes to the window. “Sì?”

“Do you have a boat here calledAndrea?”Alessandro asks in English. I’m sure it’s for my sake.

The man twists to retrieve a largebook. He skims through carefully until pausing on a page. “Not the boat. Andreais the one who paid for the slot. The boat is called Vittoria.”

“Vito,” Alessandro huffs. “That fool.”He refocuses on the man and pastes on a smile. “Will you kindly tell us wherethe boat is?”

The man screws up his face. “Not forfree.”

“Cristo.” Alessandro takes out hiswallet and hands over a few wads of cash.

After a quick look around, the manstuffs the cash in his pocket. “Thirty-four.”

“Grazie,” Alessandro huffs.

We veer down the docks with theguards, checking the rows until coming to a bend.

I glance across, spotting the boatright away. “There it is. Vittoria.”

Staying aware of our surroundings, wetake our time approaching.

“Something feels off,” Alessandrorasps, retrieving the gun from the inside of his jacket.

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