Page 21 of Ti Amo

“I understand.” Lorenzo rubbed his palms over the top of his thighs. “It tore Giovanni apart when he thought you died.”

“We all suffered,” she said.

“I know you see it. He’s different. Cold. He went dead inside, Mira. He banished me from the family, and he killed Flavio.”

Mira blinked at him stunned. “Killed?”

“You have to help us, he’s destroying this family with his unrelenting anger and bitterness. Many people have lost their lives over the war. If you can get him to trust me again I can put an end to this. I can save lives. You have more influence with him than any of us. You’ll learn that soon enough.”

“Everything okay?” Dominic asked coming to the back of the plane. His interruption made Lorenzo glare with fury.

Giovanni murdered Flavio?The Flavio man was awful, yes, but for him to be murdered because of her was beyond her comprehension. She didn’t want that knowledge. God help her, what had she and Fabiana gotten themselves into when they hooked up with these men?

“Yes. Everything is fine,” she managed to say though her voice croaked with weakness.

Dominic barely took note of her response. Instead he focused on Lorenzo. “What about you, Lo?Voi giusti?”

Lorenzo rose from his seat. He stood several feet taller than Dominic, his head bowed because of the top of the plane. Domi turned sideways to let him out of his seat. “Of course, Domi. Now that I have reunited the lovebirds Giovanni and I are just fine.” He patted Dominic on the shoulder and then pushed past him into the aisle. Dominic took the empty seat next to Mira and buckled his seatbelt.

“She’s really beautiful,” Dominic said.

Mira looked down at her baby. “She’s the best of him, and he can’t even take the time to notice.”

He nodded in agreement. “What did I interrupt earlier?”

“Lorenzo said that Giovanni’s this monster since we parted. He said he’s killing people without remorse. Is that true?”

Dominic narrowed his gaze on Lorenzo and Carlo laughing it up in the aisle. “Did he?”

“He said that Giovanni killed Flavio?”

“Mira—.”

“He’s different, Domi. Mean. Hard. I don’t understand what he wants from me.”

“He needs you, Mira. You are going to have to really help him learn to trust again. He wants to.”

“The things he says to me. He told me what I did was unforgivable,” she said. “It’s like he wants me and Eve because he feels entitled. I don’t want my daughter caught between us. I don’t want him to use her against me. I’m terrified of my decision to return with you. I’m not sure what to do.”

Dominic nodded as if he understood. Mira felt his kindness and concern was genuine. Unlike Lorenzo, Dominic seemed to be the only man on the plane with a heart. “I went through a lot too. Contrary to what Giovanni thinks Kei was not my lover. He spent only several weeks out of the year with Eve and me. I spent a lot of my pregnancy alone. That’s why I did those drawings, for my sanity. He doesn’t get a free pass on pain. We both have our fair share of it.”

Dominic smiled at her. “Tell him what your life was like without him. Can you try?”

Mira sighed.

“What is it?” Dominic asked.

“I can’t go back there.” Mira dropped her head back and squeezed her eyes shut. The idea of Melanzana sent her emotions into a dark spin. “I can’t. I can’t. Not yet. I don’t want to see where she died. It’s too fast, too much too soon. I thought I could but… I just can’t,” Mira said choking down her emotion and holding Eve tight to her chest.

“Gio loves you. His heart will surprise you. It’s in there. It beats only for you and Eve now. Trust him. He knows more about what you need than you think.”

Mira opened her eyes. When she looked to Dominic she found such kindness and understanding in his smiling face her anxiety melted. He winked. “Welcome homedonna.”

“I’m not yourdonna,” Mira said.

Dominic chuckled. “Yes you are, and he’s been waiting a long time for you.”

Mira’s gaze returned to the aisle and the empty seat next to Giovanni.

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