Page 55 of Ti Amo

Mira honored his request. Giovanni paced. Why was he agitated? Last night he didn’t fall asleep in her arms angry. “What’s wrong now?”

“I got a call. That’s what woke Eve up.”

“Okay?”

“You left here today. Went into Napoli?”

“To do some Christmas shopping. Catalina and I didn’t—.”

“You know you aren’t supposed to leave here without my consent!” Giovanni’s voice was abrupt. His nostrils flared. “People think you are dead. You can’t walk around here and keep that secret!”

“Oh, calm down.”

“What did you say to me?” he seethed.

“I was careful.” She threw up her hands in defeat. “I said calm down. Don’t make this into something it wasn’t.”

“Who was the man in the trees?”

“Man?” Mira blinked at him. “What trees?”

“Dammit, Mira!”

“I don’t know what I’ve done. I went shopping nothing else.” She opened her mouth to say more then stopped herself. Her eyes stretched and her breath hitched in her throat. She remembered. “There was a man. Eve ran up to him. He didn’t do or say anything, but he kind of came out of nowhere.”

“He was Asian?” Giovanni said.

“Yes.”

Giovanni wiped his hand down his face. “You aren’t to leave here again. Do you understand?”

“Yes. Yes I understand.”

His head turned and his focus was centered on the desk in the room. Eventually he looked back at her again. “After the bomb went off in your penthouse, when the world thought you were dead, what did Kei do to help you?”

Mira moistened her lips, her mouth and throat went dry. She didn’t want Giovanni focused on Kei again. Whomever the Asian man was, he didn’t have anything to do with Kei. She smiled up at him to soften his heart. “He helped me. I told you.”

“How, Bella?”

“Kei has friends. Powerful friends. He brought the F.B.I. to me. They…” Mira bit down on her bottom lip. She didn’t want to tell him that the American government drilled her for hours on her relationship with him, what she knew of his world. The same people showed her pictures of his life, dead men tied to claims of murder.

“Tell me everything.”

“They wanted to know about what happened to Fabiana. I had to go over my time in Italy with you. Everything. Then they gave me a new identity. Even let me choose the name I wanted. I was placed in the Witness Protection Program. Kei and I left the country. I found out a few weeks later I was pregnant. That’s why I agreed to stay in the program. I couldn’t risk our baby, Giovanni. Why are you making me tell you this?”

“He lied to you.” Giovanni sat on the edge of his desk. “There was no federal agency protecting you. All of it is a lie. I visited America and attended your funeral. I was detained for twenty-four hours.”

“I know sweetheart.” Mira touched her chest. “I saw the funeral on the television. I saw you. I’m sorry.”

Giovanni waved his hand, dismissing it. He reached behind him and picked up a folder. “Kei lied to you. He isn’t the man you think he is.”

Mira stared at the folder. Her pulse quickened. “What is that?”

“The truth about who he really is, and what he’s done. He set up the meeting with fake agents for your benefit. To find out more about me and scare you into running away.”

“He didn’t have to. I was already scared of you, us, all of this.” Mira sighed. “I don’t know who’s telling you these things but Kei didn’t do anything but help me.”

“Read it, Mira.”

---