Page 7 of Ti Amo

Giovanni blinked at him surprised. The last words he expected to come from anyone’s mouth was her name.It was blasphemy!“Get to your point and fast.”

Lorenzo sat across from him on a worn sofa with sinking pale yellow cushions. He picked up the envelope from the table. He held it gingerly in both hands. Giovanni’s brows lowered with suspicion. “This is why we couldn’t have this conversation over the phone. You must see it for yourself.” Lorenzo said.

Careful of the contents inside he pealed the seal apart. Lorenzo opened the envelope and dumped pictures across the table. Giovanni couldn’t make them out from where he sat so he leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together. Sunglasses and hats the woman wore covered her face, but she felt familiar. The slender shapely build of her body, the thick dark hair fanning around her shoulders all felt familiar. Pain and uncertainty surfaced and centered in his chest making it hard to breathe. So he held his breath as he dared to look closer at the images.

“We found Fish just like I promised we would cousin. The fucker wouldn’t give up Angelo. He thought he had something you’d want more than his boss. Information that would spare his life.”

Giovanni’s gaze ripped from the images to latch on to Lorenzo’s.

“I put a bullet in him all the same.Baggiano’sdead.”

“Who is in those photos?” Giovanni asked, unwilling to accept what his mind screamed.

“Fish said he botched the bombing in New York City. He said Mira Ellison isn’t dead.”

Giovanni’s gaze lowered once more. His gloved hand reached to the pictures then stopped. He couldn’t get his head around what he was seeing, hearing. His cousin had tricked him before. He could trust no one. Not even the evidence before his eyes.

“She lives in Muri, Switzerland, with an Asian man named Kei Hyogo.”

Giovanni’s heart hitched on the last words spoken.She lives? With a man? She’s alive?Giovanni’s mind was congested with doubts. He squeezed his eyes shut, determined not to show any weakness to his men. Still he felt weak, almost light headed. All of him felt on the verge of collapse. “Have faith,” he said under his breath. Those were the words she whispered each time she visited his dreams. He opened his eyes and saw the men staring at him curiously.

Dominic walked over and picked up the photos. After his consigliere scanned the images he passed them over. Giovanni accepted each.

“How? How is what you tell us possible?” Dominic asked.

“Fish kept a journal of his contracts. Details were specific so he could collect on payment.” Lorenzo pointed to a bound leather journal on the table. “Read it, Gio. It says after he planted the bomb he saw a woman who looked similar to Mira Ellison arrive with cameramen chasing her. He saw her clearly when she entered the building. The doorman called her by another name, Angelique. Fish wrote that Angelo discovered Mira had an assistant named Angelique. She was black American too. Fish killed the doorman to keep the secret. They figured this was the woman who died that day, and they wanted to be sure you believed it was true. Fish was hot on the trail of Mira after the bombing. The day he discovered she had a lover named Kei Hyogo he learned of a private flight out of the country. He was there. He took these photos. We paid Fish’s mother a visit. We convinced her to let us have access to his things. The photos and journal were there, along with cash that will be given to the family of course.” Lorenzo cleared his throat. “I did my own research, and this is all true cousin. The Asian man owns her business now. He travels between the states and Switzerland often. In fact he’s with her now.”

Each photo cut through him. The pain of her rejection, betrayal, burned away the love in his heart. She let him die inside, thinking she was dead. He truly believed in what they shared in the short time they knew each other. He was a fool. A constant fool.

“We leave for Switzerland.” He rose, tossing the photos as if they were trash.

The men didn’t speak. No one questioned him. For that he was grateful. There were plenty of reasons for him to question himself now.

****

Mira sat in front of the fireplace watching the flames burn brighter and wood logs char then crackle. She had covered herself in a red and orange afghan. Kei was near. She could hear him moving about the cottage and the sounds grew closer. Soon he’d want to have ‘the talk’, and she dreaded it. Mira exhaled a deep breath to ensure her voice sounded confident, controlled.

“Is she sleep?” she asked, sipping her tea. The meandering had stopped, which only meant he was staring at the back of her head from somewhere in the room.

“Yes.”

Mira smiled. “She loves when you come to visit. Usually I can’t get her down so easily.”

“She sat on that little toilet you call potty,” he said.

Mira chuckled. “Because you asked her to. Thanks for that. We’re having a bit of trouble with this potty issue.”

“I love her.” Kei sat next to her on the sofa, close. Mira sipped her tea, keeping her focus away from the questioning look in his eyes. “She’s beautiful, Mira. She has your spirit; she’s in my heart.”

“Mine too, Kei. She’s everything to me.”

“And me?”

Her gaze shifted to him. The smoky look of desire in his eyes made her heart beat faster.What held her back?He was a good man, and a good lover in the past. He saved her life. Eve had grown so attached to him that she cried when he left them to return to the States. Her daughter needed a father. Kei’s advances, proposals, touches, and kisses when she relented had not wavered. There was no mistaking the truth. He wanted the role of father, provider, and lover again. He even wrote her love letters when they were apart.

That evening he wore his hair loose, free of the leather band that kept the blue-black silky strands smoothed and bound away from his face. He looked even more strikingly handsome this way. And he had grown bolder. Just the other night he walked in on her changing, and his gaze lingered as she struggled to cover herself. The determined look of desire in his eyes when he watched her silently now only strengthened the sexual tension between them. She had to deal with him now.

“Kei.”

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