“That man,” I nodded in the direction of his quickly departing back. “The one who’s leaving now. I know him.”
Dante turned his head, casually looking over his shoulder. He nodded at one of the crew members who sat at a table a few feet away from us. They had been so nondescript all morning, I’d completely forgotten they were there.
Dante made a gesture with his finger, pointing to the departing figure, and the crew member immediately stood up and started following the man.
“What are you doing?” I clutched his arm tighter. “Do you know him? Where’s he going?”
“Just a precaution.” He placed his hand over mine. “How do you know him, Noemi? I didn’t know you knew anyone in Barbados.”
“I don’t really know him. I mean, I’ve seen him before, that’s all. But it wasn’t very pleasant.”
“Tell me.” The cold of his voice robbed all the sunshine around us. Dread filled my stomach.
“I should have mentioned something before.” I felt guilty that I hadn’t, and I didn’t know why. “But first there was dinner, and dancing, and then afterward—” How could I have even thought about that man when Dante and I were going to be together for the first time?
“Noemi—” Dante’s harsh growl hurried my speech along.
“He ran into me after my massage, when I was on my way back to the bungalow. He... he knocked me over. I thought he was going to help me up, but then he leaned over and said something to me.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed dangerously. The vein in his temple began to noticeably pulse. “What did he say?”
“He said...” My voice dropped to a whisper as I folded to Dante’s dominance. “He told me to stay away from you. That you aren’t who I think you are.”
Dante stood up quickly, knocking the chair over. The remaining crew member joined us at the table, alerted, I was sure, by Dante’s extreme behavior.
“I’m sorry,” I stammered. “I should have told you sooner, but—”
“Yes,” he bit out between gritted teeth. “You should have.”
He turned to the crewman. “Take her back to the yacht. I don’t care what else happens. Get her on board.”
“Yes, Mr. Calegari.” The tall, buff man did as he was told, extending an arm to me to escort me back to the yacht.
“Wait!” I cried, trying to get Dante’s attention again.
He pulled some bills from his wallet and tossed them on the table to pay our tab.
“Where are you going? Dante—”
“I have some work to do,bambina. Go back to the yacht.” He nodded to the crewman who started to pull me along.
“If you’ll come this way, ma’am.”
I turned to Dante as I stumbled forward, but he had his back to me as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. The last thing I heard as I was practically dragged out of the cafe was Dante barking at someone, “Tell me you found that bastard.”