Page 48 of It's Not Over (Paths to Love 1)

A chill ran down my spine as I struggled to recognize him. I didn’t know this man, of that I was certain. “I think you’re mistaken.” I started past him, uneasy. I’d gone looking for trouble and found it.

“Daniel and I have an unspoken agreement that you’re off limits, but seeing as you’re on my turf…” He motioned to the building.

Could this be Donato?It seemed impossible that the very man I’d come for had materialized. Definitely Italian. Up close, he was intimidating. Sharply dressed. But there was something about him I didn’t trust.

“Donato?” I asked, and his smile broadened.

“You do know who I am.” He sounded surprised, yet his eyes were victorious. I’d always pictured Donato as an older man, but perhaps that was my way of imagining him as a father figure for Daniel.

“Yes,” I said shyly. I understood why Daniel didn’t want me around him. But if he thought Donato was one of the good guys, I was going to have to take a risk and trust him. “Actually, I was just coming to see you. About Daniel.”

His eyes held more interest than concern, but I was thrown by him. He simply wasn’t what I was expecting.

“Why don’t we go have a cup of coffee?” he offered. “I know a good place around the corner.”

I had the feeling I was expected to agree, but suddenly the meeting I’d come here for didn’t seem like such a great idea.

“Or do we need something stronger?” he asked when I didn’t answer right away.

“Stronger. Definitely stronger.”

The bar Donatoselected was a quiet Irish pub. He ordered whiskey for both of us after we settled into a booth away from the few other patrons.

He took a sip of his drink and relaxed in his seat, waiting for me to open the conversation. Since I was the one who’d come looking for him, I obliged, though it felt like a power tactic.

“Has anything happened lately? With business?” Dark eyes narrowed as if I’d already stepped over a line. I held up a conciliatory hand. “I don’t mean specifically. Just something that would upset Daniel.”

Donato’s gaze warmed. “Lots of things upset him,” he returned vaguely, and for a second, I thought I heard a twinge of bitterness. “What’s happened that would make you come looking for me?”

I hesitated. Go for broke. It was a motto I’d embraced all my adult life. “He’s left me. I don’t know why.”

He leaned forward. “Left you?” Donato cocked his head as if he hadn’t heard correctly.

“Yes,” I whispered as pain lanced through my chest.

“And he gave no reason?” His eyes held intrigue, not the worry I’d expect from a man who considered Daniel like a son.

“No.”

“But it’s finished?”

I pressed my lips together. Hadn’t I made that perfectly clear? Yet he seemed to want a solid confirmation.

“So he says.” I refused to admit defeat. In my heart, Daniel and I would never be finished.

Donato sat back and took a long swallow of his drink. I shifted uncomfortably against the hard wood of the bench seat.

He tapped his glass a few times, that discerning gaze focused on me. “You need my help.”

“I hoped you’d have some insight.”

One side of his mouth curled up in the semblance of a smile. “I suppose this explains his mood of late.”

“Is there anything? Something that would make him act this way?” I asked in desperation. I’d come to find answers. I didn’t know if there were any here, but I was determined to get something.

Donato traced the rim of the tumbler, deciding just what he would tell me.

“There are some things from the past,” he said vaguely. “Old business. New business.” He waved his hand in the air as if this explained everything.

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