Page 110 of Beautiful Desire

She finally lifts her head, and after endless tears, she’s still the most beautiful woman there is.

“Sorry,” I tell her.

“Don’t be. I should have told them a long time ago, but I didn’t think it was right until I told you first,” she replies with a resigned shrug.

“That, I can understand and respect. Thank you,” I say. “Are you okay if I step away for a second and talk to Melinda? I just want to check on her to make sure she’s okay.”

Her face falls at my words. “Oh, my God. I never even asked her if she was okay. I need to talk to her.”

She starts to move, but I hold her back.

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s understandable with everything going on. You go have a seat with G, and I’ll go check on her. I’ll be right over there if you need me.”

With tears in her eyes once again, she nods her head. “Thank you, D.”

Without saying a word, I lean forward and press a kiss on top of her head before stepping away and walking toward Melinda.

She’s sitting in an armchair with her back turned to me, talking to Santino. She has blonde hair with streaks of gray in it pulled back into a low bun. As I approach her, Santino nods in my direction before stepping away.

As she turns her head in my direction, I’m finally face-to-face with my daughter’s caregiver. I’m met with the warmest brown eyes. A familiar pair of eyes that take me back in time twenty years.

“Bianca?” I whisper in disbelief.

I didn’t know if maybe my lack of sleep was making me hallucinate, but when she walked in that door, I knew there was a familiarity about her. Rubbing at my eyes, I blink my vision clear, but still, the same women with the saddest eyes I’d ever seen is sitting in front of me. I wait for her to tell me I’m crazy until she opens her mouth to speak, and I almost faint at her next words.

“Si, caro.” She says it so quietly, I almost miss it.

Tears are streaming down her cheeks, and I’m in a state of shock. A mixture of emotions builds in my gut, and I feel my eyes starting to fill with tears.

“How? Why? How?” I continue to say. Shaking my head, hoping to clear it, I try again. “How are you here? I thought after…” I trail off, not wanting to bring that back up.

“Si. I didn’t want to leave, but I knew if I wanted to live, I had to get away from there.”

Swallowing down the huge lump in my throat, I try speaking as my own tears roll down my face. “I am so very sorry, Bianca. I—”

She waves a hand in my face, cutting me off. “I’ll have none of that. This isn’t the time nor the place. If I heard correctly, it’syourchild that is missing. Let’s focus on getting that beautiful baby girl back, and then we can hash everything out, si?”

I nod my head absently, because I still don’t understand how Bianca Faturo is not only sitting in front of me, but has also been taking care of my daughter.

“Bian—sorry, Melinda. Are you hurt anywhere? Do you remember what any of these men looked like? More importantly, did any of them recognize you?”

“No, caro. I’m so sorry. It all happened so fast. They were wearing black ski masks over their faces, and they had guns. One of them snuck up behind me while I was at the kitchen sink washing Lily’s bottles and stuck the barrel of the gun into my back and told me not to move or he’d shoot me. I didn’t listen; I elbowed him in the throat, and that’s when he knocked me unconscious. When I came to and remembered what happened, I called Elle at the office to tell her. I had no idea you were her boss.”

I’m still trying to process the fact that Melinda is Bianca when my phone rings in my pocket.

“You need to get that?” she asks me.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I see it’s a call I’ve been waiting for.

“I’m so sorry, but I actually do. Don’t go anywhere. We still have a lot to talk about,” I say as I start walking toward Fabi’s office.

Catching his eye on my way, I incline my head, indicating for him to follow. He’s hot on my trail as I step inside his office; he closes the door behind me at the same time as I hit the answer button.

“Where is she?” I growl into the phone as anger builds in my gut.

“Why, hello to you too, cugino. Who is this ‘she’ you speak of?” his cold voice shrills through the other end.

“Cut the shit, Nero. I swear to God, if you hurt a single hair on her head, I’ll make sure it’s a slow, painful death,” I bark into the phone.

---