Page 71 of Ms. Lead

When I arrive, I tell the taxi to wait on the off chance that she’s at her apartment and I’ll need to go there next. I ring the gate buzzer and wait to be let in.

And wait.

Ringing again, I wait some more.

Surely, somebody has to be here. It’s not the end of the workday, even if they had regular hours, which they don’t. According to Bianca, someone is almost always on the premises.

After an extraordinary amount of time, the tall gate opens, and a very pregnant Normandy appears, not looking pleased to see me at all. I guess that’s to be expected, but it pulls me up short. I’m not sure what to say to her now.

She stares at me long and hard, then unleashes. “Really, Oliver? It’s been what, six months now since you disappeared? Since you broke Bianca’s heart? And you have the nerve to show up here after this was just posted a couple of hours ago?” She holds her phone out to me, and I take it from her to look at the screen, shading it from the sun.

My stomach craters. It’s the selfie I took with Valerie at the airport. The one where I was ecstatic to finally be called to board a plane to come here. It also appears that we are very cozy, and the caption that reads, “Spent the night with this handsome devil. #bejealous #handsoff #oliverbellamy #dreamy” does not help whatsoever. I think I’m going to be sick.

“What? How?” I can’t get words out. I’m stunned.

“We have an excellent security company that monitors a lot of…things.”

“Normandy, please. I have been traveling for nearly three days to get here, and I can actually explain this.” I hand her back her phone, careful not to drop it with my now shaky hands.

She eyes me warily but doesn’t budge.

“Oliver, to be honest, I don’t want to hear what you have to say. Also, it doesn’t matter. Bianca isn’t here, or even in the country.” She rubs her lower back, obviously uncomfortable, and I wonder what she’s even doing here. She must be due any minute.

It hits me what she’s just said. “Not in the country? Where did she go?” My mind flips through hundreds of scenarios for why she would leave the country, and most of them include a new love interest.

There must be something in my expression that softens Normandy just a little bit.

She sighs. “She’s in Italy for her cousin Gina’s wedding. She’ll be gone for a couple of weeks.”

My heart sinks. She wasn’t even planning to be here for the 21st. We can’t very well keep to our agreement or reconcile if she’s not even in the country. Didn’t she know that I would be back for her? Of course not. I didn’t give her any reason to think I would.

“The wedding is this Saturday. In Milan. Her cousin’s last name is Morello. That’s all I know.” A shoulder rises in what I think is a sympathetic shrug. “Sorry.”

I take a deep breath and look Normandy straight in the eyes. “Will I be a total fool if I show up there? Please be honest.”

After about another full minute of scrutiny, she replies, “I don’t know the answer to that, Oliver. All I do know is that she hasn’t been the same since you left.”

I dare to ask, “Is there someone else?”

She doesn’t hesitate this time. “No. Nobody else.”

There it is again, only this time, it’s welcome.

Hope. I have hope.

The final and most insidious and brutal of Pandora’s gifts. The siren that tempts you down dark paths that lead to ruin. I will take that hope, however, and run with it. Straight back to the bloody airport.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

BIANCA

AVE MARIA

February 18th

Leave it to my cousin Gina to have the most extra wedding ever. She couldn’t have it near home in Turin. She had to go big in Milan. Mind you, her soon-to-be husband is super rich and isn’t letting her parents spend a dime on it, but still. Restraint has never been a word in her vocabulary, so she’s lucky she found such a generous husband.

She’s also got a heart of gold and aims that extra toward the kids she teaches in elementary school. They absolutely adore their “Miss Morello.” If the ceremony were in Turin, I’d bet most of her class would be in the wedding party.

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