Page 59 of Just a Bit Captivated

One thing was for sure: they weren’t in the UAE anymore. The weather was cold here. Well, notcoldcold—it was pretty mild for February—but it was a world of difference from the Arabian heat Aiden had gotten used to in the past year.

The climate here seemed… Mediterranean. He could see hills covered in cypress trees, and there seemed to be a beach—and sea—some distance away.

“Where are we?” Aiden asked Lorenzo.

The man smiled.“Sicily.”

Frowning, Aiden eyed him warily.“What are we doing in Sicily?”

“I was ordered to find you and bring you to your brother. We didn’t kidnap him, by the way. He lives here.”

Aiden had never felt more lost.“Are you claiming my brother all of a sudden decided to move halfway across the world to Italy? That’s ridiculous. Jordan has no reason to—”

There was a man running toward him from the big white house on top of the hill.

Aiden’s breath caught in his throat when he recognized him.

It was Jordan.

His brother really was here. He didn’t look like he’d been kidnapped or hurt. He looked healthy, and he was wearing his usual high-end clothes. He looked fine.

Except for the fact that his brother wascrying—his big brother who had never been one to express much emotion in public.

“Aiden!”

Before Aiden even understood what was happening, he was enveloped in Jordan’sarms and squeezed so hard his ribs hurt.“I can’t believe this,” Jordan said hoarsely.“They really found you.”

After a moment, Aiden hugged back, feeling absolutely confused—and suddenly, utterly terrified.

He had been rescued.

He really had been rescued.

Chapter Twenty

For the first few weeks after his rescue, things had been so hectic that Aiden didn’t have a moment to himself.

Everything felt surreal, like things were happening too fast.

There was a lot of news to digest. Apparently in the year he was absent Jordan had abandoned his life in Boston and moved to Italy to live with his new boyfriend. The latter was mind-boggling on several levels. Aiden hadn’t even known his brother was into men too. The identity of the boyfriend was even more mind-boggling: Jordan was dating the boss of the Italian mafia.

Granted, Damiano Conte was pretty attractive: he was tall, dark, handsome, and confident—which… yeah, okay, Aiden could see the appeal. Aiden still wasn’t sure what to think of his brother’s boyfriend, but Damiano had been very accommodating. Hehad sent his private jet to bring Aiden’s parents and sister to Sicily, and for the past few weeks, they’d all been staying at Damiano and Jordan’s house. It had been… strange, to have so many people around all the time.

The knock on the door snapped Aiden out of his thoughts.

It was his mother.“Can I come in, darling?”

“Sure, Mom,” Aiden said with a smile.

His mother walked over and sat down beside him on the bed.“How are you, sweetie?” she said, taking his hand.

Shrugging, Aiden smiled again.“I’m fine.”

His mother’s gaze was searching as it roamed over his face. Her hazel eyes, so much like his own, were unsmiling, troubled.“Have I ever told you about the day you were born?”

Aiden blinked, taken aback a little.“I don’t think so.”

His mother smiled wistfully, looking down at their joined hands.“You were a surprise. I wasn’t all that young, and we weren’t sure if we should have a third child so much younger than Eloise and Jordan. It was a difficult pregnancy and very difficult birth. God, I wanted to die by the time you finally came out—I was so exhausted and in pain. But when they gave you to me for the first time, you looked up into my eyes and…”

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