“Nicolai’s message said that I have to meet him at the town market at the fruit store at one p.m., he knows who the mole is and to come alone.”
Carlo fusses around loading my gun and Val walks into the office and throws me a bulletproof vest. “Put this on.”
“I don’t need that shit.” I roll my eyes. “I’m meeting him at a public market.”
“Yeah, you fucking do. We don’t know who’s going to be there. This could be a setup, you could be walking straight into a fucking trap.”
I roll my eyes and put the vest on underneath my shirt. “It’ll be fine. I’ve met with Nicolai plenty of times before, there’s no issue. Stop being drama queens.”
Carlo hands me my gun and I tuck it into the holder under my arm and then I put my suit coat over the top, I hold my two hands out. “Happy?”
“Better.” Carlo nods. “We have six men on the ground already and we’ll be around the corner, text us the name straight away so we can order the hit.”
“I want him dead before I get back to my car. You got that?” I reply.
“He will be, don’t worry.”
I pat down my pockets to make sure I have everything. “Let’s do this.”
The market is busy and bustling and I head toward my destination, the fruit store. I glance around at the people surrounding me, busily shopping for their produce on an average Saturday afternoon.
I walk into the fruit store and see Nicolai from behind, he’s putting apples into a plastic bag as he pretends to shop. I pick up a basket and walk over to the apples as I pretend to do the same. He glances up as he sees me and gives me a subtle nod.
“What have you got for me, dear friend?” I ask.
His eyes flick around and it’s obvious that he’s nervous. “Lombardi has your yacht.”
That fucker.
I clench my jaw as I put the apples in the bag. “How did he know about my fucking yacht?” I mutter under my breath.
A loud whistle rings out.
A woman’s scream in the distance.
Nicolai stumbles back and clutches his chest, he reaches for me as he falls to the ground. Blood is pooling in his shirt.
He’s been shot.
Fuck.
I fall to the ground on my knee beside him. “Nicolai.” I grab his hand. “Stay here, stay with me. It’s okay.” People are screaming, running for cover, and my eyes flick around at the surroundings. “Who did this?”
He’s bleeding out, I can see life slipping away from him as the blood pools around. I put my hands over the bullet hole on his chest to try to stop the bleeding. “Call an ambulance,” I scream as the blood begins to squirt up onto me. “Nicolai,” I stammer. “Come on. Hold on, don’t go.”
“Fran…France….”
“Who?” I ask in a panic.
“Francesca,” he whispers in pain.
I frown as the earth beneath me moves. “My sister?”
He nods.
No.
“What about her?”
His eyes close. “Trust…. I….”
“What about Francesca?” I cry, adrenaline is pumping hard through my veins. “Nicolai, don’t die,” I beg. “Tell me.”
His head drops, his eyes go blank as they stare into space.
He’s gone.
I sit back onto my heels, covered in blood. My heart banging hard against my chest.
What the hell was he going to say?
18
Francesca
I dial Anna’s number and wait as it rings.
“Hi, babe, I was just about to call you,” she answers.
“What are you up to?”
“We’re on our way back from Tuscany now.”
I smile broadly. “You went to Tuscany, that sounds romantic?”
“You have no idea.” She laughs. “Do you want to meet up for a late lunch?”
“Sounds good.”
“Okay, I’ll come over around two o’clock? I have so much to tell you.”
“Like what?” I hear Carlo say in the background. “What do you have to tell her?”
I imagine him driving as he listens to our conversation.
“How crap you are in bed,” she replies.
“You wish,” his voice growls.
I hear her laugh out loud and I know that he’s just pinched her on the leg or something.
I smile as I listen to them play, I love that she sounds so happy.
My door buzzer sounds and I frown, who would that be?
“Someone is at the door, I have to go.”
“Okay, see you soon.”
I hang up and answer the door, my mother walks straight past me and into the apartment.
Great.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hello, darling.”
She’s wearing a camel-color fitted dress and sky-high heels, her hair is styled to perfection and as usual she looks like she just stepped off a designer photo shoot.
“How was church?” I ask.
“Good. I prayed for you.” She puts her handbag down on the kitchen counter and walks to my coffee machine.
“You don’t need to pray for me, Mom.”
“Yes, I do. After last night’s little brain snap on your behalf somebody has to.” She gets to making a cup of coffee. “Do you want one?”
“No thanks.” I cross my arms, annoyed. “Did you come here to fight with me? Because you needn’t bother, I’m already kind of pissed off with you about leaving last night without saying goodbye.”
She exhales heavily. “That was Lorenzo being dramatic. He walked out and I had to follow him.”
I frown as I stare at her. “Why would he walk out?”
“Because he’s not your father, Francesca. If he was, I would have told you long ago. How do you think that made him feel having that information slung at me across the table in front of him?”
“You were married to another man when he was sleeping with you, how should he fucking feel?” I snap, outraged.
“Listen to me.” She sips her coffee casually as if she has this conversation every day. “I know that you think that you know everything, but I can assure you. You have this wrong.”
“So, you never slept with Lorenzo before I was conceived?” I ask.
“I did. I admit it, I did.”
I roll my eyes in disgust. “Why are we even having this conversation?”
“Because the dates were way out. There is no way you are Lorenzo’s daughter and I would have dearly loved you to have been, he doesn’t have any children and loves you like you are his own. To give you to him would have been the ultimate gift of love.”
“So, you can tell me with one hundred percent certainty that I am not Lorenzo’s?”
She shrugs. “If you are.”
“So…there is an if?” I scoff.
“I’m just saying, if you were Lorenzo’s, that would mean that you were born at forty-two weeks’ gestation. You didn’t look like an overdue baby.”
I throw my hands up in disgust, “That’s your argument? I didn’t look like an overdue baby?” I shake my head. “Can you hear yourself right now? Give me a break.”
“It’s a fact.”
“No, Mom, this is the facts. You were sleeping with two men at the same time and I have just had a paternity test that proves I am not who you assumed I was.”
She tilts her chin upward in defiance. “Regardless, he is not the man for you.”
“I love him.”
“I don’t care. You cannot.”
“It’s a little too late for that, Mom. We fell in love long before Enrico died, long before we knew anything about Giuliano being related.”
“I know.” She holds her hands up in defeat. “Enrico predicted this mess when he caught the two of you in the library.”
“You knew about us that long ago?”