“It’s what Giovanni believes.” Lorenzo smirked.
“No. And I’ll prove it to all of you. He isn’t a monster.” Mira sucked down a deep breath. “Catalina, I want you to go find Zia. Tell her to bring Eve to our room in twenty minutes. Do you understand?”
Catalina nodded. Mira then pointed from Dominic to Lorenzo. “You two stay out of his sight. I mean it.”
****
Giovanni dried his hair with a towel. Mira walked in and he stopped smiling. “What took you so long, I almost shriveled up in that shower waiting for you. You said you’d take Eve to Zia and join me.” He chuckled.
She gave him a weak smile. “Maybe we can take another one.”
Giovanni put on his boxers then his pants. “I got meetings in Napoli today.”
Walking over to him she took the hand towel from him and rubbed it across his chest, dried his arms and shoulders further. “Yesterday you taught me something.” Mira looked up into his questioning blue eyes. “You taught me that family always comes first. I believe you about Kei. I trust you. Do you trust me Giovanni?”
He smiled and kissed her on the lips, sweetly at first, then passionately. Giovanni began to walk her backwards to the bed and she broke the kiss. He reached for the top button of her pants and she stopped his hand. “We have to talk.”
Looking at her confused he removed his hand. “Something wrong?”
She nodded.
He waited.
She couldn’t capture her breath. She smiled.
“What is it?”
“You have to swear to me that you will stay here in this room and hear me out before acting on what I’m about to tell you.”
Frowning he said nothing. Mira walked away putting distance between them. Going to the door she locked it and placed the key in her pocket before turning to face him. “It’s about Catalina.”
Giovanni narrowed his eyes on her. “What about her?”
With a nervous hand she smoothed loose strands of hair back from her brow.
“What’s wrong with Catalina? You’re worrying me Bella.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to but this is a long complicated story, and I don’t know where to begin.”
“Talk to me.”
“Do you remember years ago before the wedding when I asked you about arranged marriages? I asked you to talk to Catalina and find out if she wanted to really marry that way.”
“Something wrong with her marriage? With her and Franco?” he asked concerned.
Mira sighed. “Baby please let me talk, okay? This is hard enough.” She took his hand and forced him to sit on the bed. “When I asked you about her marrying, I had my reasons. I discovered that she was conflicted, Giovanni. She was keeping something from you.” Mira said cautiously.
Giovanni stared at her silently, and Mira found her courage to go on. “She was already in love with another man. She begged me not to tell you. She said that it was a tradition to marry this way, and she was completely committed to it. I saw how determined you both were so I decided to stay out of it.”
“In love? How in the hell was she in love prior to the wedding? She wasn’t allowed to date. She was a schoolgirl.”
Mira sat down next to him. “The thing is, she ended that relationship before the wedding, and she really did try to start with her new husband. But her heart belonging to another made it impossible for her and Franco to commit. Soon they began to stray away from each other.”
“Stop with the fairytale!” Giovanni snapped. “Are you saying that my sister cheated on her husband?”
Mira nodded. “And Franco cheated on her? Although I doubt they knew it. They just did it because they couldn’t relate to each other.”