Let Me Love You

“No. Constantine thinks we should all stay together at my parents’ place in Long Island, but I need to stop by my place in Chelsea first and pick up a few things.”

A curtain of shock had my eyes dropping closed at that revelation. “You kept your house? I thought you gave up your life here when you moved.” I wasn’t sure why that hurt so much, but it made me think back to my mother’s irritating warning on my birthday that Enzo might leave me one day.

“I feel like we’re about to fight, and I don’t know why.” Enzo sighed, and I opened my eyes to see his sunglasses up as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just like having my own place and car when I visit, that’s it, Maria.”

When I didn’t respond, Enzo flashed me an uneasy look and returned his Ray-Bans into place.

I knew why I was mad at him. It was those last words he’d said to me on the jet before we both had gone radio silent for the remainder of the flight. He was trying to push me away again. His words were meant to scare me, and when would he learn I wasn’t going anywhere?

I let several minutes of silence swallow the space between us as we left the airport before finally mustering up a conversation starter. “Won’t it be weird to stay at your parents’?”

I’d been to his parents’ home before, but the one that overlooked Central Park. I’d almost forgotten they had another place outside the city in Oyster Bay Cove, Long Island.

“This entire situation will be awkward. But Izzy will be there, too, and I’m sure she’ll love seeing you again.” His tone was a bit less edgy this time.

I hadn’t seen Isabella since the funeral, and she had to be thirty now, or maybe already thirty-one. When I visited for my birthday six years ago, she’d been working overseas for a company in London.

She was living back in the States now, managing billion-dollar brands from what I’d last heard.

“Izzy’s bringing her boyfriend.” He revved the engine a touch.

“You don’t like him?”

“I don’t know him. None of us do. The fact she kept him hidden means she doesn’t think we’ll approve.” He glanced at me while saying, “Bringing him to Long Island for the rest of the week can only mean one thing.”

“And that is?”

“She’s marrying him.” He looked back while spinning the wheel with the heel of his hand, reversing the Porsche to avoid a roadblock in our way.

Why was it always so sexy when a guy did that instead of using the cameras? Of course, everything Enzo did seemed to turn me on. “What is it you need at your house?” I decided to drop the subject of his sister’s boyfriend, worried his foul mood would return, and I needed a break from Mr. Moody.

“I have some of Bianca’s things there that I want to bring with me,” he answered without much emotion in his voice, which meant he’d probably worked hard to do that.

And at that, I realized maybe we shouldn’t talk at all. To fill the uncomfortable silence, I turned on the radio and flipped through the stations until I found a song I liked. Can’t go wrong with Sam Smith.

The grumbles from Enzo had me changing the station. Maybe it was too sexual?

Landing on a country station next, which made my heart happy, I hummed to Chase Rice’s song, and either I sucked at humming or he hated the song, because when I glanced his way, his bladed jawline was tight. Not to mention his forearms were flexed. One hand on the wheel and the other on the stick shift thing.

“Can you change that, please?” he asked, and I hurried to do so, but I had the feeling he wouldn’t exactly love the next song.

“You’ve got to be kidding. Someone is fucking with me, I swear,” Enzo said as “Bad Decisions” played. He reached over and shut off the radio. “How about the sound of silence instead?”

I slumped back in my seat. Feeling restless, I grabbed my phone from my purse and opened my photo album to look at pictures of Chiara.

“Have you talked to him today?” Enzo’s deep voice rumbled through the space a few minutes later.

“No, we haven’t spoken since last night. And I’ve been dodging his calls today. If he knows I’m traveling with you, he’ll flip out.”

“He has no business dictating what you do. None.” He faced the road again, and I honestly had no clue where we were now or what part of the city we were in, but it was bustling and alive. Exploding with energy. And so different from where I grew up.

He switched lanes and stopped at a red light before looking at me. But then his attention shifted over my shoulder, and his entire body seemed to go lax, including his mouth.

I pivoted to follow his eyes, unsure why a Catholic church, which looked like it belonged in the Renaissance era based on its architecture, had produced such a reaction from him. “What’s wrong?” I faced him again, but he was already looking toward the road, pulling through the light, accelerating a bit more than necessary.

“Nothing,” he whispered.

“Don’t lie. Please.” I reached over and set my hand atop his forearm and gave him a gentle squeeze.

“It’s just . . .” He cleared his throat. “That was Bianca’s church where she went to mass. And it was also where I was arrested for murdering her killer.”





FIFTEEN


Maria

“I was upset. Drunk. Out-of-my-mind angry,” Enzo shared, his voice distant and detached as if it weren’t his story. “And I don’t know what possessed me to go to the church that night, but I stumbled in there like some crazy person, and someone called the cops. Turns out, the police were already looking for me.

“I guess I went there hoping I’d hear her voice. Have her tell me that what I did was okay because it was for her,” he went on, his tone rough with emotion. “We would’ve all gone to prison for years, but we were offered an unusual arrangement instead. And that included a cover-up story as to how he really died. And no, it wasn’t from a car accident.”

When he eased his arm free from my touch and changed lanes, I had a feeling he was done with sharing, and for once, I didn’t press him for more. I wasn’t quite ready to hear how he actually killed the man. And maybe I never needed to know those details.

I stowed my phone in my purse and kept my eyes on the window the remainder of the drive until we parked in front of his place.

I’d expected some fancy penthouse in the sky, not a stately brick town house with hints of Greek revivalism in the design. I’d dabbled in art and architecture in college, though quickly realized I lacked an important skill: drawing. But I’d always admired the beauty of certain buildings from my studies. And this was definitely a stunning home.

“Come on. We won’t be long.” He hopped out, then rounded the car to open the door for me before heading to the Suburban behind us. He exchanged a few words with the driver while I waited at his doorstep.

His eyes held mine when he climbed the few steps to get to me, and then he cleared his throat and wordlessly let us in. He stopped the wailing alarm with a code inside the foyer as I asked, “How many stories?” Yeah, I suck at small talk.

“Including the cellar and the roof deck,” he began while discarding his sunglasses on a table in the foyer, “six. This is the parlor floor. The pool is at the garden level right below us.”

“You have a pool inside your house?” I tried to mask my shock, but I knew I was failing as I did a slow three-sixty, taking in the modern and opulent interior. “This is what money looks like, huh?”

“I guess so. I, uh, didn’t design it. This place isn’t me.” He pocketed his hands, an uneasy look crossing his face, and I couldn’t quite place why. “I’m going to my office. You’re welcome to wait here or look around. Up to you.” And with that, he went toward the stairs and disappeared.

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