“No,” he said curtly, but he could understand the question. He wasn’t acting like himself. He didn’t feel like himself. For once, he felt like the past didn’t need to have a stranglehold on him. He could make amends. He could be free.
Alessandro took a seat on one of the couches. “Please, sit.”
Gio shook his head and remained standing. “I’d rather stand. What did you need to talk to me about?”
“You know we’re happy to have you here, Gio.”
Never one who had been open with his emotions, Gio merely pocketed his hands and waited. He doubted Alessandro had pulled him aside simply to express that sentiment.
His uncle walked over to the window and said, “Tomorrow Dominic Corisi will present the Isola Santos deed to Stephan and Nicole. Will that be a problem?”
There it was. The reason for their meeting.
Gio straightened to his full height. “What are you asking?”
“I always thought you weren’t interested in the island or the old house.” When Gio said nothing, Alessandro pushed. “But you were, weren’t you?”
“I would not have offered to purchase it had I not been,” Gio bit out.
“Purchase? Your mother returned the deed to me. It was in your father’s possession. Why would you offer to buy something that was already yours?”
Just as his mother had predicted, his uncle wanted to turn him against her. “My mother said she never had the deed.”
Alessandro pinched the bridge of his nose. “She lied. She returned it to us a few weeks after your father died. She said you had all discussed it and decided that owning it would bring back too many bad memories. I believed her. Especially considering the circumstances of your father’s death.”
Confusion and anger swirled within Gio.
Someone had lied.
He didn’t yet know who.
“I see.” But he didn’t. Nothing made sense to him anymore. He had next to no connection to his uncle anymore. Why this intricate cover-up story?
Alessandro appeared genuinely distressed. “We never would have sold the island if we had known you wanted it.”
Uncovering one lie only revealed more. “You expect me to believe that?”
Affronted, Alessandro rose to his full height and said, “You’re family, for God’s sake.”
Family. He was beginning to hate that term. “That label doesn’t mean as much to me as it once did.”
Alessandro reached out as if he were going to put a hand on Gio’s shoulder in support, then let his hand drop to his side.
He’d come for answers, but he was leaving with more questions. If his uncles were as cold and conniving as he’d been raised to believe they were, why were they making such a production out of pretending to care about him now?
Was this why the invitation scared his mother? She’d even gone so far as trying to pay off Julia—why? Did she think it would stop him from coming here?
“I should have spoken directly to you and your brothers. Patrice asked us not to talk to you about it. She said it was too upsetting for you.”
Gio spun on his heel and walked to the door, then stopped and, without turning, asked, “Alessandro, did you know about my father? About Venice?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you think we deserved to know?”
“It was not my place to say anything.”
Gio nodded once, a cold fury filling him.
Behind him, his uncle called out, “Gio, where are you going?”
With his hand on the door handle, Gio spoke without turning. “There is nothing here for me now.”
His uncle spoke softly. “What would you have me do?”
“What you have always done for me—nothing.” Gio walked out the door and closed it firmly behind him.
Chapter Twenty
Julia’s head was still spinning with the names of everyone Maddy had introduced her to. She doubted she’d ever been hugged as much in her life as she had that night. The experience had certainly changed her opinion of the rich and famous. At least these rich and these famous. She’d expected to feel out of place, but the Andrade clan knew how to make a guest feel welcome. Although they dressed in more expensive clothing than her friends at home, they were just as quick to play pranks or tease one other with an embarrassing recollection.
This is going to be an amazing weekend.
“Come on,” Gio said harshly and took Julia by the arm.
“What?” Julia asked in surprise as she tried to keep up with his long strides—not an easy feat in heels. “What happened?”
He didn’t answer until they had cleared the front door and were walking down the path. “We’re leaving.”
Julia dug in her heels and halted them both abruptly. “Whoa. An hour ago you were happy and mingling. What did I miss?”
“Nothing.”
She looked down at her arm. “Really? Because you’re dragging me around like something happened.”
He released her and frowned. He let out a long sigh. “I need to get out of here.”
“Apparently.”
“Let’s go.” He took her arm in his hand again, this time more gently, and led her down the path toward the planes. “The pilot is expecting us.”
Julia looked over her shoulder at the party. “What about your brothers?”
“They can find their own way home.”
“And our things?”
“I had the pilot arrange for them to be brought to the plane.”
Well, aren’t you in a snit?
They were walking up the stairs of the private plane when Julia couldn’t contain her displeasure any longer. “You’re not going to tell me why we’re leaving?”
He let go of her arm only when the outer hatch was closed. Julia took a seat near the window. Gio sat across from her. The plane took off with neither of them saying a word.
His eyes burned with passion and a darker emotion. “I should send you home on the next flight out of Rome. I should get as far away from you as I can—because when I’m with you I want the impossible.”
“What happened at the party, Gio?”
“The truth was more disappointing than I was prepared for.”
Julia undid her seat belt and crossed over to him. She sat sideways on his lap and looped her arms around his neck.
He tensed beneath her, and for a second Julia wondered if he was going to ask her to get off him, but he didn’t. His arms closed around her, and he buried his face in her hair.
Julia pulled back and looked into his eyes. “You can tell me it’s none of my business . . .”
“It’s none of your business.”
“And I don’t need to know what you found out.”
“I have no intention of telling you.”
“But why not turn to your brothers? They were right there. You weren’t alone at the party.”
“There was no need to involve them.”
“I have a feeling they’re already involved, regardless of how much you keep from them.”
“Are you done?” he asked and moved her hair aside so he could kiss the side of her neck.
She pushed at his chest. This was what he did. He used sex to distract her. Does he really think he can distract me with—oh, that’s nice. Gio pushed one strap of her dress aside and slid a hand inside the neckline, gently cupping her bare breast.