“Oh-oh, this is good then. Scusi!” He walked away, looking more nervous than when he approached. I turned to look in the direction of the one who didn’t know that I knew he was there, Jr. All I got was a glower before he turned and ran back to where he came from.
I stayed in the garden a few seconds longer, letting my mind settle down before heading back inside. When I got back to my room and fired up my listening device, I was just in time to hear Sal in his study speaking to someone about finding the nun. Apparently, he’d already sent his guys on the hunt, and she was the only one missing.
I’m not sure how to feel about him seeking the truth. Was it for me or himself? He didn’t bring up what I’d told him compared to what Felice had divulged. Hopefully, he’d rightfully suspected that Ma had given me the watered-down version to spare me and didn’t think I’d outright lied to him.
Next, I switched to the video feed in Ricci’s suite, where Felice was pacing back and forth, agitated. Ricci entered the room, and she rushed over to him. “Well?”
“He knows nothing. I think my father tricked us, bastard. He got us to tell him more than he knew.”
“I don’t understand; what do you mean? And what are we going to do about the American?”
“I mean, he just made one statement, which implied that he somehow knew, but he never said anything more. It was you who told him everything. You stupid bitch!” He raised his hand as if to hit her but seemed to think better of it and lowered it again.
“As to what I’m going to do, I can’t do anything right now; my father is so taken with the boy, you’ve seen him. If I make him disappear, Salvatore Ricci will make my life hell.”
“I don’t want him here. What if he takes what’s rightfully yours, my son’s? I won’t let that bitch’s son take what rightfully belongs to mine.” Oh, she hates Ma, still?
“Don’t think I don’t know you still long for her….”
“Once, I called her name once, many years ago, and you still can’t forget.” Oh-ho, what’s this?
He changed the subject and left me hanging, but she’d given me food for thought. The thought of linking him with my mother in any way, even in my head, is anathema; that’s why I’ve shied away from thoughts of him and what he felt for the girl he demoralized. I guess in his twisted mind; it’s some kind of affection; who knows.
If Draco even got a whiff that some man halfway around the world was lusting after his wife, he’d level the whole village. Add the fact that that man is Ricci, and well, he just might bring down the whole island.
I wasn’t interested in their marital drama, so I shut it down and went in search of my man Sal. The more time I spent around others, the less chance of being blamed for what I’d set in motion. Sal was only too happy to stop what he was doing and invite me to see the stables. He was even more intrigued when he learned that I could ride, something I knew his son and grandson didn’t do because of their fear of horses.
Of course, I rode like his father, according to him, and I was beginning to think that Sal may have regressed into some psychotic drama in which I was his long-gone father returned. Ah yes, reincarnazione. He did use that word the first time we met. It’s time to play up that angle to my advantage.
I hadn’t seen the girl; maybe my indifference had tipped her off that I was not interested in whatever fantasy she had playing in her head, and Jr. pretty much kept out of my way, except for lurking around corners to watch me. That night at dinner, he wore a sour look on his face when his uncle and grandfather once again made the conversation all about me.
“Uncle Martin, did you know my mother well? Ma hardly ever speaks about her time here in the village. Do you have any stories about her when she was a young girl?”
“Ah, Sofia Antonelli, she was the most beautiful girl here, but we did not move in the same circles, and she was only about sixteen when I went away to college.” He had a whimsical look on his face, and I was beginning to wonder if old Uncle Martin hadn’t had a bit of a soft spot for Ma as well. This wasn’t the first time he’d remembered her fondly to me.
“I didn’t see her after that; I don’t think. In fact, when she disappeared, there was a bit of an uproar since no one knew she was leaving. Then her father, your grandfather, left not long after, and we just thought they’d moved to the countryside to be with family.” He shrugged his shoulders while the two people I was targeting with my question grew tense.