“What’s going on? What happened?” Andrea yelled with a death grip on her robe. “I heard a scream.”
“It was Margo who screamed,” Niccola told her. “She saw someone fall past her window.”
“What?” Andrea shook her head as she looked at me.
My eyes were on Wyatt. “How did you get here? What happened to you?”
Suddenly, everyone was talking at once, and I put my hands over my ears and turned away from them and took a deep breath. It all came back in a flood. How was I going to tell them? What did it mean that Greta was gone? I decided to start from the beginning so I could make sense of everything, too.
“I saw Wyatt outside in the storm, and he fell. Wyatt, what were you were looking for?”
“How did you know?” He looked at me oddly. “Did you see me out there?”
“Yes, I saw you, and I got your text, and I saw you slip.”
“But I never texted you.” He held up his hands to show me his phone wasn’t on him. “I left it in the kitchen to charge.”
“Yes, you did. You texted me that you lost something. Then I saw you slip, and I panicked and ran…wow, okay.” It hit me then. Just like with Mariano, I’d been tricked into doing something by someone using a phone. I held up my hand to them.
“Sienna,” Elio wrapped a blanket around me and studied my face, “what just happened?”
“I,” I stumbled, “was out there looking for Wyatt when… Oh, my, there’s so much to tell. So much has happened.” I shivered.
“You’re cold!” Andrea admonished. “Are you all right?” She looked at me in concern. “Elio, she must—"
Elio instantly began to throw out orders. “Let’s let her get changed. She’s shivering. Mama, would you arrange a space and some drinks for us? Niccola and Vinni, check on Margo and the rest of the staff. Let them know everything is okay, and then meet us in the…” He looked at Andrea.
“The living room,” she replied as she squeezed my arm and hurried out.
“Wyatt, you have some explaining to do as well, so let’s all meet in twenty minutes in the living room, and you both can tell us everything that happened.”
* * *
When Wyatt and I finished recounting our stories, there was dead silence in the room. There had been a few interruptions and some gasps of horror when I hesitantly described the death of Piero’s mother and what she had done, but I hadn’t expected this silence. I suddenly felt unsure of myself. No one moved. All that could be heard was the suddenly too loud crackling of the fire. I took a deep drink of the hot tea Elio had given me and glanced briefly at Francesco, who sat off to one side, and waited.
“This’s a lot to absorb,” Vinni said and ran a hand through his hair as he looked at Elio. Elio had taken a seat next to me on the sofa, and his grip on my leg had never once wavered while I told my story.
Andrea got up and held her hand out to Piero. “Are you all right, my love? I know how hard it must be for you. She was your mother, after all.”
“You say she killed Pauly Milano?” was all Piero said as he looked at me.
“That’s what Abramo said,” I replied gently. All this had to be difficult for him to hear.
“I’m not sure what that means for our deal with Domenico.” Piero directed his comment to Elio.
“Francesco?” I spoke up and they all looked at me. I was sure they wondered what more Earth-shattering news I might have. I’d decided everything had been shared, so this should be too. “Greta had Abramo following you since my mother’s wedding with Theo.” His face fell. “That’s how she knew who I was before all of you did. He found out you had placed me in that house but never told Greta until Elio brought me to the house.” I turned to Piero. “She’s been watching from the very beginning.”
“That’s insane.” Niccola shook his head. “No wonder she barely left the house. She had Abramo doing all her watching for her.”
“No one in this room will breathe a word about what happened here tonight, particularly that Nonna has been killed,” Elio finally said. “I’ll talk to The Finder tomorrow and see what else he might know about all this.” He stood and took me by the hand. “Right now, it’s late. Let’s all get some sleep.” He pulled me to him and placed a kiss on my forehead.
“Come with me, Wyatt, so I can clean up that cut.” Andrea had her no-nonsense voice on, and it made Elio smile at Wyatt.
“Thank you, Andrea, but I, ahh, wonder if I could have a word, Elio?” Wyatt gave her a side hug. “Just a brief moment alone?”
“Of course.” Elio kissed me again and encouraged me to go upstairs. I wanted to know what Wyatt had on his mind, but the call of our cozy mattress was strong and overcame my curiosity.
I showered, and by the time I got into bed, Elio was back. Soon I was snuggled in his arms. I was so happy he was here and not at the bottom of the sea with his wicked old nonna. I imagined her becoming fish food for some happy sharks—at least, I hoped.