Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 97331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
I shook my head. “It’ was him. I know it was.”
“Call him.”
With a shaky breath, I pulled out my phone and quickly dialed.
When his voicemail picked up, I dropped my head. “He didn’t answer.”
“Listen, I hired those two cops out there to keep an eye on you while you’re here. Plus with Lanzo watching over you and driving you around, you’re going to be safe. Lanzo’s been trained well. He’ll know if you’re being followed or not.”
I nodded. I knew my brother was right. He would never put my life in danger. I was missing Nic and thought I saw him. That was all.
The door opened and both of my parents walked in. I couldn’t believe how much older they looked. Unlike my brother, who hadn’t appeared to age a day in his life, my parents looked to be a lot older than what they really were. The tears I had been holding back burst out and I ran into their out stretched arms.
“I’ve missed you. I’ve missed you both so much,” I cried out between sobs.
Both of my parents were crying as well.
“Nothing seemed out of the ordinary?” Antonio asked.
My father shook his head as he pushed me back and took a good look at me.
“My beautiful, Gabriella. I’ve missed you so.”
“I’ve missed you too, Papà. I’ve missed you both so very much there were times I felt like I couldn’t breathe.”
My mother drew me back in. She started to talk to me in Italian and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Mamma, you’re talking so fast and my Italian is very rusty. I don’t understand a word you’re saying.”
She covered her mouth before dropping her hands to her side. “I’m just so happy to see you. Come, Uncle Alberto has the back private room waiting for all of us.”
I glanced around the restaurant as we walked through it. Uncle Alberto still had my parents’ old bakery, but this restaurant was his baby. It was beautiful.
The moment I stepped inside I felt a calm move over me. I was home. I was with my parents and my brother, and I knew I was safe. Dante didn’t know I was alive, and he certainly didn’t know I was in Padua Italy.
We spent the next two hours catching up while eating. I asked about life back home. My mother showed me pictures, I asked about my best friend Linda, we cried when they told me Jack, my puppy I got in high school, had passed away, and we laughed when Antonio told a story about trying to paint my parents’ house last winter. I thought I would have been sadder hearing about my old life I was missing out on. But it was the opposite.
Antonio told me a little about his job, but with him being an FBI agent he hardly ever talked about it. The most I ever saw him was during the whole mess with Dante and how he helped me to disappear after the horrible night I witnessed at Dante’s.
Glasses of wine were lifted into a toast as I held mine up. After six years I felt at home and whole again. Although there was a dull ache in my heart that longed to have Nic with me. I’d tried so many times to tell him the truth over the last few weeks. I was going to enjoy my time with my family, then tell them my plan of telling Nic the truth about everything. The only way to keep us all safe is if I stayed apart from my family. For good.
The thought hurt my heart.
Pulling out my phone, I glanced down at it. I had called Nic when we landed and he texted me back about an hour later. Since I got to the restaurant I’d called once and sent him five text messages over the course of almost three hours.
Was that him I saw?
Impossible.
I pulled up his number and hit the call button. When he answered, I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Nic,” I said with a smile. “I’ve been trying to reach you. Where are you?”
Oh gesh. Like I wouldn’t know where he was.
He laughed. “Out with the guys.”
His answer was short and there was a bite of anger in it. Not to mention it hurt to know he was out, but then again, wasn’t I doing the same thing in a way?
“In Colorado Springs?”
He laughed. “Well, where the hell else would I be, Gabi?”
“I um, well . . . it’s just. The craziest thing happened to me earlier, and I thought I saw you.” He remained silent. “Nic . . . is everything okay?”
With a loud laugh, he ended it with a long groan. “Fuck, I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me, Gabi? You having fun?”
My mind was spinning. What had happened from the time I left to now? In one short day everything felt off.