Eventually, she spoke. ‘I miss them.’
Luca took a swig of whisky. So do I. Every day for three weeks, he’d missed them. How the hell he was meant to feel satisfied with twice-weekly video calls with Ethan and the stilted two-second greetings he got each time from Annah, he had no idea.
It wouldn’t do for the long term, but right now he was giving her the space she’d requested.
He stared into his glass, swirling the whisky, disgruntled at its inability to expunge the cold, hollow sensation from his stomach.
‘I tried to leave him once.’
Luca’s hand stilled. He raised his head and looked at his mother. She sipped her brandy, staring out over the moonlit gardens, her gaze fixed on some point in the distance.
‘I’d learned he’d taken a mistress,’ she said quietly, ‘but that wasn’t the only reason. Other things had begun to disturb me. There was a...darkness in Franco I hadn’t seen in him when we married. It frightened me, so I took you boys to Naples.’ She glanced at him. ‘You were only eight, so you may not remember.’
Luca frowned, scouring his memory. ‘I remember,’ he said slowly. His mother had said they were going on holiday, and Luca had thought it strange because they never took holidays without his father.
‘I thought my parents would help me,’ she said. ‘But your grandfather was too traditional. He told me a woman had no right to break her marriage vows, no matter what. He called Franco and... Well, that was that.’
Luca dug deeper into his memory. Yes. He remembered his father arriving in Naples. Remembered being happy to see him. But not much else. He was an eight-year-old boy, busy playing outdoors with his brother or sneaking into his grandmother’s kitchen to gorge on her baking. They stayed a few more days with his grandparents, then travelled back to Sicily as a family.
How furious must Franco have been with his mother?
Luca’s gut rolled uneasily. ‘Were there...repercussions?’
‘Not physical ones. It might be hard to believe, but Franco never laid a hand on me in anger. But he was furious like I’d never seen before.’ She paused, eyes lowering to her glass. ‘After a week of me barely speaking to him, he had all of my personal possessions packed into suitcases and put in the foyer. Then he laid out my choices. Stay and be an obedient wife, or leave—and never see my boys again.’ Eva’s chin lifted. She looked at Luca. ‘I hauled those cases up the stairs one by one and unpacked them, because for me there was no choice—I couldn’t leave you and Enzo.’
Luca felt his throat thicken. He didn’t know what to say. He looked away, but Eva leaned forward and touched his arm.
‘I know you think I was weak for loving your father,’ she said. ‘But the truth is I stopped loving him a long time ago. It was my love for you and Enzo that made me strong. Strong enough to endure an unhappy marriage. Strong enough to stay so I could try to protect you.’
Luca swallowed. In the back of his mind, words Annah had spoken three weeks ago bounced and echoed. ‘It’s your emotion and your compassion for people that make you strong.’
He looked into Eva’s face. ‘Why did you let me believe in him for so long?’
Her sigh was heavy. ‘I couldn’t risk turning you against him when you were young—Franco would have known. I hoped the right time would present itself as you got older, but...’ She grimaced. ‘I waited too long.’
‘And then we both failed Enzo,’ he said darkly.
Eva shook her head, sorrow etched on her features. ‘Enzo wasn’t strong like you. He was impressionable. Always wanting to please his papà. I saw that same darkness in him that I saw in Franco. Nothing would have changed your brother—not even Franco going to prison.’
Luca looked at her sharply.
‘Yes, son,’ she said. ‘I know more than you think—including the fact that you love Annah.’
Luca’s head jerked back. He opened his mouth to disabuse her of that notion, but she didn’t let him get a word in.
‘Do you think I didn’t see how you looked at her over the breakfast table every morning?’ She shook her head, though a smile touched her lips. ‘I also know you threw yourself between her and the gunman outside the restaurant that night.’
A scowl formed on his face. ‘Who told you that?’
‘I have my sources.’ Eva’s smile was only slightly smug. ‘That sounds to me like the action of a man protecting the woman he loves.’ She paused. ‘I also heard Annah did something similar—trying to protect you.’
Eva stood up, looked down at him for a long moment. ‘You might want to think about why she did that,’ she said.
And then she turned and went back inside, leaving Luca alone with his thoughts.
* * *
Annah’s hands shook so badly she could barely hold the mug of tea Chloe handed her without spilling it.
She took a sip, but her writhing stomach didn’t appreciate even that tiny bit of liquid. She put the mug down, turned imploring eyes to Chloe’s boyfriend, Ben, who looked suitably serious and official in his police uniform. ‘Please,’ she said, her throat hoarse after forty-five minutes walking the rapidly darkening woods, shouting Ethan’s name. ‘I just want to be out there looking, not sitting here answering a million questions.’
Chloe’s arms came around her, and for a second, as much as she appreciated her friend, Annah wished it was Luca’s arms offering her strength and support.
Then it occurred to her that he was more likely to throttle her than offer comfort when he found out their son was missing and it was her fault.
She pressed her lips together, holding back tears.
‘We’re getting a co-ordinated search underway,’ Ben said, his tone professional but sympathetic. ‘Plenty of volunteers have turned up, so, Annah, you should stay here.’
‘What?’ She gaped at Ben. ‘No! I need to be out there looking for my son!’
Ben and Chloe exchanged a look.
‘When we find him,’ Ben said, ‘the first person he’ll want to see is his mother. You should be here for when that happens.’
Annah was grateful for Ben’s use of when, not if, but she still wasn’t happy.
Chloe squeezed Annah’s shoulder. ‘You’re exhausted. Why don’t we both stay here? We can keep the tea and coffee flowing for the volunteers.’
She was exhausted. It was the whole reason this had happened. She’d been sleeping terribly. Missing Luca. Second-guessing her decision to reject his proposal every time a pouting Ethan asked when they were going to see Papà and Nonna and Timmy again. She’d thrown herself into work and parenting, proving she was strong and capable—that she and Ethan didn’t need anyone else.
‘If only I’d got that blasted lock fixed instead of waiting for the landlord to do it,’ she muttered. And if only Mister Pickles hadn’t gone walkabout. She’d promised Ethan they’d look for him tomorrow, hoping the ginger tabby would turn up in the meantime. Then she’d nodded off on the sofa. When she’d woken, the kitchen door was ajar, Ethan gone.
She rubbed her temples with her fingertips, fighting to keep the panic at bay. ‘Okay,’ she relented. ‘I’ll stay.’
Then she took a deep breath, went in search of her phone, and made the call she dreaded making.
* * *
An hour later, Annah felt ready to crawl out of her skin. Pacing the floor of her flat while others were out there combing the fields and woods was driving her crazy.
‘I’ve put some pork pies in the kitchen, dear,’ said Dot from behind her. ‘Can I make you a cup of tea?’
‘No, thank you,’ Annah said, continuing to stare out the window. The light had faded and the woods behind the flat were dark. Every now and again, a beam of light from a searcher’s torch cut through the trees.
Turning away from the living-room window, she glanced down at her phone clutched in her hand. It’d been horribly silent
. Had Luca picked up her message?
She paced again. He was going to be furious. She’d lost their son! Their beautiful, precious boy.
‘Annah?’
Chloe’s voice tugged her from her miserable thoughts. She looked to where Chloe stood in the kitchen, having paused in the act of drying a cup, her gaze directed out the window.
Chloe gave a little gasp. ‘Is that...?’
Annah’s skin prickled even before she turned to the window and saw Luca bounding up the steps two at a time. She blinked, barely able to believe her eyes.
How on earth...?
He burst through the door, and Dot and Chloe both gaped, wide-eyed, as he slammed to a halt and looked around. The instant his eyes found her, he stalked over, stopping close enough for her to feel the heat radiating off him.
Annah stared, confused. ‘You got my message?’ she croaked.
‘Yes.’ Under a day’s worth of dark stubble, his jaw muscles worked. ‘I was already in England—on my way here. My phone was off. I only listened to your message ten minutes ago.’
On his way here?
But he gave her no time to puzzle over that. ‘He’s still missing?’ he said, his tone sharp with urgency and concern.
‘Yes.’ Fear and misery welled, and she blinked rapidly, afraid she’d succumb to tears and he’d see how weak and needy she felt just then. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, straightening her shoulders, bracing for his anger. ‘It’s all my fault.’
A rough sound came from Luca’s throat, and then his arms suddenly wrapped around her. For a second she stiffened in surprise, but then she fell against him, choking back a sob, burying her face against his wonderfully broad chest.
This doesn’t change anything, a small voice cautioned. But he felt so good—warm and strong and solid—she didn’t care about anything in that moment except the fact that he was here.
He drew back, set his hands on either side of her face. ‘We will find him,’ he said. ‘Together, yes?’
Annah nodded, her throat too tight to speak.
Then she pulled herself together and introduced him to Chloe, Dot, and George—Ben’s colleague, who stood in the dining room updating grid search areas on the map spread across the table.
‘This is Ethan’s father,’ she said, and Dot’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.
George shook Luca’s hand, then offered a quick overview of the searchers’ progress. He glanced at Annah. ‘We thought it best that Annah stay back so she’s here when he’s found.’
Luca’s eyes narrowed on her face, and she stiffened, waiting for him to agree with everyone else. To tell her she should sit here twiddling her thumbs, going slowly insane.
‘Is that what you want?’ he asked.
She blinked in surprise. ‘I’d rather be out there looking.’
He nodded once, then glanced around until he located Chloe, who looked slightly startled to find herself pinned by his intense gaze. ‘My son knows you well, yes?’
Chloe nodded.
‘Then you will stay so that if Annah’s not here when he’s brought back, you can reassure him,’ he said, assuming command of the situation with such ease, nobody, not even George, questioned his authority. ‘Annah and I will join the search.’
In less than a minute, Annah donned her jacket and walking boots, slid her phone in her pocket, and grabbed two torches.
At the bottom of the steps, something made her reach out and grab Luca’s arm. He stopped and stared down at her, his eyes glittering with an intensity that sent a flood of warmth through her veins. She opened her mouth, compelled to say something, but the wild tangle of her feelings defied words.
He set his hand against the side of her face. ‘We’ll talk afterwards,’ he said softly, his thumb caressing her cheek. ‘First, we find our son.’
* * *
Thirty minutes later Luca had just bellowed Ethan’s name for the hundredth time when he heard an electronic chirping sound.
He swung his torchlight in Annah’s direction and saw her scrambling to pull her phone from her pocket and press it to her ear.
He sucked in a breath, his throat so raw it was painful to inhale.
This was not how he’d envisaged spending this evening when he’d departed from Sicily earlier today. For once he’d left Mario behind in Palermo and picked up a rented SUV from the private airstrip. When he’d finally remembered to check his phone and then pulled over to listen to Annah’s message, he was almost here.
Mud and grass squelched under his boots as he moved closer, scrutinising her features in the pale moonlight, trying to gauge her expression. When her hand flew to her mouth, stifling a sound that was half gasp, half sob, his heart jack-knifed in his chest.
She lowered the phone, and for a second he couldn’t breathe. Then she flung her arms around his neck. ‘They found him, Luca,’ she whispered. ‘He’s okay.’
Relief hit so hard, his legs quivered as if he’d just crossed the finish line of a marathon. He held Annah tightly against him. ‘Where?’
‘In a barn. On the other side of the woods. Someone’s taking him home now.’
She pulled back and looked at him, her eyes glistening with joy and relief, and for a crazy moment Luca wanted to pull the diamond-encrusted ring from his pocket, drop to his knees in the mud, and declare his love right there and then.
But he summoned restraint. A muddy field was no place for a proper marriage proposal. And more than anything else right then, they both needed to see their son.
Back at the flat, relief shook Luca to his core all over again when he set eyes on Ethan. Although cold and tearful, he appeared unhurt, but Luca insisted on a house call from the local doctor to check him over nonetheless.
After an interminable hour Ethan was safely tucked up in bed and the police, the volunteers, the doctor, and Annah’s friends were gone.
Finally, Luca had her to himself.
Except now that they were alone and the rush of adrenaline from finding Ethan had abated, those big blue eyes of hers regarded him warily.
‘Why are you here, Luca?’
They stood in the kitchen, facing each other across its width, the space so small a single stride would bridge the gap and set his body flush against hers.
For a moment longer, he resisted moving. ‘Because we need to talk.’
‘We could have talked on the phone.’
‘Not for this,’ he said. ‘What I need to say has to be said in person.’
* * *
Annah’s palms were damp and her heart was beating too fast as she stared at Luca. ‘Why?’ she asked.
He pushed away from the bench behind him. When he stepped towards her, her pulse leapt and her brain urged her to move, to put distance between them, but her legs didn’t get the message.
‘Because I need you to believe me when I tell you this.’
‘Tell me what?’ she said unsteadily, barely able to breathe for the wild flurry of emotions in her chest.
He held her gaze as he brought his hands up and framed her face.
Annah sucked in her breath, some deep intuition telling her what he was going to say. Panic and hope flared in equal measures. His lips parted, but she jerked her hand up and pressed her fingers against them. ‘Don’t you dare say those words unless you mean them, Luca Cavallari.’ It was meant to sound like a fierce warning, but her voice was little more than a shaky whisper. ‘If you’re here to seduce me with lies—’ She broke off, the rapidly expanding lump in her throat making it too hard to talk.
Gently, Luca pulled her arm down and then cupped her face in his hands again. She closed her eyes, afraid that her burgeoning hope would sprout wings and take flight prematurely.
‘Please look at me, cara.’
She swallowed. He asked so nicely, how could she resist? She opened her eyes, her breath catchin
g at the raw emotion etched on his face.
‘I love you,’ he said, looking into her eyes, forcing her to see the truth in his. ‘I should have realised it three weeks ago, but I was so afraid of failing to do the right thing by you and Ethan that in the end I did the worst thing possible—I let you go.’
Tears scalded Annah’s eyes. Blinking them away, she brought her hands up between them and placed them against his chest, assuring herself he was real. That this wasn’t just another tantalising dream she’d awaken from to find herself alone and suffering with a broken heart. ‘Oh, Luca.’
Dipping his head, he pressed a tender kiss on her mouth.
She kissed him back, finally allowing her heart to soar. After a long moment, she drew back and asked, ‘What made you realise?’
‘Besides the hole in my chest after you and Ethan left?’ A wry smile twisted his lips. ‘A surprising conversation with my mother, for starters.’
She looked at him in amazement. ‘You and Eva talked?’
He held her close, his hands stroking up and down her back. ‘It was a conversation we should have had years ago, but I never gave her the opportunity.’ Regret roughened his voice. ‘Did you know she tried to leave Franco once and take Enzo and me with her?’
Annah’s eyes widened. ‘No. She did say that your father never would have let her take you and Enzo away, but I didn’t know she’d actually tried. That must have taken tremendous courage.’
‘More courage than I’ve ever given her credit for,’ he admitted.
‘What happened?’ she asked, even though she feared the answer. Had Eva’s husband punished her for trying to leave?
Luca’s expression turned grim for a moment. ‘My father brought her back. Gave her a choice. Stay and be a dutiful wife, or leave and never see me and Enzo again.’
‘It wasn’t really a choice, was it?’ she whispered.
He shook his head. ‘She sacrificed so much—her freedom, the chance to find happiness with someone else—so that she could stay for me and Enzo.’
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