Elli closed her eyes. “He told me he killed her.”
Jess sighed. “He thinks he did. He thinks it’s his fault she was murdered. But, no, Elli, Indio Navaro did not stab Yvetta to death. Who does Aldo say Yvetta was to him?”
“His fiancée. The love of his life.”
Jess shook her head. “Yvetta was Indio’s fiancée. Indio’s lover.”
Ellie was shocked to her core. “Did you meet her?”
Jess shook her head. “Yvetta died three years ago. Almost immediately after, Indio came to Seattle and we met him. He was …hollowed out. He eventually opened up about Yvetta, his devastation at her death, and his guilt over not protecting her.”
“Jess and Theo were the people I saw Indio talking to, the time I mentioned to you before, but I hadn’t met them at that time.” Tandy said.
Ellie chewed her lip. “Did he mention Aldo?”
“No. Not once. Indio alluded to something else. He said the man responsible for Yvetta’s murder had something on Indio that meant Indio had to leave Italy. He wouldn’t say exactly what, but now, Elli, I’m positive it had something to do with you.”
Why are you so sure?”
“Because all Indio would say is that he failed to protect Yvetta, and he would not risk that happening to ‘her.' I think he meant you.”
There was a strange mix of emotions inside Elli, both an icy fear and a little relief. “Then he couldn’t have been talking about Aldo. Aldo loves me, he …” She broke off, seeing the look on Tandy’s face and knowing she was skeptical. “I won’t believe that he was the one who killed Yvetta and, for chrissakes, he hadn’t even met me then. How the hell would he know about me?”
Something jogged in the back of her mind—something from the day she had met Aldo. Your articles are the reason I subscribe to the magazine. But how would he have known about her and Indio? No.
But hadn’t, just an hour or two ago, she been planning to investigate Aldo? What Jess had told her merely fanned that flame.
Jess sighed. “Look, this is all conjecture, really. What does your gut tell you?”
Elli rubbed her hand over her forehead. “God, Jess, I’m so conflicted right now.”
“I told her to get some space from both of them.” Tandy was picking off the label of her beer, looking annoyed.
“I concur,” Jess said. “But you’re a big girl, Elli. Just know …you have allies.”
Elli smiled at her. “That means the world.”
The one drawback to the afternoon with her friends, Elli thought, as she walked back to the Four Seasons, was that it had to end and now she had to go back and see Aldo and pretend as if nothing had happened.
He greeted her with a smile and a kiss on the cheek. “Hello, darling. I missed you.”
Elli gave him a half-smile. “You were busy, honey. I didn’t want to interrupt your work.”
He pulled her into his arms. “You can interrupt me anytime.” He kissed her, and she tried to respond, but after a moment, Aldo drew back and studied her. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
His eyes narrowed. “You know I don’t like it when you lie to me.”
Oh god. Her heart began to thump. “You got me. I have a splitting headache,” she said smoothly. “But I don’t want to ruin our dinner plans.”
“Nonsense. We’re not meeting Theo and Jess Storm until tomorrow. Tonight, we can have room service and an early night.”
Elli smiled gratefully at him. “That sounds perfect.”
“You liked Jess, didn’t you? Are you looking forward to seeing her again?”
Was she paranoid to hear accusation in his words? She brushed past it, not wanting to give anything away. “Of course.” And Aldo said nothing else, not through the room service dinner or when Elli faked being asleep to avoid sex. He seemed perfectly happy just to lie next to her.
In the middle of the night, she awoke to find the bed empty. A thin sliver of light underneath the bathroom door led her to open it a crack. Aldo was masturbating furiously, his face red from concentration. She was about to close the door and give him some privacy when she heard the frenzied whisper coming from him. As she focused on the words, her stomach clenched with horror as her lover whispered another woman’s name over and over.
Yvetta. Yvetta. Yvetta.
They arrived back in Italy, and Elli intended to break things off with Aldo immediately. There were any number of reasons, starting with what Jess had whispered in her ear after the dinner that Elli and Aldo had shared with her and Theo.
“Always here. Just say the word and we can come get you.” Elli hated the concern in the other woman’s eyes—was she really in as much danger as everyone seemed to think? She couldn’t be with a man who frightened her. That was one thing.
Then, on the flight back to Italy, a different kind of fear struck Elli—one involving biology. The thought that she could possibly be pregnant with Aldo’s child had left her cold. And then, thinking that it might actually be Indio’s child … Elli had closed her eyes and allowed herself the fantasy that it was and that Indio would welcome her and the child and they would live in his farmhouse, running around, having fun, and making furniture in his workshop. She didn’t even want Aldo’s child. That was another thing.
And then there was the fact that, even if he was as clean as his public persona would suggest, she now knew she didn’t love Aldo and could never love anyone but Indio. She’d rather be alone forever than stay with a man out of convenience. It wouldn’t be fair to Aldo.
For all those reasons, Elli tried to finish things, but he deflected her trying to talk to him with a mention of another party. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one, too, my love,” he had said. “Some of our friends will be there.”
Elli bit her tongue and went along with it, distracting herself with work. She also wanted to get a look at Aldo’s study, see if she could find anything in his files about his business concerns in Uganda. So she went along with the plans, keeping out of his way during the day. She would return to work on Monday, which would give her some breathing space.
She asked Umberto to take her to the small town near Aldo’s mansion, and she ducked into a drugstore and bought a few pregnancy tests, not trusting the results of just one test.
It was with great relief, after seven tests, that she found she wasn’t pregnant after all. She sat in the bathroom of the small coffee house and sighed. So why was she so irritable and exhausted?
I need to get away. But, as she laid her head back against cool tile of the bathroom, she knew she had to take her chance to find out more about Aldo. He would not take it well when she broke things off with him, and she had no doubt that he could ruin her career with one phone call. So she needed a backup plan. If Aldo was corrupt, she needed to find out before she left him.
But there was pull in her—a growing need. She wanted to see Indio again. Of course, she did. She didn’t care if he yelled at her, but she needed to see his face, his beautiful face, again.
Oh, how I love you. Elli sighed. She knew what she wanted now, and no one was going to stop her fighting for him. She and Indio were meant to be together. She knew that with every cell in her body.
She was still thinking about Indio when she returned to Aldo’s villa that night to find him excited and almost manic. “Did you forget, darling? The party?”
Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, god, I did, I’m sorry. I’ll go get changed.”
Aldo smiled and kissed her mouth. “Good girl. We have about a half hour.”
Elli quickly showered, shoving her already-clean hair under a shower cap to save time. She wore the lilac dress she had worn a few months ago. It weirdly made her feel close to Indio—a small victory, perhaps, but it made her feel better.
Aldo smiled at her. “You look beautiful, darling. Shall we?”
They left the apartment and were driven by Aldo’s car service to the party. It was only when they entered the main ballroom that Elli
’s heart began to beat faster and her stomach clenched in dismay. This wasn’t a party of their actual friends …it was the masked people from the orgy. Elli looked at Aldo, her distress evident. “I thought you said you only met once a year.”
Aldo’s smile was triumphant. “Usually, we do. This year, we thought we’d have a reunion party, as it’s five years since we began the club.”
Oh god, no …Elli turned to go, but Aldo grabbed her wrist. “Come on, Elli, you had a great time before. Let’s just enjoy this.” He cupped her cheek in his hands. “Lately, I feel you drifting away from me and I thought this could bring us together again.”
“By having other men fuck me?” she said incredulously, and his face changed and grew angry.
“Perhaps if one of these men were Indio Navaro, you wouldn’t object?”
Something made her snap back, “Perhaps not,” but she instantly regretted it, as Aldo grabbed her wrist and hauled her into a private room. This was getting out of hand.
“Please don’t make me angry,” Aldo said. “You’re behaving like a child.”
“Because I don’t want to get fucked by strangers? Take me home, Aldo. Now.”
His smile was humorless. “No.”
Elli stared at him, her anger not dissipating one iota. “Fine. Then you can watch me fuck every man in that room, but you don’t get to touch me. At all. How’s that?”
She stalked out of the room, but Aldo stopped her. “Wait, Elli …”
For a second, she thought he was going to apologize, but instead, he smiled coldly. “You forgot your mask.”
He handed her the same dark red mask she’d worn before. Elli put it on and didn’t look at him again as she went out into the hallway, slamming the door behind her. She ran quickly down the hallway, away from the party, wanting to cry, but not being able to get tears out. She hunkered down in a dark alcove and breathed deep lungfuls of air into her.
Then she felt a hand on her hair, stroking it, and flinched away. Please go away. But the person didn’t leave, but merely removed their hand and stood quietly in the darkness, waiting. Finally, she looked up at the man in shadow who was comforting her and her heart raced. He was wearing a lilac mask and his dark curls were wild about his head. He put his finger to his lips and pulled her to her feet and into his arms. His lips were soft against hers, tender and loving, and then he swept her up into his arms and carried her to a bedroom upstairs. He locked the door behind them and laid her on the bed.
Elli’s body was on fire as he covered her body with his, pressing his lips to hers, and she pushed the mask from his face, wanting to see his beautiful eyes.
Indio smiled down at her. “Hello, my Elli Bella.”
She did cry then, out of sheer happiness. Indio kissed each one of her tears away. “Don’t cry, my love.”
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered, touching his face as if she couldn’t believe he was real.
“I’m here, il amore mia. I’m sorry about what happened the last time I saw you. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
She half laughed, half sobbed. “I don’t care as long as you’re here now. Indio …I love you so very much.”
“I love you, Elli. I have always, always loved you …” and he kissed her again, this time with such passion her head whirled. Elli clung to him.
“Indio …I know you didn’t kill Yvetta. I know you just feel guilty about her.”
Indio, his eyes sad, nodded. “I’m sorry I told you I did, but I am responsible for her death.”
She stroked his curl away from his face. God, he was so handsome, it almost hurt to look at him. It was like staring at the sun. “Indio, was it Aldo? Did he kill her?”
Indio looked at her with unhappy eyes, but nodded. “And, Elli, what scares me most is that ever since her death …he has focused his malevolence on someone else. The love of my life.”
Elli knew he was talking about her, but she needed to hear him say it. “You mean …?”
Indio smiled little and kissed her gently. “You, you damn frustrating, beautiful wonderful girl …woman, sorry. You are the love of my life. You always have been. Every cliché in the book, that’s what I feel for you, Elliana Moretti.” But his smile faded. “Aldo Constanza targeted you, Elli, and I don’t mean that to sound insulting. Any man would want you, but Aldo sought you out. He knew any new relationship would make the papers, and that I would see you together wherever I was in the world.”
He sighed and leaned his forehead against hers. “He killed Yvetta, and now he’s going to try to kill you, Elli. If you break it off with him, he will kill you. I hate, hate, the thought of you being with him, but can I ask something repulsive? I need you to stay with him while I gather more evidence against him.”
Elli opened her eyes. “You’re behind those reports in the paper.”
He nodded, and then looked a little shame-faced. “I also wrote the article about you.”
That stung her hard. “Why?”
“I’m sorry, Elli. It was all bullshit. None of it was true, but I wanted to get a reaction from you. I hoped being labeled a gold-digger would make you think twice about dating him. I should have known you wouldn’t back down, you crazy woman. I’m sorry if it hurt you.”
She gave a hollow laugh. “What does it matter now? Look, Indio, I can help. If you want me to stay with him longer, I will. He works from home. There are files in his study we may find useful, but I need to get to them. It’ll be easier if I’m already in the house and …trusted. Although I’m not sure Aldo trusts me much anymore. We’ve been having problems.”
“You have?”
Her mouth hitched up in a lop-sided smile. “Something about me being desperately in love with this gorgeous guy I once knew.”
Indio laughed softly and looked at the door. “Will he miss you?”
“Well, he told me to go fuck some strangers, so I don’t give a crap. I’ll just tell him I got upset and went to the bathroom.” She wound her arms around his neck. “Indio, we can make this work, can’t we?”
“I’m going to do everything to make sure you’re safe and that we’re together. We just have to bring Aldo down first—or you’ll never be safe. I hate, hate, hate that I’ll be sending you home with him tonight.”
The very thought made her cringe in disgust and fear, even though she knew that until she had a plan, it would never be safe to try and just walk away from Aldo’s insane obsession.
“Indio, were you watching me?”
He nodded. “Only for protection.” He chuckled softly. “You might want to get rid of the little bug in the plant on your desk.”
Elli burst out laughing. “I should be mad, but I don’t care. I love that you’ve been close all this time.”
His eyes were soft with love. “It killed me to send you away, but Constanza told me after he killed Yvetta that, and I quote, ‘next time, my knife will be gutting the girl you’ve really been in love with all this time’ if I didn’t leave Italy and stay away from you. He knew about you years ago. I think he’s been manipulating your career too. I think Yvetta must have told him about you—I was not the lover she deserved because I was already in love. There were times when it got too much for her. Aldo wore her down.”
“What was she like?”
“Lovely. You would have liked her. But I was wrong to be with her when I loved you. She deserved so much better. When Aldo started to harass her, I didn’t take it seriously. Thinking back now, if it had been you, I would have gone ballistic. Instead, I treated it as a joke until Aldo got way too physical with her and she came to me. She told me she had tried to make friends and let him down gently, but he had assaulted her, tying her up, blindfolding her, and threatening her with a knife.”
Elli swallowed hard, remembering the times Aldo had blindfolded her. Indio brushed his lips on hers before continuing. “I reacted badly. I beat him, and he fired me, only to hire me back the next day with an apology and a huge hike in pay. He also apologized to Yvetta, an
d afterward, he did leave her alone. I felt badly that I hadn’t taken her seriously, and I knew I could never come back to you, so I proposed.”
Elli’s eyes filled with tears again. “You could have come to me. I waited and waited. Enzo died. Whatever happened between you two was over and you knew that. I thought you didn’t want me anymore. I carried you in my heart. Every day I missed you and it felt like I was dying. And you were going to marry a woman you didn’t love.”
“I was going to marry her out of a false sense of responsibility, Elli. It was my fault she died. Because of my own damn stupid pride …I forced his hand, and he killed her. He stabbed her to death on our wedding day. A day that should never have been because I knew—and she knew—that my heart belonged, and will always belong, to you.”
Elli was crying now—sobbing—the tears just never ending, and Indio took her in his arms. “I’m sorry, Elli Bella, scuzi, scuzi ...ti amo.”
She pressed her lips to his and pulled his jacket from his shoulders. Indio shrugged out of it and his hands were at the straps of her dress, pulling them down her shoulders. “I always love this color on you,” he murmured, and Elli smiled.
“I know. I’ve been wearing a lot of lilac lately …it makes me feel close to you.”
Indio kissed her as his hands slid under her skirt and pulled her panties gently down her legs. “I am always with you, my beautiful girl. Always.”
In a flash, they were both naked, and this time, they took their time, exploring the other’s body, kissing and sucking, before Indio hitched her legs gently around his waist and slid his huge, engorged cock into her ready cunt. Elli gave a long, shivery sigh as they began to move together, Indio’s eyes on hers, his mouth tasting her lips as he kissed her. It was slow, soft, and languid, and when Elli came, she gasped, her back arching as Indio shuddered through his own orgasm. She felt his seed shooting deep into her belly and smiled at him. “I love you, Indio Navaro. So, so much …”
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