They dressed, and Arturo took her hand as they walked to his car. “I have a surprise for you.”
Her face was adorably flushed from making love, her hair mussed, her dark eyes shining at him as they drove out of town. Instead of turning south towards his home, he took the north shore road. Hero, her dark hair flying in the night air, laughed. “So, this surprise is…?”
“Patience.” He teased her, and she stuck her tongue out at him in jest. Arturo chuckled to himself. It had taken just seconds to get back to where they had been, but no, they seemed to have skipped several steps in their reacquaintance. “Sweet one, I know we have a lot to talk about, and I don’t want to miss any of it. But for tonight, can it just be you and I? Just…love?”
Hero touched his face. “I’d like nothing more. We have all the time in the world to talk.”
Arturo turned the car into the long driveway of the Villa Claudia and waited for Hero’s reaction. Hundreds of thousands of tiny white lights had been strewn around the rundown hotel’s terrace alongside a few braziers of open flame set along the grounds. Under the pergola, candles guttered on the stone table, and champagne was on ice with two glasses next to it.
Hero blinked a few times and looked at Arturo. He smiled at her. “Do you like it?”
“It’s beautiful, Turo, absolutely stunning. Wow…wow…”
Arturo stopped the car, and they got out. He offered her his hand, and slowly they walked up the stone steps to the terrace. Arturo showed her around the grounds first, and then they walked into the hotel. Hero moved around, running her hand over the old-fashioned fixtures, the walls with the peeling wallpaper. “It’s incredible,” she enthused, “so much character. Is it another hotel?”
Arturo, watching her carefully, shook his head. “No, this is a personal project of mine…and hopefully yours, too.”
Hero looked confused. “What do you mean?”
He indicated the hotel. “A home. Our home. If you would do me the honor.” He stepped closer to her and cradled her face in his palm. “Sposami, Hero Donati. I love you like I’ve never loved anyone else. Like I’ll never love any woman ever again. Marry me. Be my wife.”
Hero stared back at him. It’s too soon. We don’t know each other. This is crazy. All of these things played on a loop in her brain, but instead of saying them aloud, she just said one word.
“Yes.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Married.”
Hero nodded her head from side to side. “Sort of. Kind of. Yes. And no.”
Imelda looked at Fliss who shrugged, enjoying Imelda’s outrage. Imelda ground her teeth. “Hero Donati, are you married to Arturo Bachi or not?”
“Well…yes. Except not legally. Yet. We had our own ceremony last night at our future home. You should see it, Melly, Fliss—it’s incredible. It used to be a hotel and…”
“Hero, stop. Slow down.” Imelda rubbed her temples. “Are you trying to tell me Arturo proposed, you said yes, and you fake-married him?”
Hero sighed. “Yes, yes, and it wasn’t fake. It was real to us. As far as we’re concerned, we’re married, but we’re going to wait a while to make it official. So, we can, you know…get to know each other.”
“Right on, girl.” Fliss look impressed, but Imelda shook her head.
“You just go from one disaster to another, don’t you?” Imelda had clearly reached her limit. “I swear, you get more insane every day. Did you at least talk about some of the problems between you two? Or the fact that a psycho who has already killed once is now targeting you? Because of your relationship—sorry, marriage to Arturo Bachi? Do you think that’s all just going to magically go away because you got laid and got silly?”
“Wow.” Hero’s smile vanished. “Melly, do you think you’re talking to a three-year-old? Do you really think we didn’t talk about it all night? Between the fucking and the silliness, of course. Why do you think we’re waiting? Okay, so we’re going to call ourselves husband and wife, but we know the mountain we have to climb. I’ve climbed a few in my life already, you’ll recall. We know, Melly. But we’re not going to let it stop us from living our lives.”
“You may think that your love can conquer all. I’m sure Flavia thought so too before some maniac put a knife in her gut repeatedly. There’s someone out there that wants to do the same to you, Hero. Did you forget that?”
“Of course, I didn’t fucking forget that!” Hero exploded now, sick of her sister’s patronizing. “It’s me he wants to kill! Do you think I’m not aware of it every waking second? I might be murdered at any time, and I have no idea why. It could happen today, tomorrow, in five years’ time. Am I supposed to put my life on hold until then? This is a good thing for me, Melly. Can’t you see that? I love him.”
Imelda stared at her for a long time before stalking from the room. Hero and Fliss stared at each other for a few moments, then they heard Imelda come back. She had her suitcase with her. She didn’t look at Hero.
“Felicity, thank you again for letting me stay. You have been the most gracious hostess.”
Fliss nodded, her eyes wide, not wanting to get between the two sisters. Hero paled, looking at her sister. “Where are you going?”
“Back to the States. I’m clearly not needed here.”
“Mel…”
But Imelda was gone. The apartment echoed with the silence. Fliss put her arm around Hero. “Sorry, honey. Look, I have to say, I’m friggin’ delighted for you.”
Hero smiled at her, tears swimming in her eyes. “You are?”
“Hell, yes! I’m all about the romance. But then, I’m young and irresponsible. And it seems to me, Hero, after everything you’ve been through—you get to be young and irresponsible and live the dream. And Arturo Bachi…you get it, girl. Can I ask something personal?”
Fliss had such a mischievous look on her face that Hero had to nod. “Is he packing? I mean, he looks like he would be huge. Give a girl some details.”
Hero blushed, but laughed. “Arturo is very blessed in that department.”
“Length or girth?”
“Fliss!” But Hero smirked. “Both.”
“Lucky bitch.”
“Oh, I know. And the stamina of a twenty-year-old.”
Fliss groaned. “And the experience of a forty-year-old. Oh, damn you, Hero Donati, you hit the jackpot. And that face of his, too.”
“Yup. See this face?” Hero, cheered by Fliss’s banter, pointed at her smile. “Smug.”
“Smuggysmugginess.”
“You know it.” Hero looked at her watch. “Well, he’s coming to pick me up in a half-hour. Want to meet my husband officially?”
Arturo’s smile hadn’t left his face from the moment Hero said yes until now, when he told Peter. Peter sighed smiled and shook his head. “I might have known. You’re both so impetuous, you deserve each other. Congratulations, my friend. Did you settle everything else between you?”
“The apartment is water under the bridge. I should never have been so obsessed with it in the first place. It’s just bricks and mortar.”
Peter frowned. “No, it was your dream, Turo. Your business. But anyway, it doesn’t matter now. Did you tell her the name of the new hotel?”
“No, that’s a surprise for another day. I took her to Villa Claudia.”
“Marcella told me. She said she’d never strung so many Christmas lights at one time.”
Arturo laughed. “Marcie is a wonder. She’ll see my thanks in her paycheck. It looked amazing and the whole night was…unforgettable.”
Peter smiled. “I’ve never seen you this besotted. Not even with…Flavia.”
Arturo looked down at his coffee for a long moment. “If it’s possible, I love Hero even more. They could be sisters in looks, but they are a million miles apart in character. Hero is goofy and funny, Flavia was more serious and…” He trailed off.
“Self-involved.” Peter’s voice was harsh. “Time for the truth about Flavia, Arturo. We already know she wa
s cheating on you.”
Arturo nodded, reluctantly accepting what he’d always dodged in his memories. “Flav used her looks to get whatever she wanted. Hero’s not like that. Not even slightly. She doesn’t use people for any reason.”
Peter studied his friend. “But Flav’s killer is now targeting Hero. Which leads me to ask…why didn’t he kill her at the Patrizzi? He had her alone and vulnerable and, Jesus, the girl’s tiny.”
“I don’t know. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“No. Never mind.” Arturo sighed. “Look, I have to go pick her up…she’ll be moving into my place as soon as she’s ready. Which I hope is now, but I’m trying to hold back.”
Peter didn’t smile. “Sure, I could tell with this whole ‘we’re husband and wife’ thing.”
“Unofficially,” but Arturo grinned. “I cannot wait until we do make it official.”
“Turo.”
Arturo shrugged. “I’m in love, brother. I’m not apologizing for that.”
Hero was stuffing the last of her clothes into her case while Fliss sat on the guest bed, pouting. “I’m going to miss having you here.”
“I won’t be far, and I’ll still come help out in the store. If Arturo thinks I’m going to be a stay-at-home wifey, he’ll have another thing coming. And hey, when we start on Villa Claudia, I’ll need your artistic skills.”
Her cell phone rang, and Fliss hopped off the bed. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
Hero was smiling when she answered the phone, not even checking who was calling. “Hello?”
“Hero Donati?”
“That’s me.”
A low chuckle. Immediately Hero’s hackles went up. “Can I help you?”
“Can you help me? Well, let’s see, beautiful.”
She frowned, not placing the voice or even the accent. It was being disguised somehow. “Who are you?”
Another laugh. “Your killer, Hero. The person who’s going to gut you.”
Her blood froze. “Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what? Calling you? I wanted to hear your lovely voice, of course. And to tell you in exquisite detail how I’m going to end your life. I’m so looking forward to it.”
Hero got angry. “You son-of-a-bitch! Do you honestly think I’m going to sit back and—”
“Shut your filthy mouth, whore!” The sudden change from an almost whisper to a roar of anger silenced Hero. She was trembling. She checked the caller ID. Blocked. Of course.
“Look, I don’t know why you’ve decided to fixate on me. I don’t know many people here, and I don’t think I’ve done anything to you, whoever you are. You should know, I have protection.”
“Oh, I know. It won’t be enough to stop me. I’m going to gut you slowly, beautiful one; it’ll be much, much more drawn out than when I killed Flavia. You will beg me to kill you because the pain will be unbearable, but I’m going to watch you bleed out, and I’ll enjoy every moment.”
Hero gritted her teeth. “Then come at me, bro. Who’s to say I won’t kill you first?”
She ended the call and almost threw the phone across the room, but she stopped herself. No. Calm down. It’s what he wants.
Instead, she checked her watch. Arturo would be with her in a few moments. She sucked in a breath and grabbed her things.
Fliss was waiting in the living room with two glasses of sparkling wine. “Just to celebrate our brief time as roommates.”
Hero hugged her. “You are a true friend, Fliss. I’ll get the movers to pick the rest of my stuff up as soon as I can get it organized.”
“No problem. Just don’t forget me.”
“Never gonna’ happen.”
He grinned to himself as he heard the phone line go dead. That should ruin her evening with the bastard. God, he couldn’t wait to carve her up, but this…the anticipation was just as sweet. After all, he couldn’t kill her twice, although because she looked so much like Flavia, it was kind of like reliving that glorious night.
It had been a pity Flavia had died so quickly. Because of the party going on just yards away, he’d had to stab her quickly and brutally before she could scream or anyone else came close. Hero Donati would suffer much more. He would slide the knife into her and leave it buried inside her as she bled slowly to death. Then as she was close to death, he would go to town, stab her quickly many, many times over. Butcher her. And then he would allow Arturo to find her body and know that he had lost. Again.
If Flavia’s death had almost made him insane, Hero’s murder would destroy him entirely.
He couldn’t wait.
Chapter Eighteen
Hero told Arturo about the call. “I don’t want it to spoil our evening, but we agreed. No more secrets.”
Arturo was angry. “Figlia di puttana!” He pulled her into his arms. “You’re safe, you know? I won’t let him hurt you again, Hero. I swear it.”
“I do know.” Hero kissed him. “But, Arturo, I think we need to up the ante on finding this asshole. We can’t be passive.”
“Agreed. Look, let’s go to my place and make a plan. We’ll call in every detective we can, go to the polizia—not that I think they will be much help.”
“Well, we’ll try everything. It’s not like either of us can’t afford good security, but I don’t want to live looking over my shoulder. Fuck that.”
Arturo smiled at her. “I love your dirty mouth.”
“It’ll be wrapped around your cock soon, if you keep talking like that.”
“I’ll make you keep that promise, bella.”
She kissed him until they had to break for air. “Let’s go home, baby, and fuck ourselves silly. There’s time enough to be super-cops tomorrow.”
Arturo groaned as he slid into the driver’s seat of the car. “What you do to me, Hero Donati…”
She grinned at him. “Drive fast, Bachi.”
“Okay.” Hero set down her laptop on the table in front of Arturo the next morning. “My best chance for help is via the US Consulate. If we can get the Como police to provide us with their reports of my attack and the time I went to them with the notes, then we’re good to go.”
Arturo nodded. “Good. What will the Consulate do?”
“Well, we’ll still have to investigate for ourselves; they won’t do that. But they have more pull in getting information that we may not have access to. So, here’s what I think. The nearest consulate is in Milan. We go, tell them our story, and ask what resources they have to help us. Then we let the local polizia know that the US State Department knows about the case. That might make them take it a little more seriously.”
“I agree. For my part, I’ve been thinking we need to go see my uncle. First, because he’s a sick man, and I would like him to meet you before…well, you know. He’s also a little odd… but he’s really good at not letting emotion cloud his judgment. A little too good, maybe. If he can see the details of this in his dispassionate way, he might see something we can’t.”
“Such as?”
Arturo hesitated. “Perhaps someone who works for us who might be more involved than we think.”
Hero’s eyes opened wide, and she sat down heavily on the chair next to him. “Turo…you don’t mean Peter, surely?”
“I hope not. God, I hope not, but something’s been bugging me lately. It may be nothing, and I hope to God, it isn’t anything, but I keep going back to the night Flavia was murdered. When I got to the party, Peter had already left. George was still there, though; he was the one who told me Flavia was missing.”
“Had Peter ever been aggressive towards Flavia?”
Arturo smiled slightly. “Peter’s never been aggressive to anyone, as far as I know.”
Hero shook her head. “I don’t know where this is coming from. Granted, I don’t know Peter as well as you, but Turo, surely out of anyone, even me, he’s the person you trust the most.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “You’re right. I’m just being paranoid.”
Hero smiled at him. “I think you are, baby. Let’s not throw suspicion on someone we know is on our side.”
But Arturo wasn’t convinced. When he met his friend later at the office, Peter seemed cool towards him, and Arturo finally asked him outright. “What’s going on with you, Pete? Have I offended you in some way?”
Peter sighed. “No, Turo. No, it’s just...I’m wary. You tell me Hero is getting threats, and her life is in danger, and I can’t help but be worried that if something does happen to her, you won’t survive it. And if you don’t survive, neither will I. You’re my brother, Turo, my family. I was there last time, when you so nearly lost the will to live. It was…horrific. I don’t want you to go through that again. And hell, I don’t want to go through it again either. Once was enough for five lifetimes.”
Arturo felt a wash of guilt over him. “Nothing is going to happen to Hero, Peter. We’re dealing with it, both of us, and we could use your help. We’re going to find out who killed Flavia, and who is threatening Hero and why.”
“You’re the common thread, Turo,” Peter pointed out. “I’m concerned for you. I worry that whoever it is, they’re setting you up, especially now that your uncle is dying. Think of the morality clause in your father’s will…Arturo, if something does happen to Hero and you’re arrested, you forfeit everything. Everything.”
Arturo nodded. “I know. Pete, believe me when I say that without Hero, nothing would mean much to me anymore. I frankly don’t care.”
“Which is all very noble and romantic, but this is the real world.”
Arturo sighed. “Peter, even without the company and my father’s fortune, I have more money than I need.”
“A lot of it is tied up, Turo. Your cash in hand is a lot less than the figures might indicate.”
Arturo shrugged. “I leave that up to you, Peter. If I lose it all, I still have everything if Hero is safe with me.” He studied his friend. “There’s something else, isn’t there? Do you not like Hero?”
Peter hesitated. “I don’t want to keep mentioning it, but she looks so much like Flavia. I…keep seeing Hero ending up like Flavia.”
Under Her Skin Page 9