Chapter 47
ITALY, ROME
10:03 PM
We are standing in front of a luxurious villa. I’m about to knock on the door when Alexander grabs my hand. I turn to him.
“What’s going on?”
“You’re missing something.”
I look at him in confusion as he rummages through the inside pocket of his jacket. He takes out a small red box and opens it. When I see the ring, I tense up, but my eyes stay fixed on it.
“What the hell is this?”
“What kind of husband would I be if my wife didn’t have a ring on her finger?”
I look at the ring for a few seconds. It holds no symbolic meaning, but it’s stunning.
“Our cover needs to be flawless.”
(
Of course.
Focused on his gesture, my hand in his, he slips the ring onto one of my fingers. This is probably the first and last time a man puts a ring on my finger.
“We’re ready, Mrs. Graves.”
We even matched our outfits to emphasize the fact that we’re married. But it’s all just an illusion.
We finally enter, and to my surprise: a wine bar, champagne flowing freely, canapés, hundreds of waiters and waitresses handing us new glasses when we’ve barely touched the ones we were given, soft music…
The women are wearing jewelry worth a fortune and designer gowns. The men are dressed in elegant tuxedos with watches worth thousands of euros on their wrists.
Alexander gives a small smile then leans toward my ear.
“I don’t know exactly what the right–wing mafia leader looks like, I only know he’s here.”
“How do you plan to find someone when you don’t even know what he looks like?”
“I never said I wanted to find him. What I want is for him to find us.”
I look at him, doubtful.
“I thought we were supposed to keep a low profile.”
“You thought wrong. If we start hiding, it’ll look suspicious and attract attention. But if we show up as a perfect little couple just enjoying our honeymoon, well, no one will suspect anything.”
I spot some men who stand out from the other guests but look alike: tall, muscular, blond hair and brown eyes, hard facial features, wearing luxury clothes without actually seeming wealthy.
My eyes stop on their necks. They all have the same tattoo–a dove with a cross. Henchmen.
Alexander seems to have realized who they are too, because he steps back to face them while pulling me closer by the waist.
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Is that a protective gesture?
My name is Lorenzo, and this is Luca.”
Lorenzo offers his hand to Alexander. Alexander shakes hands with both of them white t give a fake smile to Luca, who takes my hand to plant a palet i
on it.
“My name is Alexander, and this is my wife, Inata.”
Not only is his Italian accent incredibly sexy, but hearing him say “my wife” is enough to make me….
“Nice to meet you,” Luca tells us.
“You’re not from around here, are you? I’ve never seen you before,” Lorenzo asks.
“Was it my Italian accent that gave me away?” Alexander replies with a fake laugh.
“Let’s just say it’s obvious you’re not from here.”
“We’re French.”
“What brings you here?”
Alexander locks eyes with him. He smiles, pretending to be moved as he reveals the reason for our visit to Italy, and specifically Rome. He’ll have to prove himself and make them believe we’re here for our honeymoon.
“We came on our honeymoon to celebrate our recent marriage.”
He looks at me and smiles like I’m a precious gem. He plays the role of a loving husband so well that I could almost believe it myself.
“Congratulations, enjoy the country- and especially your wife,” Lorenzo tells him.
I give a polite smile.
“We’ll leave you now.”
They nod at us and walk over to a waitress carrying a tray full of champagne flutes. Each grabs one and they raise their glasses in our direction.
I turn to Alexander to speak when he places a hand on my thigh and smiles:
“They’re watching us.”
“I know.”
“Let’s stay another thirty minutes, then we’ll leave and move on to the next step in my plan. Just pretend you don’t feel their eyes on you.”
11:10 PM
We leave the party, my arm wrapped around his. The villa is located outside the city. We arrive in nearly deserted parts of Rome. We walk in silence until Alexander takes a narrow, poorly lit alley.
“Why are we going this way? It’ll be hard to find a taxi to take us back to the hotel.”
“We’re not going straight back to the hotel.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Italians who spoke to us earlier are following us, and they’re about to make a move.”
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I stop myself from turning around.
“Why are they following us?”
“They probably weren’t fully convinced by our act. So they’re going to run a little test, which we’ll pass, and then we’ll be in the clear.”
“What test are you talking about?”
“They’ll probably try to steal my wallet or intimidate me, just to see if we’re a potential threat.”
How the hell did he figure all this out? He acts like this is totally routine.
“So what? We’re supposed to pretend we’re actually scared?”
“Exactly.”
“Won’t your pride take a hit if you let them do that?”
They’ll probably hit him, and I doubt he can keep it together.
“You worried about me?”
I look away.
“Never.”
He lets out a small laugh.
“I could take them both out if I wanted, but our cover is more important than that. You’ll just need to shed a few tears and scream a little in fear.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“Don’t get your hopes up.”
“And don’t pull out the weapons you’ve got stashed in your bra.”
Observant.
I was about to reply when Luca called out to us:
“The newlyweds, right?”
We both turn around at the same time. Luca and Lorenzo are
staring at us with mocking smiles.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but your evening isn’t going to end as well
as you thought.”
“You’re the guys from the party. What do you want?”
I hide behind Alexander, wrapping my arms around his waist like I’m afraid of these two idiots. He places his hand over mine while looking at our two attackers.
“We just came to take a closer look. Lorenzo will take the lady’s jewelry while I grab this rich young man’s wallet.”
I play my role and give a frightened look to Lorenzo, who seems satisfied with my fear. Idiot
He grabs the necklace and gold bracelets I’m wearing, inspects them, and slips them into his tuxedo pocket.
I look at Alexander, who keeps his composure as Luca takes all his valuables. But when Luca tries to take the ring from his finger, his expression changes.
Chapter 47
Now that I think about it, that ring is always on his finger, like it holds sentimental value,
It’s an old silver ring with a black stone in the center.
“Give me your ring,” Lorenzo demands.
Alexander doesn’t respond, and Luca steps closer to him.
“You shouldn’t anger these men. They’re dangerous.”
I emphasize the word dangerous to remind him this is just a test, and he absolutely needs to hand over the ring to avoid getting us killed.
“Listen to your wife.”
Alexander looks at me and I plead silently with my eyes for him to give up the ring. He stares at it like he’s seeing it for the first time.
He doesn’t want to part with it, even if it means blowing our cover completely.
“Your husband doesn’t seem willing to hand over what my colleague asked for.”
“You should convince him to obey us immediately if he doesn’t want to end up
under a bridge.”
“We don’t usually harm women. But that could change if he keeps being this insolent,” Lorenzo threatens.
What game is Alexander playing? Taking this long is risking both our lives. I look at him–he’s on the verge of exploding: clenched fists, dilated pupils, tense jaw.
I glance down and see his feet shifting like he’s about to fight both of them, which is not part of the plan.
I have to act. I step between the two men while subtly holding Alexander back.
“This ring has a lot of sentimental value for my husband. Please don’t take it.”
I remove from my ring finger the ring Alexander put on me earlier to symbolize our fake union. I hand it to them.
“Here. It’s yours.”
“You idiot! You didn’t even grab the ring that probably costs a fortune!” Luca shouts.
He grabs it with a satisfied smile.
“It was a pleasure doing business with you,” Lorenzo says with a bold bow.
Lorenzo and Luca walk off, proud of themselves.
I’m about to speak, but Alexander steps back. He’s trying to calm down. He breathes heavily, on the verge of losing it. He places a hand on his chest to steady his heartbeat. He closes his eyes repeatedly, trying to hold himself back.
I give him a soft smile. I walk over to him, take his hand, and wrap mine around it. He looks at our hands strangely but says nothing.
I whisper gently:
“Let’s go
back.”
Chapter 48
