Day one of rehab, and Zani was already regretting it. The specialist had been by to advise him what would happen—he was to go cold turkey—Rafa’s suggestion.
“Thanks, brother.” He murmured, downing a glass of cold water.
His skin felt itchy, he was dripping sweat, and irritation made him antsy and jittery. He walked to the door, then stopped when he saw the security guard Rafa had stationed outside. Zani grumbled to himself and went back to bed.
He managed a couple of hours sleep before he was awoken by the nurse checking his vitals. She smiled at him. “How are you feeling?”
“Like death.”
“Good,” she said brightly, “then it’s working.” She grinned at him, and he couldn’t help chuckling.
“You’re enjoying my torture.”
“I admit I am, but only because I know how much better you’ll feel when this is all over.”
Zani’s eyebrows shot up. “You?”
She smiled. “Yup. Fifteen years ago. Then I got my nursing degree, and now I torture people who went through the same thing I did. It’s my penance.”
Zani chuckled. “Except you enjoy it.”
“I enjoy it when you get better. Now, take your poison.” She handed him the painkillers, the few drugs he was still allowed. “Only to take the edge off, I’m afraid.”
“Better than nothing.”
“Are you hungry?”
Zani turned on the charm. “Not for food.”
The nurse, Georgia, grinned. “That’s all that’s on offer.”
“Then no thanks.”
“Just keep your fluids up, and I’ll be happy. Oh, and you got a card. I left it on your table.”
When Georgia had gone—Zani missed her already, she was super-cute with a great rack and a butt that he could bounce coins off—he opened the envelope she had left him.
At first, he didn’t understand what he was seeing: a piece of paper with a collage of photographs set out like a photo story on it. One was of a woman from a distance, taken as she was walking along a street somewhere, he guessed, in France. Her hair was dark, her body slim, dressed in a simple summer dress.
It was the next photograph that made his knees give way. The woman was laying on her back, her eyes open and staring. Sophia. Her blonde hair dyed brunette, her beautiful face lovely even in death.
Two telltale bullet holes in her torso. Blood spread across the cotton of her dress.
They had found her.
The next photographs sent chills down his spine. Rafa. Noemi. Bepi. And the words written under them…
One of them is next.
As they drove to Rafa’s parents house outside of the city, Noemi squeezed her lover’s thigh and smiled at him. “What are you going to tell them about Zani?”
“Nothing. Or at least I’ll fudge the details. Tell them he’s gone away to clear his head. I promised him that if he went through rehab, I’d protect him. Dad’s a mild-mannered guy but he’d been pushed to the brink by this. As angry as I am with him, I don’t want Zani’s life ruined.”
“You’re a good man.”
“Would you believe it if I told you Zani wasn’t the devil either?”
Noemi smiled. “I would and I do. I believe he’s genuinely sorry for what happened.”
Rafa smiled. “We’re here.”
He turned into the driveway of his parent’s estate, but it was still a few moments before the house came into view.
“Wow.” Noemi gaped at the size of the place—it made Rafa’s place look like a shack. “How many bedrooms does this behemoth have?”
Rafa laughed. “You really don’t want to know… but it has two ballrooms.”
“Because of all those pesky balls one needs to have at the exact same time,” Noemi shook her head, smiling. “How the other half live.”
“Says the surgeon.”
Noemi snickered. “I’ll let you know when I need a house the size of Bainbridge Island.”
Rafa helped Noemi from the car and then retrieved Bepi from his car seat. Noemi took a few deep breaths. She had only ever been in the same room as Rafa’s parents once, while they visited Thomasina, and although they had been introduced, she had been too occupied with Tomi to pay much attention. Hindsight is a great thing, she thought to herself now. If only I had known then that I would be giving birth to their grandchildren in a couple of years.
The thought made her giggle, and Rafa raised his eyebrows. She told him in a low voice, and he laughed as they walked to the door. “If only we had known, indeed.” He took her hand. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. They’ll love you.”
He opened the door, and rather incongruously in Noemi’s opinion, called out. “Mom, Dad, it’s me.” Noemi hid her grin; they’d been announced by the CCTV already, she was sure.
She squeezed his hand again, and he smiled at her as his parents came to find them. Stefano Genova grinned widely. “Hey, hey, hey!”
Bepi ran up to his grandfather, and Stefano swung him into his arms. Rafael’s beautiful, elegant mother, Eloise, came up to them, and kissed Rafa’s cheek. “Hello my boy. And hello again, Dr. Castor… may I call you Noemi?”
“Of course, Mrs. Genova.”
“Eloise. Now, Rafa tells us you have something to tell us? Why don’t you all come through; we’ve had some food prepared and some punch.”
Noemi looked at Rafa who nodded encouragingly. Yup. They were doing this. They were going to tell his parents about the twins. She held Rafa’s hand tighter.
She couldn’t help the gasp when Eloise and Stefano led them out onto the patio. The grounds were huge and beautifully landscaped. Noemi realized she was gaping when Eloise chuckled. “I’ll take that as a compliment, dear.”
“You should! Your home, these grounds, wow.” Noemi knew she sounded starstruck, but the place was sensational. Suddenly she felt like an outsider, and a jolt shot through her. What was she doing in this world?
Luckily no one else seemed to pick up on her discomfort, and soon they were sitting down, Bepi happily playing with his grandparent’s dogs, and Rafa was taking Noemi’s hand. “Mom, Dad, I won’t keep you in the dark any longer… you’re going to be grandparents again. We both know it’s crazy fast, but Noemi has made me and Bepi so very happy. I hope you will give us your blessing.”
Stefano and Eloise looked at each other and for a moment, Noemi had a nightmare vision of them throwing her from the house for ‘trapping’ their son. Instead the older couple beamed and embraced them both. “Darlings, we’re so happy for you.”
Noemi was relieved, but she still felt as though something was being unsaid. She waited until Rafa and Stefano were strolling around the grounds to speak to Eloise.
“Eloise… I know this must be a surprise to you, especially with me being Thomasina’s surgeon. I assure you, my relationship with Rafa began way, way after Tomi passed.”
Eloise smiled. “What makes me think you’ve been practicing that line?”
“It’s not a line—”
Eloise held her hands up. “I meant no malice by that. What I meant was you seem desperate to convince us that you didn’t start a relationship with Rafa by design. Darling… we already know that. Rafa has spoken to us about your romance, and believe me, my son is an excellent judge of character. If he had thought that you weren’t genuine in any way, he wouldn’t be with you.” She patted Noemi’s hand. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re a successful surgeon, a career woman. Rafa is very lucky.”
Noemi felt her anxiety lessen, and she smiled at the other woman. “I love him so much. You raised an incredible man.”
Eloise thanked her then sighed. “If only I could have raised two such men.”
“Zani?”
Eloise nodded. “He’s not a bad man, nor a vicious one; he’s just… rootless. Our money spoiled him.”
“Maybe in time, he’ll calm down?” Noemi wished she could reassure the other woman, but Rafa had made a promise to his brother, and she wasn’t about to break that promise for him.
“He’s forty-three, Noemi, I think his time to calm down was about twenty years ago. Do you have siblings, Noemi?”
Noemi nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. She needed to call Leo, to try to explain what was going on. “I do. A sister. Adoptive sister—I was adopted by my family—but we’re very close.” She hoped that wasn’t a lie now.
They spent a couple of hours with Rafa’s parents before traveling home. Rafa had supper with them before excusing himself to go to the hospital. “I won’t be long, honey. If you want to go see your sister when I get back, I can drive you?”
Noemi shook her head. “I’ll call her. I expect she won’t want to see me yet.”
Rafa kissed her forehead. “In that case, I might go to the office to make sure everything is good there. Do you mind?”
“Not at all, baby. Bepi and I will play some games, maybe do some reading.”
“Momma Bear.”
She grinned. “It’s good practice. Besides, I’ve been neglecting Mouse too. We’ll have some fun out in the yard.”
Rafa kissed her. “Take care of our babies in there.”
“I will.”
Noemi played with Bepi and Mouse until both the dog and the boy were exhausted, then as they cuddled up with her on the couch, she called Leo.
At first, she didn’t think her sister would pick up, then as she was about to end the call, she heard her voice. “This isn’t a good time.”
Noemi drew in a deep breath. “Then tell me when a good time would be, Leo. We need to talk.”
“No, I don’t think we do, Noe. There’s nothing to talk about. You’re pregnant and I’m alone. Once again, you win.”
That hurt. “Once again? What are you talking about? No one wins; this isn’t a game. I didn’t get pregnant to torment you, or to win a competition only you seem to be in.”
“Then how come you get the handsome billionaire, the ready-made family, the beautiful baby? I got squat. My child was taken from me, and there’s no one to comfort me.”
“You have us, your family, your—”
The line went dead, and Noemi sighed. Leo was hurting, she knew. Her sister wasn’t a spiteful person and didn’t normally feel sorry for herself, but maybe this time she was entitled to feel aggrieved.
“Not that we did anything wrong,” Noemi whispered, her hand splayed out over her belly. “But maybe Leo’s entitled to be angry for a while. That’s okay, we can take it, can’t we?”
She looked down at Bepi’s little head, resting against her thigh, his thumb stuck in his mouth as he slept. He might not be my son, she thought as she stroked his curls, but I would die for this little tyke. She glanced at the clock. Almost eight p.m. The house was silent, peaceful. Noemi knew she should really put Bepi to bed, but it was so comfortable here on the couch, and Bepi and her dog were sleeping so soundly…
Noemi closed her eyes and let sleep come. She woke, confused a couple of hours later when Rafa’s head of security came to find her, pale-faced and shaken, to tell her there had been an explosion at Rafa’s office.