Page 47 of Unrestricted
"Okay, what I know is that Eliza and Gabriele were dating. He thought they were on track to get married. One night, he goes to meet her at a restaurant but she's not there. Instead, he runs into some Hungarian thugs he refused to do business with. They carved him up and left him for dead."
A muscle in Benito's jaw twitches. "Why would she do that? Money?"
"Some money might have been involved."
She obviously had cash to get away and someone made her fake passports. Those don't come cheap.
Why haven't I asked her about any of this yet? I don't want to think about that too closely.
"But her brother was involved with the Hungarians,” I continue. “He messed up a drug deal or something and owed them. Her giving up Gabriele settled the debt."
"Fuck! Where's the brother now?"
"Dead. The Hungarians slit his throat a week after Eliza ran.”
I watch as he takes a moment to process that, adjusting the image he had of Eliza in his head. I’m not sure how much slack he’ll cut her knowing she suffered a personal loss in this mess too.
"Okay, so why doesn't everyone know about this?"
"Gabriele didn't want his brothers involved. Don't ask me why. You know what he's like."
"Yeah, I do." Benito gulps down half his glass of wine and refills it. "And he asked you to go after her."
"Not really." When I think back to the conversation we had in the hospital when he was high on morphine or whatever and feeling sorry for himself, I remember him telling me all about Eliza but I'm not sure he did ask me to go after her. "But I couldn't let her get away with it."
Benito's eyebrows draw down into a deep V. "So you chased this girl for three years without telling anyone you were doing it and you're not even sure Gabriele asked you to."
Well, now he's making me sound like an idiot. I work my jaw. "That's about the size of it."
He rubs his chin thoughtfully. "When did it stop being about Gabriele and become all about her?"
His question throws me off balance. "I… what do you mean?"
"Oh, come on, Adriano. Three years? You're not known for your commitment."
"It was for Gabriele."
Benito scoffs at that and I know my answers are starting to sound lame. "If that's the case, what's she doing in your house?"
"Gabriele told me to deal with her."
"By wining and dining her and making puppy dog eyes at her?"
The wining and dining I'll concede to him but I have never made puppy dog eyes in my life.
"She's a prisoner. She spends her days in a locked room."
"And her nights in your bed?"
I scrub a hand over my face and Benito laughs mirthlessly. "Fuck, Adriano, you've got yourself in a mess."
"You think I don't know that?"
"Damiano's going to shit a brick when he finds out you're in love with the woman who set his brother up."
That brings me up short. "I'm not in love with her."
"Tell yourself that but I know what I saw."
