Page 49 of Blue in the Deep Blue Sea

I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath.

“Let’s talk in my suite.”

She got up and followed me to the upper deck. Neither of us said a word. Only the soft sound of our footsteps could be heard in the empty hallways.

I never thought she was a bad person. I just didn’t trust her. I knew she was good for Gianni, but being good for someone’s heart didn’t always mean you were good for their mind.

He was going crazy with her. He had to constantly tell her where he was and what he was doing. If he was even a minute late, she’d lecture him like she was his mother instead of his girlfriend.

I told him more than once that it wasn’t normal, but he felt obligated to stay with her because she’d saved him when he was using. She was the reason he got clean.

For that, I had to give her credit. Not even the best facilities my father paid for had managed to do what she did.

I guess everyone sees love differently, and every love story has its toxic side.

After all, love is the poison that curses the human heart. Maybe that’s why mine is filled with hate.

She stopped at the door and waited for me to open it. The moment we stepped inside, before I even had the chance to close it, I raised my voice.

“Talk.”

She walked over to the sofa. Her gaze stayed fixed on the carpet in front of my bed while her fingers dug into the fabric beneath them. She hesitated, drawing in a shaky breath.

“We saw…” She swallowed hard. “We saw your father and Andrea Bianchi loading the yacht with stolen art and plastic bags filled with white powder.”

She turned to me, her words spilling over one another as she rushed to explain.

“We were at the cliffs, diving, and then Gianni found this map…”

“What the fuck, Isabella?” I shouted, my hands flying to my head. “Are you saying you two got involved with drugs?”

“No, no.” She shook her hands in front of her. “But they know we saw them.”

My father being involved with Andrea Bianchi wasn’t a surprise. They’d known each other for years, working together with my mother at the art gallery. But my father dealing with drugs, knowing his own brother had died from an overdose, was a shock.

Then again, when it came to my father, nothing should have surprised me anymore.

“Oliver.” She stood up. “Please, don’t mention any of this to Gabby. She has enough on her plate already, and I don’t want her worrying that Gianni started using again.”

“Did he?” I shouted.

“He came to me the same night he disappeared. His pupils were dilated, and his energy…” She swallowed. “I think he started again.”

She rushed on before I could say anything.

“He kept rambling about finding a ship that sank in 1809 near the Siren Islands, Li Galli. I even tried to tell Gabby the story the night before we got here, but she had no idea what I was talking about.”

I sat down on the bed. My hands ran through my hair before sliding down my face, burying it in my palms.

Silence settled between us. Then I heard a quiet sniffle.

When I finally looked up, she was hurriedly wiping away her tears.

She sniffed again, her brown eyes meeting mine.

“I kicked him out.” She closed her eyes. “I told him not to come back until he was sober.”

“Fuck.” I let out a long breath.