Page 222 of Claimed At First Sight

They stare at each other. Then Mamma moves into his arms, and he holds her without hesitation.

The champagne sits forgotten while the last of the bubbles slowly disappear. Only minutes ago, we were celebrating a new beginning.

Now that new beginning is already being tested.

Chapter Sixty-Two

Mialina

Itighten the blanket around my shoulders and tuck my feet beneath me on the window seat.

Mamma sent us upstairs after dinner, assuring us we could see Luca tomorrow after she and Aldo talked to him.

I know Luca’s message didn’t mention Isa, but a part of me refuses to believe they could already be separated again. Not after they finally found their way back to each other after five years apart.

Unless something has happened to Isa, which is not an idea I want to entertain.

I want them both to come home. Well, not home exactly, because Chicago isn’t home to me, but here. To us.

Every few minutes, I glance through the window at the empty driveway. We haven’t heard from Luca since he sent the message, despite Mamma trying to reach him.

I draw my knees closer to my chest.

So much has changed since this morning. It feels like an entirely different day from the one where I woke up in Maximo’s arms and let him…

Well, I don’t want to go there again. In fact, I want to forget anything and everything to do with Don Maximo Marco.

A humorless laugh escapes me. That won’t be easy when he insists on being in my face at every opportunity, and now that Luca needs his help with God knows what, Maximo might be here at Aldo’s even more often than before.

I need to organize another outing with Rory. I need some fun in my life. We’ve been texting, and she still wants to do another photoshoot, especially since Maximo refuses to return my album.

We had so much fun during the last shoot. How was that only five days ago?

We haven’t even been in Chicago for a full week. Last week at this time, I was in my bedroom in Sicily, dreading this trip and wondering what might happen with Maximo.

Since then, I’ve made my first real friend, tasted more freedom than I’ve ever had, butted heads with Maximo at every opportunity, and somehow let him get far too close.

Now Mamma is engaged, the future I thought was waiting for us in Sicily has been rewritten, and Luca is alive and married to Isa.

God, I hope my second week in Chicago is less eventful.

I need my sister here so I can digest and dissect everything that’s happened, although judging by what little we know, her week may have been every bit as memorable as mine.

Headlights finally sweep across the front gardens, and I sit upright as a black sedan rolls slowly up the driveway before stopping beneath the covered entrance.

The rear door opens, and a man climbs out.

My hand flies to my mouth. He really is alive after all these years.

He looks taller somehow, broader through the shoulders. His dark coat emphasizes how much he has filled out since I last saw him. There’s a quiet confidence in the way he carries himself that wasn’t there five years ago.

But it’s still Luca.

My gaze darts back to the car, desperately willing the second rear door to open.

Come on.

But nobody else gets out, and the only people with Luca are the guards Aldo sent to collect him.