Chapter 22
Itexted Roberto to meet in Campo Polo. We sat beside each other on a bench next to the San Polo church where we’d almost married.
Crowds of costumed tourists passed us in packs. Roberto held a cigarette. He gave up smoking years before, but still smoked in times of stress.
“Did you use the key?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Thank you.”
He exhaled a puff of smoke into the cold, afternoon air.
“I remembered you being with us during a summer vacation. You, Sara, and I went to the Lido.” I wasn’t ready to share my memory of Sara’s diary and our secret hiding place. “I did find something I wanted to show you.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Murano heart necklace. I held it in the air.
Roberto appeared lost in thought as he reached out and touched the glass with his fingertips. “I gave it to her that last summer. It was the summer she turned eighteen.”
“I knew you did,” I said. “Well, I didn’t know, but I guessed. She wore it for her portrait, the one that you insisted Papa hang in the lobby. I understand now, why it was important to you both.”
“I know. I look at it every time I walk past her in the lobby.”
“How have you kept this secret for so long, Roberto? Why did you do this to yourself?”
“What I knew about Sara’s death wasn’t mine to share. I couldn’t let anyone know my true feelings about her. It was too raw. And grief can make a person do crazy things,” he said.
“I just left my sister’s bedroom, which is a shrine. I believe you.”
Roberto smiled and nodded at the necklace. “Hold it up to the light. Look inside.”
The heart caught a beam of sunlight. Inside the glass, I saw faint, white letters etched inside the glass.
“R and S,” I said.
“Our initials. I paid extra for that. We were so young, so naive.”
“You loved her.”
“I will love her forever, Bella.” His thin smile melted into a stony stare that reminded me of the Roberto I knew. The grief Roberto held in secret all those years was, in fact, engraved on his face for all the world to see.
Young Roberto had been so in love, so full of hope. Losing my sister and focusing his energy on revenge warped him. I hoped that one day he could find the boy inside himself again.
“For years, I was lost,” he said. “Sara died, and it was like the light disappeared from the world. When I met you, some of that light came back. And I wanted to tell you, but I knew that if I told you the truth, I would lose you. You need to know that the love I felt for you was real, too.”
“I know,” I said, taking his hand. “I think you believed it was real, but Roberto, how could it have been? You were still in love with her. I always had the feeling something was wrong. Maybe there was a ghost in the room with us.”
“I bet you never expected it to be your sister.”
“No, no, I did not,” I said, managing a smile. “It wasn’t wrong of you to keep loving her. You need to stop feeling bad about that.”
Roberto nodded. “All right, I will stop feeling bad about my past if you stop torturing yourself for leaving me at the altar.”
“Deal.” I squeezed his hand. We sat beside each other, after sharing our disappointment in each other without apology, without lying. We finally told our truth.
“Roberto, is there really a tape of Dylan and me from the Lido Glass Factory?”
Roberto inhaled through his teeth. “There was.”
“And?”
“Dante had it,” Roberto said. “He showed it to me.”
“I can’t believe you watched it.”
“I didn’t watch it. Once I saw what it was, I destroyed it.”
“You did?”
“When I threatened you in the kitchen, it was already gone.” He shrugged and took another slow drag of his cigarette.
“You are such an asshole.” I swatted his arm, feeling more relief than anger.
“I know,” he said. “I apologize. I was angry and hurt, but none of that truly matters. You deserve to be happy, and I wasn’t going to let that piece-of-shit Dante watch you like a porn star. You know, I think he still has a thing for you.”
“He was the worst kisser.”
Roberto laughed and turned to face me. His smile dropped. “I am really sorry for how I behaved. And I understand if you can’t do it, if you can’t marry me. I wish there was another way, Bella, but I haven’t come up with one yet.”
I nodded and exhaled, staring across the piazza at the sign to the Mia Sorella. My family was flawed, and we had miles to go before we were healed, but right now, I needed to stop thinking about the past and solve the very present problem of James Street and the Street Entertainment acquisition.
“I’ve made a decision,” I said. “I’ll do it. I’ll marry you.”
“Are you sure?” Roberto stubbed out his cigarette on the cobblestones with his shoe.
“I will marry you if it means we can stop the Street takeover. This isn’t an acquisition any longer. It’s an attack. But I need to know you are done lying to me.”
“No more lies,” Roberto said. “I have nothing to gain anymore from lying, Bella.”
“And we do not live as husband and wife,” I said, turning on the bench. “This is only on paper. We get the votes. We fix this mess. We end it.”
“Agreed,” Roberto said. “I only have one concern.”
“Only one?” I asked, half-laughing.
“What about Dylan?” Roberto said, his tone kind and without accusation. “I see how you look at him. You never looked at me that way.”
“I thought we had something more, but Dylan lied to me. He’s good at keeping secrets, too. I can’t trust him. Whatever we had is over.”
“If it makes you feel better, Dylan doesn’t want the deal, either.”
“I don’t give a shit what he wants,” I said.
“All right. You sound like a woman who has decided.” Roberto smiled.
Looking into his green eyes, I saw a man who was my friend, and who should have stayed that way. Trying to be more to each other was such a mistake.
“Once we take control,” I said, “I will make sure that the right thing is done for my family. I never thought I’d say this, but thank you for asking me to marry you again.” I smiled at him.
“Thank you for agreeing again, this time for the right reasons.”
“Tomorrow night?” I asked.
“Yes, on the steps of Doge”s Palace. You need to be there at eight.”
“I will not be late,” I said. “And I won’t run this time.”
He held out his hand. I held out mine, and we shook on it. “Isabella Uzano,” Roberto said. “I ask for your hand in marriage on paper, to save your family’s business and to save my soul.”
“That is a bit dramatic,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “But fine. Yes. Roberto Bianco, I accept your offer of marriage on paper to save my family’s business and save your soul.”
Roberto hugged me and kissed my forehead. The touch of his lips felt like the kiss of a long-lost friend.