Diego had smiled then. “Release her,” he told the others, speaking Italian. “She amuses me. She may stay. But make sure she doesn’t go out by herself. And monitor her phone calls.”
“I understood him, of course,” Mia said to her sisters. “I thought he was the bad guy. I thought he was the one I was supposed to watch.”
“Isn’t the fact that he wasn’t a good thing?” Katie asked. “Doesn’t that make you feel better?”
“It should,” Mia admitted. “It’s just…” She drew in a breath. “I agonized over what was happening. I knew I was falling for him and that it would affect my judgment. I got in touch with my contact and begged him to get me out of there. I said I was at risk of compromising the assignment. But they left me in play. Every day he was there and every day I tried to resist. One day I couldn’t.”
“Okay, that’s the part I want to hear about,” Brenna said with a sigh. “In detail. Speak slowly.”
Mia grinned. “It was another dark and stormy night. I remember sitting outside on a porch. Nearly everyone had gone into town. It was late and there were so many shadows. Suddenly, he was there.”
He hadn’t said anything-he hadn’t had to. They’d looked at each other and then they were kissing and touching. He’d taken her without saying a word.
“The next morning I wondered if I’d dreamed the whole thing, but when I went to breakfast, he had me sit next to him. We were together from then on.”
There were so many memories. So many times when she’d tried to walk away.
“I didn’t want to do the wrong thing,” she admitted. “If you knew how I tried to stay strong, to remember why I was there. I knew I was breaking every rule, I knew I was going to get fired. I told myself it wasn’t so bad because no one’s life was on the line. But I was wrong.”
Two weeks after she and Diego became lovers, a rival gang attacked.
“I knew about it in advance from my handler. I was supposed to use the confusion to bring Diego in. If he resisted, I was supposed to shoot him. I wanted to warn him. For two days I nearly told him the truth.” She laughed harshly. “For all I know, he arranged the whole damn thing.”
“You think it was part of the plan to get him out of there?” Francesca asked.
“Maybe. I’m not sure. I do know that when the moment came, when I tried to take him with me, he wouldn’t go. When I pulled a gun on him, he told me I wouldn’t be able to shoot him. He was right.”
“Did you try?” Katie asked.
“I knew it was the right thing to do, but I couldn’t pull the trigger.”
Mia had agonized over that. During her debriefing, she’d been grilled again and again about why she hadn’t shot him when she’d had the chance. Now, knowing who he really was, she wondered if he’d replaced her bullets with blanks. It sure wouldn’t surprise her.
“The fighting got closer,” she continued, remembering the noise of that night. The sharp sound of gunfire, the cries of those who had been injured, then the roar of her helicopter.
“I didn’t want to leave him, but I had to get out. I knew that. I begged him to come with me.”
He’d smiled at her then, had kissed her hard and told her to remember him. Because he’d known she was about to “see” him die?
“He literally tossed me onto the helicopter,” she said. “I don’t think I would have gone otherwise. As we lifted up, two men rushed him. I screamed, but it was too late. They fired and he fell and there was so much blood.”
She would remember that for the rest of her life. The sound of the helicopter, her own screams, and the bright light that showed the rapidly widening pool of blood as Diego died.
Except he hadn’t died. It had all been an elaborately staged event. Like a Broadway show.
Mia shook away the past and glanced at her sisters. “I thought he was gone. I went through my debriefing, then I quit and came here.”
“And someone in the government told him you were dead?” Katie asked.
“That’s what he said. I know they’re not likely to give out information on operatives, even lousy ones.”
“Mia, you were put in an impossible situation,” Francesca told her. “Give yourself a break.”
“I understand that in my head,” Mia admitted. “But in my heart, I think about everything I did wrong. That’s what’s so hard for me. That I fell for the wrong guy again. You’d think Ian would have cured me of that.”
“Is he the wrong guy?” Katie asked. “He’s not the enemy anymore. He’s a nice guy.”
Brenna raised her eyebrows. “Nice? I don’t think he’s normal enough to be nice. He’s royal, Katie. Does the man even know how to put toothpaste on his toothbrush?”
“He’s doing it now,” Mia said. “Unless Grammy M is sneaking into his bathroom every night to take care of that. When he was Diego, he had to act like everyone else. I know he’s a prince and all, but he knows how to exist in the real world. At least he did.”
“So now what?” Francesca asked.
“That would be my question,” Mia said. “I’m trying to reconcile who he is with who he was and figure out where Danny fits in all this.”
Brenna raised her glass. “I’ll give you this-none of the Marcelli women are boring.”
“Something we can cling to,” Katie said. “I’m not sure that helps Mia, though.”
Mia drank more wine. “I might be beyond help. Right now I’m dealing with crazy situations. Rafael is Danny’s father. I can’t change that, even if I wanted to, and I’m not sure I do. He’s interested in his son, which is a plus, but what do I know about him?”
“You were once in love with him,” Katie said. “Does that count for anything?”
Mia tried to laugh, but instead made a sound suspiciously close to a sob. “Not when you consider that the man I fell in love with was supposedly a notorious thief with a reputation for killing the competition.”
“Maybe you sensed his goodness,” Francesca said.
“I’m not that intuitive,” Mia muttered.
“Are you attracted to him now?” Katie asked.
Brenna rolled her eyes. “Well, duh. Of course she is. Did you see the man? Did you think about him being naked?”
“Of course not! I’m a happily married woman.” Katie sipped her wine. “I would never do that.”
Mia looked at her, as did Brenna and Francesca. Katie sighed.
“Okay. Maybe. For a second. Yes, he’s pretty amazing in the studly department, but that’s no excuse to give in a second time.”
“Ah, isn’t knowing how good the sex was and could be again going to work against her?” Brenna asked.
Katie looked at Mia, who sighed. “It doesn’t help,” she admitted.
“Trouble,” Francesca said. “All this is trouble. But you’ll get through it.”
“I don’t see a way not to. I’m just glad Joe is around.”
“Did you call Mom and Dad?” Katie asked.
“Yesterday. They’re understandably shocked, but happy. I begged them to stay in China. Rafael will still be around when they get back.”
“He’s staying that long?” Brenna asked.
“I don’t have exact dates, but I got the impression he would be parked here for a while. Even if he heads back to Calandria, there are going to be visits back and forth.”
“So you have time,” Katie said. “You can consider your options. Think with both your head and your heart.”
“Don’t make the same mistake twice,” Mia said, and meant it.
“I have something for you, Danny,” Rafael said as he entered the family room.
Mia sat on the floor with the boy on her lap. They both looked at him and smiled, Danny with more excitement than his mother.
“What is it?” Danny asked as he eyed the long, cloth-wrapped package. “A truck?”
“Better than a truck. I had it sent over from the palace.” Rafael knelt on the floor and peeled back the quilted fabric. When he’d exposed the gold-and-jewel-covered scepter, he paused expectantly.