I hadn't slept all night.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Mia coming towards my table, she shifted her attention to Brian Esposito and then ... panic!
I had never seen Mia scared to the point of running away from the club.
For the first time, I really feared that she would go away, and I would never see her again.
I had chased her and, when I had found her in the alley behind the club, with shortness of breath, a shaky body, and a pale face, I understood that Brian was part of her past. The same past she was running from.
I had tried to face it and I was really one step away from losing my mind when I realized that she was lying to me.
Only the embarrassment and disgust I had read on her face when I asked her if she had gone to bed with him had managed to calm me. However, for the umpteenth time, I had not been able to get any useful information from her.
I had also been tempted to go and ask Brian for explanations, but he was too busy bragging about his imminent marriage to Ginevra Rinaldi, a girl who was so jealous that she never left him alone.
He had called her insatiable in bed and was very satisfied with the choice made.
This awareness reassured me. I was sure that Brian would never come closer to Mia.
I was finishing breakfast when I heard a knock on my apartment door.
It was Jacob.
"You will never believe it!" He burst out euphoric, placing photos and documents on the table. "We followed Mia's friend as you asked and found out who she is!"
"Please tell me you can also reveal to me who Mia is."
"No, but I advise you to have that girl leave the Bridge as soon as possible!", My deputy warned me sternly, startling me. My friend was not the type to say things for the sake of it.
"Speak."
"So, we followed the girl. She took a taxi and went to the university across the river. When she got there, she stealthily entered the building through a secondary access, but a few minutes later she ran outside and got back into the taxi. She was very agitated. Apparently, the person waiting for her must have noticed her escape. We followed the taxi to an out- of- the way cottage. She spent the night there. The following day someone went to see her. We didn't see who she was, but an argument arose, and, in the end, the girl stayed at the cottage and the last two arrived went out to wait for her. They're still there, but Sebastian and I left because we were attracting too much attention. "
"Then?"
"We did some research and guess who that cottage belongs to," he asked, placing a picture of a beautiful piece of property in the middle of the woods under my nose.
"To a rich man."
"Richard Gerber, the father of Richard Junior Gerber."
Fuck! I knew who he was!
"The accountant of the Rinaldi estate?" I understood shocked.
"Yup. Look, here is the complete Gerber family at the inauguration of the new Rinaldi shopping center ", Jacob replied, showing me a photo where Richard Jr Gerber appeared with his wife and daughter, next to Edoardo Rinaldi with his children Rosa and Fernando.
I looked at the Gerber daughter.
"Chelsea Faye," I murmured incredulously.
"Maya Gerber, actually. Do you understand? Under this roof there is a woman who is associated with the Gerbers and consequently with the Rinaldis! You know better than me that this violation of the peace treaty signed by the Orlandos and Rinaldis after years of internal wars would be the end of all agreements. If your father found out about this connection, Mia Madison would already be dead. "
I already knew it!
I was so shocked that I felt my lungs contract and unable to open to allow me to breathe,
Mia had become a pawn to be eliminated and, since it was my fault that I had let her into my circle, it was now up to me to correct that.
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"No, just me and Sebastian."
"Well. Keep it for yourself. I need to speak to Mia first. Last night I told her things and I'm afraid I made a huge mistake. "
"What kind of things?" Jacob was alarmed.
"About Esposito's wedding with Ginevra Rinaldi."
"Christ! Are you crazy?"
"I don't know why I did it. She was so scared, and I wanted to reassure her, but in the end, I let out more than I should have. "
"Lorenzo, I've known you for years and I've never seen you behave in such a way! Especially with someone you don't know anything about. "
"I can't explain why, but I trust her."
"I'll tell you the reason: you lost your head for that girl. You are so in love with it that you have thrown away all your self-control that has always set you apart. Listen to me ... One day you will regret it. "
I knew he was right, but by now I had fallen into the trap.
I could no longer be logical with Mia.
I wanted her, I wanted her...
I couldn't get her out of my mind!
However, I could not pretend everything was fine.
The time had come to get answers or to ... kill her.