Paul hugged her until the prison guard gruffly told him to move away. “Even without your testimony, I would still have been convicted. I left enough evidence behind … I guess maybe in a way I knew I deserved to be caught. I got in way over my head and was terrified. I didn’t know where to turn. I was trying to leave the gang when Rick told me the only way out was to be dead. I was just quicker than him with the knife. Otherwise I’d have been the one lying on the pavement. Then when I turned around and saw that kid watching, I panicked. I was proud of you; you had the courage to stand up for what was right. When I heard what had happened at school, I tried to escape so I could teach those girls a lesson, but I got caught and put in solitary.”
“I didn’t know. But I wouldn’t have wanted you to take revenge. It was horrific at the time, but it made me start a new life, and now I’m happy. I have a wonderful husband and a fabulous life in Italy.”
“You’re married? No one told me.”
“No one knows. James only found out when he called to tell me about Mum.” Her voice caught a bit. “I asked him not to say anything. I didn’t want to upset her in her last hours. I’ll tell Dad and Sarah tonight. Luca, my husband, will come over for the funeral. Do you think they’ll let you out to attend?”
“I think so, as long as I behave myself. Of course I’ll have my shadow with me.” He indicated over his shoulder at the guard behind.
Paul lit the cigarette the guard passed him and took deep drags while Sophia called Luca.
“He says he’ll be on the next flight out and come straight to the flat. I guess you have to go back soon?”
“Yeah, five minutes or so. The guard’s already called for the transport,” Paul said.
“No matter how bleak it gets inside, Paul, I want you to know that I never stopped loving you and I never stopped being glad you were my older brother. I hope that when you get out we can go back to that relationship. I don’t want to lose you, too.” Sophia wiped an errant tear from her cheek and plastered on a brave smile.
“I’m not sure your husband will want you hanging out with a convicted killer.”
“You’re my brother. Nothing else matters.”
The prison van drew up in front and the guard ushered Paul into the back. He waved at her with a wry smile before the doors slammed shut.
Her heart ached for her brother going back into incarceration. But she felt lighter than she had in weeks, knowing what she was going to do about her immediate future.
Chapter 16
Luca stepped out of the cab and stared up at the decrepit brown building in front of him—Sophia’s childhood home. Even if he hadn’t known her troubled past, he’d still have found her former residence depressing. It couldn’t have been easy for her to come back here, and now she’d lost her mother, he wanted to hold and comfort her. Tell her he loved her.
His mobile phone vibrated on his belt, but he ignored it. Chet had not been happy that he’d left everything to fly to London, saying that if he was going to put his personal life first, maybe he wasn’t the man to oversee the project. Luca could lose the job. But it was nothing in comparison to the possibility of losing Sophia. In her last phone call, when she’d told him of her mother’s passing, she’d sounded so distant, like she was closing all the walls around her, letting no one in.
As he strode toward the front door, a female voice called out, “Luca?”
Swiveling, he spied Olivia hurrying toward him. Although he was anxious to see Sophia as soon as possible, he couldn’t be rude to her best friend, so he waited for her to reach the door.
“I thought it was you, but I wasn’t sure from the back. Wow, you got here quick from Italy,” she greeted him.
“I got on the first flight after Sophia called.” His bag had already been packed and sitting beside his desk, waiting for her call. Waiting for her to summon him to her side where he should have been all along.
Olivia pulled a key out of her pocket and unlocked the outside door and led him toward the stairs. “You don’t mind if we walk up, do you? The lifts in these buildings are disgusting.”
“No, I have been sitting all day; a little exercise would be good.” If he were alone he’d take the stairs two at a time, but with Olivia beside him he restrained himself and kept to her pace.
“I know it’s not my place, but Sophia is my best friend … ”
Was she going to tell him that Sophia needed to live her own life, have her own dream? That to make her come live with him in the little cottage would destroy her bit by bit? Olivia could save her breath, because he’d already worked that out in the two sleepless nights he’d spent alone. He couldn’t watch her die a little more every day—withdraw from him until she was just a shell of herself. But neither could he live apart from her, only see her on weekends. It was the toughest decision he’d ever made, but he knew now what he was going to do. Sophia deserved to be the first to hear it.
“You know her better than anyone. I would appreciate your insight into how I can help her.” At least his voice remained calm while his heart rate accelerated.
“Coming back here, her mom dying, it’s been a lot harder on her than she expected. She put on a brave face for everyone, but I can tell she’s crumbling inside. Don’t believe her when she tells you she’s fine.”
It galled him to ask, but he needed to know how to reach his wife. He needed the key to unlock Sophia’s heart. “Do you have any suggestions on how I can get her to open up to me? She keeps everything inside—sometimes I have no idea how she feels.”
“Get her angry. I know it sounds counter-productive, but when she’s angry, all the filters come off and you’ll know then what she really wants.”
Making his wife angry when she was dealing with the loss of her mother and lingering memories of her traumatic childhood seemed the worst idea yet. Could Olivia be trying to drive a wedge between them? Yet every time they’d had a row, it had moved their relationship forward. His parents had never argued, but he understood now that they’d had a rather sterile marriage, not one he chose to replicate. Isabella and Dante had fought a lot at the beginning of their relationship and now they had a strong bond. He wanted his marriage to reflect theirs, not his parents. And he sure as hell didn’t want to become like the Wilkinses.
“Are you sure?”
She stopped on the top step and turned to him. Standing a step up, they were on eye level. “I had serious doubts about you, and this marriage, when Sophia told me. I believe now that you could be the best thing to happen to her. But you could also be the worst. I don’t think she’ll recover if you fail her now.”