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He had spent all of his holidays inNew Yorkbecause of her. How could he have not made the fucking connection?
"There's something else you have to know," Giancarlo said quietly. "Your wife—-"
Ezio's lips tightened. "Don't think this lets her off the hook. She still lied—-"
"Oh, child, you have it all wrong."
And Potenziana couldn't help but feel she was to blame for all of this.
Everything was so, so terribly wrong, and all because they had kept secrets from each other.
"Your brother filled me in, Ezio. And how I wished you two had told me of your plans—-"
"She can still be a traitor—-"
"She's not,bambino."
"She lied about meeting Anghileri—-"
"Because I asked her to," Potenziana confessed in despair. "It was the last task I asked of her as my assistant. That's why she had to keep it a secret from you. Fromall of you."
She was hoping this would be enough to make him see reason. But when her grandson's expression remained stoic, it was then she realized how much damage his mother's arrest had made, and her heart broke all over again.
So many times Ezio had made excuses for his mother, and yet that woman couldn't grasp just how lucky she truly was, with the way she kept hurting her son for the most despicable of reasons.
"Will you listen to me,bambino?Per favore?Because I want to tell you about the night that Cat came to me. She told me she wanted to marry you—-"
"Enough,nonna.We already know the story—-"
"Because she was in love with you."
Ezio whitened.
"I know she made you think she hated you all those years ago, but what do you expect? You are the first boy she's fallen in love with. She didn't know what to do. Didn't know how to show it. By the time she wanted to try again, you had already flown back to New York. And so when it took you five long years to return, she made a decision not to wait any longer."
Ezio could only stare at his grandmother.
It couldn't be true.
Cattleya couldn't have been in love with him all these years.
Because if that were true...
"Now, I know how Cattleya has the tendency to overthink and hesitate. And so I pretended not to be convinced that she was right for you. I gave her two months to make you fall for her. I knew having this...this deadline looming over her head would force her to take action. But more than that, I also knew that if you were still not in love with her after two months, then you wouldneverbe in love with her. And if that were indeed the case, then I wanted to leave her no choice but to cut her losses...and leave you."
A THREE-HOUR LAYOVER, followed by one connecting flight, and then it was over, Cat thought tiredly as she sat down. She would be in her new home. She could start fresh. And in time, God would help her heal and forget him.
Cat pulled her baseball cap down until it had completely covered her face, and exhaustion had her asleep in moments.
Her alarm woke her up two hours later, and she straightened up in a flash.
Cat pushed her baseball cap back up, and the first thing she saw was him.
Another hallucination.
She rubbed her eyes.
Okay, still there.
