Page 128 of Promised to the Don of Naples
Villa Salina, on the tip of the peninsula, in Mondello. That's where he'll be over the coming weeks. The doctor's name is Tito Fasano. He'll testify if you offer protection. I'm in Marseille. Don't look for me again. I owed you my life and I've paid it back with this.
Go with God, Valentina Moretti.
I read it twice, and called Matteo.
He read over my shoulder. His hand trembled a little at my waist.
"It's her handwriting."
"It is."
"Villa Salina."
"Sì."
He came at eleven thirty at night.
I'd already spoken with him at eight. We'd agreed I'd send the envelope by encrypted photo the next morning. I was in my nightgown, my hair loose, on the second-floor balcony, watching the lighthouse on the peninsula blink across the sea.
He knocked on the door downstairs, and Donna Pia answered.
I ran down the stairs and jumped on him. Legs around him, hands on the back of his neck, mouth on his mouth.
I tasted the salt of the sea before the kiss.
"Bella mia."
"Luca."
I didn't say anything else, just kissed him again.
Then Adelina appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Luca."
He set me down and went up the stairs slowly, kissing her forehead.
"Nonna. I'll come see you in the morning. I'll be back at four."
"Va bene."
She looked at me and went back to her room.
Luca's old room in Capri was small.
An iron bed with a white sheet, a window onto the sea. The smell of jasmine from the yard coming in through the thin curtain. It was the room where he'd slept as a boy, with his mother still alive, with his father still alive.
He took off his jacket and put it over the chair. Then he took off his shoes and sat on the edge of the bed.
I went to him and sat in his lap, resting my forehead against his.
"Twelve days," I murmured.
"Twelve."
"Tell me."
"Tomorrow I'll tell you, bella mia. Not today."
