Page 115 of When She Tempts (The Fallen)
“Well, Giorgio left for the day, so if you need any help, let me know.” I grind the espresso, waiting for the noise to finish before I ask, “You’ve been out of the castello a lot lately, right? Something going on?”
He sniffs. “Just some stuff with my extended family. I’ve had to take care of some things, but it’s all good now.”
“I’m happy to hear that.”
CRACK!
I whip around at the sound to see Polo’s ceramic mug shattered all over the floor.
He curses under his breath and reaches for a towel, shooting me a strange look. He looks tired, dark bags under his eyes. “I’m jittery. Too much espresso.” He sinks to the ground and starts wiping at the spilled coffee.
“Don’t worry, it happens.” I kneel down and help him get the mess cleaned up, but my movements slow when I notice how his hand is trembling.
“Are you all right?”
He finishes cleaning up the spill and hurries to the sink with the dirty towel. “I’m fine,” he says, his back to me. When he’s done washing his hands, he takes a clean towel to dry them, and then chucks it onto the counter.
I eye his back. He’s so tense. I wonder why.
He turns, and one glance at his face tells me something is terribly wrong.
A drop of sweat rolls down his temple, and the way he’s looking at me from beneath his brows makes an icy chill curl up my spine.
“Polo?”
He doesn’t answer. There isn’t a hint of humor in his expression.
“What’s going on?” I ask, my pulse picking up.
He takes a step toward me. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Giorgio lately. Have you realized by now he’s a liar?”
I frown. “Polo, what are you talking about?”
“About a year ago, I wrote a letter and asked Giorgio to give it to my father. I never got a response.”
I step back. His face is blank, but my alarm bells are ringing. Why is he telling me this? “I’m…sorry?”
“You see, I was sure my dad would want to write a few words back to me. I asked Giorgio if he was sure the letter got delivered, and he assured me that it did.” Polo’s lips curl into a bitter smile, and he takes another step in my direction. “He lied. He lied, Martina, but I won’t lie to you. I’m telling the truth when I say you only have Giorgio to blame for what’s about to happen next.”
The backs of my thighs bump against something. I raise my palms ahead of me, fear coiling inside my gut. “Polo, stop. I’m sorry Giorgio lied, but what does that have to do with me?”
Darkness spills into his eyes. “Unfortunately, everything.” He spreads his arms. “Look at this place. Look at what his money’s gotten him.” He keeps advancing. “And look at me, Martina.” He plucks at his T-shirt. “I have nothing to my name.Nothing. Why do you think Giorgio’s hidden me from my father all this time? It’s not because he’s trying to protect me. It’s because he knows that given the same opportunities, I’d do far better than him. I wouldn’t be a lone wolf acting on the sidelines. I’d be ruling the Casalesi right by Father’s side.”
A sour taste floods my mouth. My forehead wrinkles as my mind scrambles to piece it together. He can’t be saying what I think he’s saying. “Your father…”
He smirks, stopping so close I can smell the cocktail of sweat and faint cologne. “Yes. My father.Ourfather. Sal Gallo.”
The pieces click, but there’s no sense of satisfaction that typically follows solving a puzzle. Instead, there’s just cold, hard fear.
Sal. That’s who I saw in Polo. There’s something about his eyes, his cheeks, the divot in his chin. No wonder I didn’t make the connection. The similarities are so subtle they’re barely there. In Giorgio, they’re missing altogether, but in Polo, some of Sal’s genes won out.
Goosebumps erupt across my skin, and in my head, someone is screamingRUN.
“We have the same story,” Polo says, slapping his palms down against the table on either side of me. “Sal made both of our mothers pregnant.”
“You mean he raped them?” I force past my dry throat.
Polo shrugs. “My mother never hated Sal the way Giorgio’s did. She accepted that sometimes things just happen. She made her peace with it, and so did I.”
