Chapter 25

FREYA

Once I had finally pushed Luca away from me, feeling embarrassed to be having a hot make-out session in public, we caught a cab to a place where Luca said there were a lot of cute shops that we could walk through.

The architecture of Naples amazed me. All the buildings were so beautiful and cohesive. The shops were all cool too. It was too bad that they were all way out of my price range.

As we continued to walk, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were anywhere near my mother.

This area kind of looked like where my mother lived based on my memory of the last time I’d gone to visit her. It was so long ago, but I remembered the trip so vividly.

She lived in an apartment above a cute little cooking shop called Cacio e Pepe.

I’d loved walking around it, browsing when I’d come to visit with my dad years ago, especially because it had gotten me away from my mother.

“Luca?”

He looked at me.

“Do you know if we’re anywhere near a shop called Cacio e Pepe? A friend told me about it before I came, and I was just wondering if we’re close to it.”

“Let me check,” he said and took out his phone. I watched him type in his password, and I quickly put it to memory as it would be helpful to know for later.

“It’s actually only a few blocks from here—about a five-minute walk.”

My eyes widened. I was much closer to my mother than I’d thought.

“Did you want to go there?” Luca asked.

“Hmm…” I thought about it. Did I want to go see my mother? This trip was supposed to be a visit to her, and she hadn’t heard from me since I’d gotten on the plane back in New York.

I did sort of owe her an explanation as to why I hadn’t shown up to her house a couple of weeks ago. Plus, who knew when the next time I’d be able to contact her would be?

Luca had taken my phone, and I had no money to buy another one. Now would be my only chance to talk to her. I was about to tell Luca that I wanted to go there when I thought of something: I already had a plan to get back to New York without him knowing.

If everything went smoothly, I would be on a plane tonight and back in the normal world by tomorrow.

I knew that Luca would freak out. The last thing I needed was for him to go to my mother and demand information from her about how to find me.

What if he hurt her? I knew he was capable of violence, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if my mother got hurt because of me. Luca couldn’t come with me.

But I had to go see her.

I shook my head quickly.

“No, I actually like the shops around here. But maybe later?” I asked.

Luca smiled. “Of course.”

We continued walking, and Luca kept one arm tightly around me. I couldn’t help but notice that no one was looking at us.

They all bowed their heads as we passed, keeping their eyes low to the ground.

It only happened once or twice that someone would accidentally look at us, and Luca would shoot them a furious look and tug me closer to him.

The person would immediately look away and bow to him. It shocked me how much power Luca seemed to have over these people. ~Is everyone in Naples in the mafia?~

We came across a small bookstore and I quickly pulled Luca inside.

“C’mon,” I said. “I want to find a book.”

My anxiety was skyrocketing. Now was the time.

We looked around for a while as I came up with my plan. This store was actually cute. It was two stories and full of all sorts of books in both Italian and English.

There was an adorable old lady behind the front counter, helping people with a kind smile.

I turned to Luca. “Will you help me find a book?”

Luca looked at me. “Sure.”

I swallowed hard. ~I really hope this works.~

“Okay, it’s called ~Hands of Gold~ and it’s by Michael Johnson. It was my dad’s favorite book, and I can’t think of a better place to buy it than in Naples.”

I felt guilty lying to him, but I didn’t have a choice. There wasn’t actually a book called ~Hands of Gold~ that I knew of, but I needed to get Luca away from me for enough time to get to my mother.

“Absolutely. Let’s go find it,” Luca said as he walked away.

“Wait,” I said, grabbing onto his hand. He stopped and turned to look at me.

“I don’t know what genre it is, so I thought that I would look down here and you could go upstairs and look for it. It could be science fiction, or fantasy, or horror, or mystery. I don’t know what the book is about, only that it was his favorite.”

“Okay…,” Luca said slowly. “Are you sure you’re okay being away from me for a bit? I saw how freaked out you were at the coffee shop.”

I smiled, trying to calm my nerves. I actually was a bit worried about that.

“Well, we have to try it out sooner or later. You won’t be that far from me. And I really want to find this book.” I touched Luca’s arm. “It would mean a lot to me.”

Luca nodded, looking a bit hesitant as he took a step back.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll be right back. Just shout if you need me, and I’ll be at your side within seconds.” He leaned down and gave me a kiss.

My body warmed up as his lips moved softly against mine.

Before the kiss could get too heated, I pulled away from him and smiled.

“The sooner we find the book, the sooner you can come back to me.” I kissed him one last time. “I’ll look down here while you look upstairs.”

Luca nodded and stepped away from me. “Okay.”

I watched as he walked up the stairs to the second floor, never looking away from me. I could feel the dull ache grow in my chest from being apart, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the pain before.

I let out a relieved breath. ~Okay. I can do this.~

I smiled at him one last time before he reached the top of the stairs and turned the corner onto the second floor.

I immediately ran to the lady at the front desk.

“Hi, do you speak English?” I asked her.

She looked up from her computer, seeming a bit shocked.

“Um, of course. What can I help you with, miss?” she asked in a thick Italian accent.

“Oh, thank goodness,” I said.

“I need your help, please. In a few minutes, a man is going to come down those stairs looking for me, and when he realizes that I’m no longer in the store, he may freak out.

“I need you to tell him that there was something important I needed to do and that I’ll be back in a little bit. Tell him not to freak out.”

The woman gave me a strange look. “Miss, I don’t know…”

“I’m sorry, this is a strange thing that I’m asking you to do.” I quickly opened my purse and took out a twenty euro note and handed it to her.

“Please do this for me. If he gets too upset, just keep reminding him I will be back soon. Do not call the police.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “Miss, are you in danger? Do you need me to call someone?”

I shook my head quickly. “No, no. It’s nothing like that. I have something I need to do and my…my boyfriend can’t come. Nothing is wrong, I promise.

“But—” she said.

“Now, I have to go. I don’t have much time. Can you do this for me?”

The woman glanced down at the money in her hand and then back at me. She nodded. “I can do this.”

My heart lifted. I felt like hugging this sweet old woman.

“Thank you so much,” I said, stepping away from the counter. “You have no clue how much this means to me.”

She gave me a sweet smile. “Of course, my dear. Please stay safe.”

“Thank you,” I said. And then I turned and ran out the door, beginning my sprint down the street.