Page 98 of Worth the Risk

“Luka?” She shook her head. “He was loyal.”

“Maybe, but he wasn’t blood. You said so yourself. If he saw the noose tightening around the family, maybe he figured it was better to cut and run than go down with the Giordano ship.”

Either way, unless it got leaked to the press, they would have to wait until the trial, which usually took months to years, to find out.

Bella knew better than to think fate was done messing with her, but she had hope. It didn’t spring eternal though.

The next day, she was making dinner—fiesta chicken casserole with rice, peppers, chunks of tender chicken, jalapenos, black beans, and three kinds of cheese. They liked Mexican, fortunately, which had a lot of easy recipes or came from a kit that even someone useless in the kitchen, like her, couldn’t mess up. Bella had just slid it into the oven to bake when Dan strode into the kitchen, stopping just inside the door. His face was grim, the tiny lines around his sensual, kissable lips more pronounced with his frown.

“If it’s more bad news, I don’t want to know,” she exclaimed preemptively, and she wasn’t kidding. She’d had enough for a lifetime.

“Sorry, baby, but I think you’ll want to hear this, although it goes against my better judgment. But, in the interest of openness and honesty, which I’ve harped at you about for weeks, I can’tnottell you even though I wish like hell that I could.”

“Now I don’t want to know because you’re scaring me.”

He held up his phone. “There’s a call for you from New Jersey.”

“From who? They all think I’m dead.”

“The Giordanos do, but this isn’t them.”

Her hand covered her mouth, fingers trembling.

“It’s Geneva Pietro. Your grandmother.”

Bella’s heart raced as she took the phone from his hand, her mind struggling to process the information. She had a grandmother. Growing up, she’d been to four funerals for her Conti and Giordano grandparents. She’d thought those special relationships were lost to her forever. And now, here she was, about to speak to her biological father’s mother for the first time. It all seemed so surreal.

Seeing she was shaking like a leaf, Dan moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “You don’t have to do this now, Bella. I can schedule a time to call her back after you’ve had time to absorb all of this.”

“No. If I’ve learned anything from this ordeal, it’s that life throws up roadblocks and potholes and uneven rooftops.”

“What?” Dan asked, confused.

She shook her head. That story would freak him out, and it was better left for later when she didn’t have a relative sprung on her out of the blue waiting on the phone.

“I just meant that time is precious, and you have to live in the moment, or it might be lost.”

His arms tightened around her then relaxed, as if he would let her go, but she grabbed one of his hands and pressed it to her chest.

“Please stay,” she urged in a whisper.

He did, of course. No matter what—and there had been a whole helluva lot of what—he was there for her.

Leaning against his chest, with his chin resting on her shoulder, Bella unmuted the phone. “Hello?” was her tentative greeting, filled with a mix of anticipation and apprehension.

A warm, gentle voice greeted her on the other end. “Is this Isabella? Is it really you, dear?”

She pronounced it de-uh rather than dear, and tears welled in Bella’s eyes because she sounded like home. “Yes, it’s me, Grandmother Pietro. I can’t believe... I didn’t even know...”

“We’re all in a bit of shock and have been since we received a copy of the photo and your birth certificate in the mail. I searched for pictures of you on that Google. There were only a few from long ago in the newspapers, coming and going with your mother and that dastardly Lorenzo Giordano.” Her voice rose in pitch when she said the enemy’s name, justifiably so after what his lies and manipulations had caused. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to fly off, but he has taken so much from all of us.”

Bella’s voice trembled with emotion. “I understand, believe me. I’m sorry I never got to know you, but especially that I missed out on knowing my father.”

“You look like my Marcus, Isabella. I keep asking myself how I didn’t notice.” Geneva’s voice turned somber. “I wish I could have been there for you, my darling. Especially when you lost your mother. But I promise you, I’m here now. And I will do everything in my power to make up for lost time.”

Tears streamed down Bella’s face as she absorbed her words. “Thank you, Grandmother. It means the world to me to have you in my life.”

“It’s Nonna Geneva, cara. Or just Nonna.”

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