Page 61 of Family Secrets

Turning to Tony, who’d managed to miss Gino’s groping. “No thank you to the food, but there’s a pharmacy next door. Can you grab something for me?”

“You feeling okay? Should I call Gino?” Tony raised his phone.

“No, nothing like that.” Elizabeth kept her voice even, adding a slight smile for effect. “I forgot to stop on my way home. If it's too much, I can wait.”

Tony shook his head. “Make a list and I’ll pick it up,”

Retrieving her phone from her back pocket, “I’ll do better than that. I’ll have it waiting for you.”

Using the app on the sophisticated phone Gino gifted her, she placed an order for several items before returning to the bedroom.

Less than an hour later, Elizabeth stood in Gino’s bathroom, the items she’d ordered laid out on the counter. Removing her hoodie, Elizabeth ripped open the box of hair dye. Reading the directions on the side of the box, she mixed the bottles and applied it to her blonde hair. While the dye did its job on her overpriced highlights, she drenched cotton balls she’d found in a drawer with acetone, and then securing them to her nails with the aluminum foil she borrowed from the kitchen. She’d never really cared for the fake nails, having them decreased her typing efficiency.

When the timer on her phone went off, she stepped into the shower, letting the black water turn clear before grabbing the lemon juice and salt, scrubbing the spray tan from her skin. A few swipes of another cotton ball, this time drenched in baby oil, she made three passes along her eyelashes, taking the extensions off with ease.

Running a comb through her dark hair, the girl she’d lost stared back at her. Despite how much her heart ached, she felt better about herself. She’d played a game she had no chance of winning and now it was time to leave the field.

Using the corner of the bedsheet, Elizabeth arranged Lisa’s pearl and diamond panties beside her farewell note to Gino. Taking a look at the disaster she’d created in the room, thoughts of cleaning up came, but she tossed them out, much like Gino had done her.

As quietly as she could, Elizabeth tiptoed out of the penthouse. Kane and his killer skills keeping the attention of Tony and the other guys as she slipped out the door.

Stopping briefly at the apartment she’d called home, she shoved a few of the clothes she’d arrived with, an envelope full of the cash she’d saved since arriving, and her mother’s necklace into a backpack before pulling out her phone.

“Hey, Lizzie—”

“I found your panties,” Elizabeth interrupted, her voice calm despite the anger she felt inside.

“Oh my, God! I wanted to tell you, Elizabeth, I swear. Gino made me promise not to.”

Elizabeth was all too familiar with Gino’s skills at persuasion. Hiding their relationship from the alleged bad guys, when in reality there weren’t any.

“Can we talk, Elizabeth? In person, not on the phone? There is so much you need to know about Gino, about the—”

“Not tonight, Lisa. I need to think, process everything…” Elizabeth drifted off, ending the call and tossing the phone to the bed. She didn’t belong there, never did.

* * *

Runningher fingers over the pale hand of her father, Elizabeth fought hard to keep the tears from falling. She’d taken a taxi to the hospital, leaving the car and everything else Gino had given her behind.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Vittorio, I can’t be your daughter, at least not right now.” Tears ran down her face, dripping onto the white sheets of the hospital bed, their blurry puddles filling Elizabeth’s vision. “Maybe after I figure out where I belong, I can call you and we can get to know each other as we’d planned.” Elizabeth sat up straight as one of the nurses came in the room, sharing a smile with her as she checked on her father.

“Excuse me,” Elizabeth croaked out. “Is there a place where valuables are kept for patients?”

“There is, but security has gone home for the night. Is there something of his that you need put into a safe?”

Reaching for her backpack, Elizabeth took out her mother’s ring. “I have to leave, and I promised to return it to him.” Laying the ring in the nurse's outstretched hand. “Please make sure he has it when he wakes up.”

“Of course, come with me and you can watch me put it in the safe.”

Laying a final kiss to Emilio’s forehead, “Goodbye, Dad.”

* * *

The bitter windhit Elizabeth hard as she stepped through the automatic doors. Snow fell in large flakes, blanketing the sidewalks and streets.

“Hey, beautiful. Are you going somewhere?” Turning in the direction of the familiar voice, Elizabeth locked eyes with Sully.

“Anywhere but here,” she swore under her breath as Sully cleared the distance between them.

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