Page 70 of Family Secrets

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Lizzie, can I ask you something?”

“You just did,” Elizabeth teased, pretending to read the book she’s lost interest in several chapter ago.

Georgianna dropped her phone to her lap, brows bent in confusion. She’d elected not to return to Italy with her mother, choosing instead to stay and get to know Elizabeth—or Lizzie as she’d requested, better.

“I’m sorry, Gia.” Tossing the forgotten book to the bottom of the lounger, Elizabeth moved her sunglasses to the top of her head, giving Georgianna, or Gia, as they’d decided, her undivided attention. She’d been overjoyed when her new best friend asked to stay and get to know her, helping ease her transition into a Mafia family. “It’s a bad joke, something someone I no longer care about used to say to me.”

Waving Lizzie off, Gia swung her legs over the edge of her lounger. “We’re friends, right?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth agreed with a chuckle.

“Then I can tell you something in confidence, and you won’t tell my brother?”

Mimicking Gia position, “Whoa, that depends on what you’re going to tell me, because if someone has—”

“No, nothing bad.” Gia raised her palms. “At least I don’t think it’s bad.” Her voice dropping to a somber level, a far-off gaze coloring her eyes.

Reaching out for Gia’s hand, “If it’s nothing that will hurt you, then yes, you can tell me and I swear I won’t say anything to Gino.” Lizzie held up her right hand in pledged of her word.

“I think I met someone.” Gia whispered, despite no one else being around.

“You think?”

Gia nodded, her eyes bright, lips tucked between her teeth as if forcing herself to remain silent.

“You’re going to have to give me more, Gia. There are no maybes in meeting someone.” Lizzie worried something was lost in translation. Gia, while extremely intelligent, struggled at times with English.

Taking a measured breath, Gia leveled her gaze at Lizzie. “Do you remember the story my mother told you about the school she’s building?”

“Yes, the one in the remote village.”

Gia nodded her head. “She’d planned to use Amato money, but some of the villagers didn’t want their children taught in a school built with blood money.”

Lizzie could understand their aversion, having lived most of her life in a bubble, never experiencing half of the things she had prior to moving to New York.

“Which is completely mental given most of those villagers earn their wages working for various industries owned by the Amato’s.” Gia finished, letting out a frustrated growl, waving her hands wildly in the air.

“Anyway,” Gia continued through a deep breath. “Ma didn’t want the children to suffer, so she formed a committee to organize several charity auctions to raise the money needed to build the school. One of those auctions, an online bid prior to the event, where twenty of the world’s most eligible bachelors will dine with the winning bidder on our private beach. Everything was going great until Tessa, the woman who was organizing the event, had to have surgery. Ma asked me take over until she recovered. Tessa gave me the password to the program she’d created, with the exception of the file containing their true identities.”

“I’m sorry,” Lizzie cut in. “You don’t know who these guys are?”

“I don’t,” Gia laid her hand on her chest. “But Tessa does, and she’s keeping it a secret since the auction is called Blind Date. Every bachelor has a page where it lists their likes and dislikes, hair and eye color and how tall they are and what they weigh. But that’s it, no picture and no way to find out their identity.”

Lizzie tipped her head back in laughter. “Oh my God, I love this. If I wasn’t dating Gino, I’d totally bid on one of them.”

Gia raised her eyebrows as she reached for her drink. “My brother was slotted to be one of the bachelors, that is until Ma learned about you.” Gia added before taking a healthy drink of water in an attempt to cool herself down. She’d bargained an afternoon by the Vittorio’s pool after catching a glimpse of the sparking water and tropical theme, while helping to move Lizzie out of Gino’s condo and into her father’s house.

“Which is why I think I’ve met someone.”

Reaching for the corner of her towel, Lizzie wiped an errant bead of sweat from her forehead. “Hold on, Gia, I need you to back up a little. How do you go from auctioning off your brother to meeting someone?”

Gia fell to her side with laughter, a dribble of water tickling down her chin. “I’m so sorry, I’ve kept this a secret for so long I’ve learned to analyze it inside my head.” Shifting to her back, Gia bent her knees, planting her bare feet on the lounger, her eyes cast to the cloudless sky. “Tessa managed to find two men who met Gino’s description, one of them declined immediately, while the other didn’t respond until after Tessa had her surgery.”

“Wait, how do they respond if their identities are kept secret?”

“Tessa created a username for everyone, think Facebook Messenger with no real names.”

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