Page 91 of Niccolo

Fausto said something to Adriano, then moved on to hug his other nephews.

I marveled at how duplicitous he was –

When the bride’s eyes suddenly widened, her whole body stiffened, and the blood drained from her face.

She turned white as her dress and her namesake (‘Bianca’ means white in Italian).

Confused, I followed her gaze –

And realized she was staring at Aurelio.

Something wasdreadfullywrong.

Aurelio had rudely skipped past her and gone straight to Adriano.

Neither of them was aware of Bianca’s reaction as she continued to stare at Aurelio.

No one else was acting like her.

Whywassheso alarmed?

What was it about Aurelio that made her react like that?

Aurelio glanced over at Bianca and said something.

She just nodded and forced an obviously fake smile.

I could see the fear in her eyes, though –

Panic, almost.

What in the WORLD?!

I ticked through the things I knew about her.

She had been the one who had yanked the steering wheel and wrecked Mezzasalma’s car, risking her life to save Adriano.

She was from Florence.

She’d been the girl the Agrellas had hired to lure Adriano into… an ambush…

The Agrellas.

Aurelio had been our go-between with the Agrellas.

Oh no…

Oh no, no, no, no, NO –

“Bellaaaaa?”Niccolo said playfully. “Earth to Aurora – come in, Aurora.”

I turned back to Niccolo.

He was handsome and charming as ever –

But the fear coursing through my body had doused my desire like ice water.

I needed to ditch him, andfast.

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