Page 44 of Good Girl Gone Bad

“Thank you very much,” Lily said at last. “I never had something so special.”

His heart shrank to the size of a pebble. God, what was she saying? She should be showered with the most exotic jewelry. By him.

“My daughter would have loved you, Lily. You’re so open and kind. I’m thankful my grandson has found you.”

A rolling sensation unsettled his stomach. He loved his nonna and appreciated her positivity. The mother he remembered had a hard time connecting with him, let alone someone he brought for her to meet. Growing up, he never had playdates with boys his age, always hanging with Nico and his friends. His father could have interfered, could have been more present, but had cowardly chosen not to. He thinned his lips to keep from saying anything.

A tear rolled down Lily’s cheek, and she wiped it with the back of her hand. “Me, too,” she said hoarsely, as if the words got trapped in her throat.

“If you’ll excuse me, the excitement of the festivities is making me tired. Thank you for the chat,” his grandmother said, gesturing for her nurse, who rushed to assist her and take her to her room.

Lily clasped her hands together. “Wow.”

“What?”

“Can’t you see the irony? Your grandma wants me to have this so she’ll keep the necklace in the family. And the whole reason I came here was that I wanted to keep the salon in my family. We have something in common.”

“Yes.”

She flashed him an apologetic smile. “Listen, she’s being amazingly generous, but I won’t keep this. I’ll give it to you. She’ll think I kept it, and you can do whatever you want with it. Maybe sell it and donate the money to a worthy cause. This necklace is worth a lot. It could change the life of some homeless folks.”

“Why are you so selfless?” he asked. Couldn’t she just accept the gift?

“Ugh, I’m not Mother Teresa.”

“No, but compared to some of the people I know, you’re the next best thing,” he said, then he rose to his feet, needing to move around to clear his head.

“Is this about your mother?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “How do you know?”

“You seemed uneasy when your grandmother mentioned her.”

He waved her off then turned around to face the lake. “My mother was sick. It wasn’t her fault,” he said.

Lily wasn’t going to let him off so easily. She neared him until they stood side by side, staring at his profile. “I understand. A lot of people are sick these days.”

He swallowed the bile in the back of his throat. He locked his spine, already regretting what he was about to say. What good was it to hide it at this point? The trip brought up his past in more ways than one, and Lily sensed his reactions even when he tried so hard to hide them. She’d earned the right to know.

“Her death was my fault.”

“What do you mean?”

He looked at her. God. She’d hate him when she found out the truth. “When my mother died…”

She placed her hand over his. “You were there. I know. It’s okay.”

Marco jerked away from her, his blood pressure spiking. Surprise shook him. How much did she know? “Who told you?”

Apparently unfazed, Lily didn’t move an inch. She gave him a once-over and straightened her shoulders. “Your cousin,” she said softly, almost as if she wished she didn’t have to reveal it to him.

He didn’t need to ask which one. He thrust his fingers into his hair, wishing for an instant Arietta were a male. “Well, you won’t think it’s okay when I finish telling you the truth. You’ll want to break the deal, or you’ll hate me.”

“Don’t you think I can make that decision by myself?”

“My mother is dead…and I killed her,” he said the words evenly, remembering the pain in his father’s eyes the moment he came home and found the blood soaking the carpet. Marco’s heart raced, just like his legs had when his father had shouted, several times. He’d gone to find his nanny for some comfort.

He doubted after tonight Lily would be interested in comforting him—sexually or otherwise.

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