Adeline had to swallow hard to keep from getting sick. Through the small window of Nicolo’s private jet she could see the rolling hills of Tuscany’s southern region—with its olive orchards and grape vineyards—ease past. It was beautiful, but she couldn’t get any pleasure out of it. All she could think of was the lie that hung between her and Nicolo. Every time she looked at him now, it was her deception that she saw. It was the misuse of the man she now knew she loved. She had to tell him the truth. Tonight. It was going to destroy what they had. It was going to ruin everything, but she couldn’t go on hiding the truth anymore. Keeping that secret was tearing her apart.

Nicolo’s fingers laced with hers on the arm rest, and she turned to give him a weak smile, the best smile she could muster.

“You’ve been so quiet,” Nicolo said, his brows pinched with worry.

“I thought for sure you’d have to cancel again.” She hated herself a little more in that moment for putting the blame for her being out of sorts on him. That she was a wreck wasn’t his fault, and she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I’m so sorry, bedda. Negotiations for the new development project in India is requiring a lot more attention than I’d expected.”

“What about after the negotiations are done? What happens then?” If she were being honest with herself, she had to admit that she was not their only problem. Nicolo had been more and more absent from her life. Over the last six weeks his visits to Sicily had become less and less frequent and increasingly shorter. Even the nightly phone calls had dropped to a call once every three nights or so. He was drifting away from her like an unmoored boat being pulled out with the tide. All she could do was stand on the shore and watch it happen.

Nicolo’s lips parted in preparation to say something, but the pilot’s voice over the intercom interrupted him, leaving Adeline’s question unanswered.

“Arrival in Montepuciano in five minutes. Please prepare for landing by returning to your seats and buckling your safety belts.”

“The pilot has made arrangements to land on an airfield not far from the town,” Nicolo said as he buckled her in. “It’s not a full-fledged airport. It’s mostly just a landing strip for planes to land and then take back off. Then,” he said with an uptick of excitement in his voice, “instead of a car, I’ve requested a Vespa be waiting for us.”

“Like a motorcycle, right?”

“Si, bedda. I want to show you a good time tonight. A fun time. No stress and no worry.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it before shifting his attention to buckling himself in. “I have a confession to make, bedda.”

Adeline’s heart skipped a beat and hope surged within her. If he already knew her secret and was not mad at her, that meant that all was fine. It meant that they would be fine!

“I got a call from the boss man himself today. They were holding a last minute meeting and they wanted me to be there, but their last minute meets can go on all night. I knew that I would have to cancel on you yet again, and I couldn’t do it. So, I told the boss man no. Neerij was not happy.” Nicolo shifted so that he could look directly into Adeline’s eyes. “But it didn’t matter. I had to get back to you. I couldn’t go one more day without seeing you, bedda.”

Adeline’s heart sank but she did her best to keep a smile on her face. Her stomach turned over and once again she thought she might be sick. Nicolo didn’t know what she had done, and things between them would be far, far from okay.

The plane landed smoothly, and the two of them disembarked before climbing onto the waiting cream colored Vespa. With a helmet already on, Adeline leaned into Nicolo’s strong back and wrapped her arms around his tight waist. Nicolo started the Vespa’s engine and then gave her hands a rub where they lay flat against his abs, as if letting her know that they were about to move. He was always thinking of her, always looking out for her. He wanted to protect her, she knew, and it made her betrayal of him sit all the more painfully inside of her.

Holding onto him with every ounce of love that she could pour into him, Adeline lost herself in the passing countryside. It was more beautiful than anywhere she’d ever seen, except for Sicily, of course. There was no traffic on the road as they headed into Montepuciano. There was only good, clean air and a sense of time having slowed down. Nobody rushed here. Everything happened in its due time, and Adeline wished that she could hit pause so that their night together would never end.

I’ll do better, I promise! She just needed him to let them get past this coming moment when she would tell him everything. If he would do that, then they would be okay. But, if he cut her off and would have nothing more to do with her, that would be the end of them. She’d have no chance to show him that everything else about their relationship had been genuine. She cared more about him than he knew. She cared more about him than anything else. But, they had to face tomorrow together or she’d have no chance to regain his trust. They’d be done.

In the sky, the day’s soft glow had reached the magic hour not long before nightfall, that time when the whole world seemed gentle and serene. By the time they reached the restaurant, Locanda Cicolina, the sun had reached its laziest spot in the sky just above the horizon. Inside the restaurant, they sat next to a window in order to enjoy the view of the sweeping olive orchard. Nicolo ordered maltagliati made with fresh herbs, garden vegetables, and local cheeses, and Adeline ordered pappardelle made with scallops and wild mushrooms. She wasn’t sure how she’d manage to eat, but she’d force herself through it.

Course after course of food came before and after their main selection, starting with aperitivo, a light selection of drinks and appetizers. An assortment of wines were brought for tasting throughout.

Through it all, Adeline remained demure as Nicolo tried again and again to pull her into spirited conversation. She could see his efforts, but she couldn’t make herself rise to them. Her heart was bleeding out from inside her chest and the room’s air was getting thicker, making it hard to breathe. Soon—so soon—she was going to destroy what mattered most to her, but she couldn’t go on without telling him the truth. She had to go through with it. She couldn’t face one more sleepless night thinking about it.

“Adeline,” Nicolo said, reaching between them, “you worry my heart.”

Adeline smiled weakly. It was the best she could do. “I’m sorry. I’ve been feeling a little worn down lately.”

Picking up her hand, Nicolo brought her fingers to his lips. “I’ve put too much on you. I’ve abandoned you to oversee all of the Romano del Mare’s renovations. I know that you have your own work and life to live, bedda. I have been unfair to you.”

Adeline’s eyes stung with unshed tears. Shaking her head the barest amount, she looked everywhere but at him.

“What is it?” Nicolo asked, his voice full of worry.

“I’ve lied to you, Nicolo,” Adeline said, her lower lip trembling.

“What? No, no. You could not,” Nicolo said as if to reassure her.

“I did,” Adeline insisted, nodding her head. “That buyer—the one I arranged to see the resort—he was a fake. There was never any offer to buy the Romano del Mare. I lied to you.”

The words were out, and Adeline braced herself for the shattering of her entire world.

Nicolo’s head pulled back but his hands held onto hers. “No, how can you know the mind of a buyer in and out?”

“No, he was never a buyer. He was doing me a favor by coming and seeming to be interested. I”—she sniffed—“wanted you to believe that someone would want the Romano del Mare restored. I wanted you to believe that she could be whole again. You mean so much to me. I couldn’t stand this lie being between us any longer. It’s been eating away at me. I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Nicolo sat back in his chair, and Adeline’s hand slipped out of his fingers. “He was a fake?” Within him, the sun set and the world went black. Adeline was not who he’d thought she was. How could he love someone who did not exist?

Adeline pressed her trembling lips together and nodded her head. She finally looked at him instead of everywhere else, and a heavy tear fell from the curve of her lower lid to her cheek. He should lean forward and brush her tear away—but he stayed as he was, leaning back with his arms fallen at his sides.

“Me and my family committed to spending millions more on the renovation of the Romano del Mare on top of the millions already owed, and we did it because you manipulated my pride.” Nicolo’s voice was monotone. Empty. It was a reflection of the hollowness of his chest.

“My” pride, a voice within him reminded himself. His pride had taken him down his current path, that was true. It was not Adeline, not really. She had not made him do anything that he had not wanted to do, but that did not keep his blood from boiling. It did not stop his feelings of being misused and manipulated. She had used his feelings for her against him, and rage filled him as he stared at her, wondering where the girl he’d thought he’d known had gone.

“Who are you?” he asked, bewildered.

A strangled sob escaped Adeline in response to his question, and she covered her mouth with shaking fingers. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said again. She reached her other hand across the table, but he did not lift his hands to meet her. Instead, he remained as he was with his arms hanging down.

“I have never loved anyone as I have loved you, and it’s clouded my judgement. You have made a fool of me. A fool, bedda. I am a man, a man who loves you, and you have made me a fool.” He slammed his closed fist into his chest above his heart. “You make me wonder if it’s better to not love at all if women can be trusted to have no honor. You used me to get what you want, and me and my family will pay the cost of your childish wants and fairy tale dreams. It costs you nothing. Not honor, because you had none to begin with. Not money, because money has no value if it’s in somebody else’s hands. And it did not even cost you me because a fake person”—he motioned a hand to indicate her—“cannot truly lose anything because they didn’t exist in the first place.”

Nicolo stood up so abruptly from the table that his chair flipped over onto the hard floor with a clatter. Then, turning on his heel, he stalked off to the kitchens and left Adeline crying at the table. In less than two minutes, he was back with a young man dressed in black pants, a sleeveless t-shirt, and a full length apron.

“This is Pietro. He’s going to take you back to the plane, and the plane will take you back to Sicily. I will make sure that there is a car waiting for you to drive you home from there.” He couldn’t stand to be near her for another minute. He had been nothing more than her marionette, and he was cutting the strings.

Adeline’s large, round eyes went wide as her tender lips parted. It took her a moment to find her voice. “You’re not coming?”

“The plane will come back for me. I’m needed in India.” He had planned on renting a car and driving down to the tip to take a ferry across to Sicily, but there was no point.

There was no one in Sicily that he wanted to see.