Chapter 57: Chapter 57

The tinkling of rocks against his window reminded Rome of three things--when he was younger and Bart wanted his attention, when he’d done the same thing to return his phone not long ago, and when Rome had stood outside of Ella’s window, staring up at her beautiful face.

He’d been sleeping so he wasn’t sure how long the rocks had been hitting the glass. Whoever was trying to get his attention was impatient, that was for certain. He sat up and saw his mother dozing on a settee across the way. The rocks hadn’t woken her up, and he hoped he wouldn’t either.

Carefully, he slid out of bed and went over to the window, pulling it open. He was praying that it was Ella, but he quickly saw that it wasn’t. A man stood in the yard, staring up at him. He looked somewhat familiar, but in the dark, Rome wasn’t sure who it was.

“Rome! Thank God!” the man shout-whispered. “I have something I have to tell you!”

The thick Italian accent was more recognizable to him than the dimly lit figure. “Antonio?” he said as loudly as he dared. “What are you doing here?”

His mother stirred behind him, and Rome took a deep breath, hoping his talking to the man in the yard didn’t wake her. It had been years since he’d spoken to Antonio, who had always been a better friend to Bart. “I have to tell you something! Bart called me!”

“What is it?” Rome asked, wishing he’d just get on with it.

A noise in the yard caught his attention then as he realized at least one of his father’s men was coming around the front corner of the house. “It’s about your wife!” Antonio shouted.

“Hey! What are you doing?” the man shouted.

“Rome, what’s going on?” His mother was awake now and coming over to the window.

“Shit….” Rome wished Antonio would just tell him. “What is it?”

Antonio was clearly frightened of the large man coming at him from across the yard. Rome couldn’t see him well, but he assumed the guy was armed. Antonio muttered a few curse words of his own as he backed toward the garden wall.

Shouting at him again, Rome begged him to tell him whatever the news was about Ella. “Antonio? What is it?”

His mother stood behind him now, trying to pull him back from the window.

Antonio was at the foot of the wall, another man now bearing down on him from the other direction. “He didn’t want you to hear it in the news--that she’s killed herself.”

“She what?” Rome could hardly believe his ears. “No! It can’t be true!” Ella would never do that, would she?

Antonio was still shouting, but he was climbing the wall, and Rome couldn’t hear him anymore anyway. He had to see for himself. His mother was yanking him from the window, but his arms flailed, pushing her off as he turned to look at her. “Did you hear what he said?”

“Rome, please, calm down!” Lacy closed the window. “That was just some random person who’d climbed the fence.”

“It wasn’t a random person, mother. It was a friend. Did you hear what he said? About Ella?”

His mother made a face, one he recognized. “Rome… calm down.”

“You knew about this? Is it true, then? Have you seen it in the news?”

“It’s all just a rumor. We don’t know anything.”

He couldn’t believe his ears. He ran his hand through his hair and collapsed on the edge of the bed. How could it possibly be true? He needed to see for himself. “Give me my phone!” He jumped up off of the bed and came at her. “Or your phone!”

“Rome, please, calm down!” she shouted again.

“Mother! I need to see, I need to know!” He didn’t want to hurt her, but if she had a phone on her, he was going to take it. He had to look Ella up online, see if it was true.

His mom struggled to get away from him. “Rome! Stop! Guards--help!”

As Rome continued to beg his mom to hand over her phone, two burly men came in the door and wrestled him away from her. “Mom! Let me see. You have to let me see!”

A sharp pain hit him in the shoulder, and a familiar sting radiated through his shoulder. They’d drugged him again, the bastards! The world went fuzzy again, and as Rome lost contact with the world, he thought, if Ella truly was dead, he didn’t want to wake up either.

By the time they reached LAX airport, Ella felt like herself again--at least on the outside. A nervousness buzzed around on her insides as she thought about what she was about to do. She had forged documents; she was allegedly dead. Yet, she was about to try to get on a plane. She was also extremely worried about Rome.

“It’ll be fine,” Bart assured her. “These documents are top of the line. This guy works with all kinds of people who aren’t supposed to be coming in and out of the country, but they do it all the time.”

“That’s comforting,” Mary joked. Bart turned to her and gave her a smirk, and Ella thought she might’ve seen something between the two of them, but she wasn’t sure.

“We’ll be on a plane to Rome soon,” Bart smiled.

“Rome and Rome,” Mary noted, smiling at Ella in the backseat.

Bart pulled into the car rental place where he’d picked up the SUV earlier that day. He’d explained that he didn't want his own car sitting at the airport for an undisclosed amount of time. His parents knew he was going to try to visit Rome, but they had no idea he was taking Rome’s “dead” wife. They also knew not to tell anyone where he went, but that was because they didn’t want any problem with the Veronas. Mary didn’t have any family nearby to worry about, and she’d quit her other job to work for Ella, so she could be gone for as long as it took.

At the airport, Ella grabbed her bags out of the back. “I wish I had my wedding dress,” she muttered. “And that dress Tim gave me. It was so pretty.”

“What makes you think I didn’t grab those?” Mary asked, smiling at her. “Your father took your shoes but left the dress. It’s in there.” She gestured at one of Ella’s multiple suitcases. “So is your sketchbook and the picture of your mom.”

“Thanks, Mary. You’re the best.” Her friend smiled at her, and they managed to get all of the luggage out of the car. When Bart came back from turning in the keys, he helped them with the bags.

Walking was much easier now than it had been when Ella woke up, even though the bags were heavy. She got them to the bag check outside and dropped all but one small one for them to take care of. They glanced at her paperwork and had no problems with it. The first test was over, and she’d passed.

It was an anxiety-inducing trip, but eventually, she found herself sitting in a first-class seat on her way to Italy. Bart was right; no one even questioned her paperwork. It all seemed legitimate to them. She hoped the folks in Italy were just as gullible.

Even though she’d been asleep for almost three days, she was still tired. She wanted to fall asleep. Worry about Rome weighed on her, though. She had a feeling something wasn’t right. Bart had tried to call his friend, Antonio, before they took off, but he hadn’t gotten ahold of him. Ella worried that something had happened and he hadn’t made it to Rome. What if he was under the impression she really had killed herself?

She was wearing a bit of a disguise having learned her lesson from the pictures in Vegas, but she didn’t think anyone was looking for her without Rome, especially since she’d seen on her social media on the way over to the airport that everyone thought she was dead. She was also worried that her parents would find out, though.

Telling her aunt she was alive right now was not an option--she’d have to, as soon as it was safe to do so, as soon as she was with Rome. Aunt Gen had been through so much, with Tim dying and now thinking she was dead, too. She knew she could trust Gen not to tell her dad.

She’d also have to let her Aunt Suzette in France know. They'd been so close when she lived with her, she hated to think about how she might be feeling at the moment, thinking Ella was dead.

With all of those thoughts on her mind, it made it difficult for Ella to sleep, but eventually, she fell into a restless slumber with only snippets of bad dreams and haunting images. Thoughts of what might happen if they arrived in Italy only to find they’d been too late and Rome had harmed himself or was dead, filled her mind. Or what if her parents found out she was alive and hunted her down? All of it was enough to make a sane person crazy.

The sooner she got to Italy and Rome’s arms, the better.