Chapter 66: Chapter 66

◇ KEL ◇

"Mykaela?"

Light pats on my arm. Gentle shaking. Careful strokes on my head.

"Lasciala riposare."

"Perché vuole andare lá?"

Enzo's voice.  Wait...  Am I still dreaming?

Dazed from the last seconds of my much-needed nap, I laid my head still on a layer of clothes keeping my face warm and fuzzy.

The caresses on my hair and the mild scent of men's cologne—Enzo's perfume—gradually cleared up the haze in my head.  It left me slightly more conscious of my surroundings and the soft hum of the jet's engines.

Enzo kept my curled up body close to his, the rough fabric of his shirt covering most of my face.

So, we were still in the private jet, his older brother's new plane.  I also fell asleep on Enzo's lap.  At the thought, a warm tingling sensation crawled up my spine.  We weren't alone.  I knew the Tomassinis had strapped security staff right by their side all the time.  The guards must think their boss and I were a thing.

"Che farai con lei?" The deeper, more masculine voice spoke again.  It sounded a bit like Enzo but it wasn't him.

"Io voglio solo riportarla a casa."

The last voice was Enzo speaking.  Should I stay still or stop pretending I was asleep?  It would be rude to interrupt their conversation.  Especially while they talked about me as if I wasn't here.

"You're just too sentimental for your own good."

Enzo sat still, seeming careful not to stir me awake.  "I owe her a favor."

"One too many. It seems," the other guy muttered. "Maximiliano's looking for her."

Okay.  Now they were talking about Miles.  Why?

"He's too busy to care."

The other guy chuckled. "You think she sees you in that regard?"

"Leo, be quiet," Enzo sighed.

Leo?  As in Leandro, his brother?  But...how did he get here?  Darn it.  Heavy sleeper problems again.

"So you're the new guy?"  Leandro scoffed, his words droning and humorless.  "Checking on her everyday, taking care of her problems, at her beck and call...  Do you honestly enjoy being reduced to that?"

Shit.  It's definitely Leandro, his older brother.

"You have responsibilities, Lorenzio." The brother sighed out loud. "Pa thinks you're in the office all day, slaving away for the family."

The tense silence that followed only stiffened every muscle in my body.

"Right now you should be working on the other deal. Not fucking around with some girl you met."

"Lasciala stare."

"I hope for your sake everything's working out as planned."  Leandro's deeper voice sounded muffled by Enzo's warm palm now resting on my ear.  "Or you'll be tying up every loose end till you can't anymore. Then, you'll wish you just kept it in your pants and moved on."

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"Is he upset? He didn't even talk to me," I whispered to Enzo as we sat quietly by the window.

Lounging in the seat close to the pilot's cabin was his older brother.  Leandro was on his phone, talking to someone about some contract revisions.  Must be their ongoing deal with the Falcos.

"Just Leo being Leo. At least he smiled at you,"  Enzo replied to me after sighing shortly.

"He wants me off his plane."

"What?  No."  Enzo scoffed dismissively, then sipped more red wine.  "He's just tired. We had heaps of meetings all week."

"They picked him up in Vicenza?" I glanced at Enzo and kept my voice hushed.  Leandro might think I was monopolizing his brother's attention or something.

"Near Belgrade. He called the pilot three hours ago," Enzo muttered, his wine-smelling breath fanning my cheek.  He liked to drink when he wasn't on the clock, I noticed.

"You really like wine."

Enzo scrunched up his nose at me while I stared at him.  "Only when I'm stressed."

"I beg to differ," I murmured after looking away.  His striking eyes were watching me closely again.

As if amused, he snickered at my comment and let out a sigh.  "Did you talk to your mom?"

"Not yet. My phone's still charging."

"D'you still miss your Daddy Jim every day?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "Dreamt of him the other night."

"You were quite close, huh?"

"Yeah. Sometimes closer than I was to my mom. I mean, we butt heads sometimes when I'm being stubborn. Dad just...kind of...let me do my thing."

Enzo smiled faintly.  "What would you say to Ilija? If you find him alive?"

I shrugged, actually unsure of what to say next.  Finding out I was adopted didn't really crush my whole world or made me feel like my whole life was a sham.  I just wanted to find out for sure if my biological father was still alive and breathing.

Then maybe...I'd get to ask him some things and...maybe he'd give me some answers.  I would just like to personally ask if he ever thought of me and Mom, if he had another family or what.  Nothing too dramatic.

"Just wanna see him in person," I replied to Enzo while he waited for me to speak again.  "At first, yeah. I was so confused when I saw those records. Let it stew for a while. Didn't even tell Jill or Mom. Then I thought...it doesn't really matter, 'cause Dad will always be my dad."

"Of course."  Enzo gently held my hand.  "Does Jill know now about the birth records and the adoption papers?"

"Yeah. I told her. We already talked about it last time I was home."

"You need to talk to your family and friends more often," Enzo said with a short sigh. "People you trust. Don't just keep it all to yourself, bellezza. It's not healthy."

"I don't intentionally..." I hesitated and thought of an excuse.  How did he know I preferred to keep things to myself as much as possible?  "For now I just need to focus on school and training, y'know."

"Did Niccolo tell you why he searched for those records?"

"No. It's so strange."  Well, almost everything Niccolo told me was weird and worrisome...especially when he said I should avoid Enzo because his family had branched out their ventures into the human trafficking business.

Just thinking about it made me cringe. But there was also a possibility that Enzo knew nothing about it and had nothing to do with his family's mob dealings.  In my eyes, he was still a legit, workaholic businessman slash part-time engineer.  Or maybe I was just biased.

"Still want to find Ilija soon?" Enzo squeezed my hand as I stared out the window.  His palm felt so warm against my skin.

Now he was curious whether I still wanted to find my biological father.  Of course I wanted to, but I wasn't that desperate.  I was researching records of Ilija again and I even asked for Gaia's help.  But schoolwork would remain my priority.  "Yes. I'll find time, after all our trainings."

"Yeah. Finish school first. Focus your time and energy on it." Enzo kept up a reassuring tone, as if he was a hundred percent confident that I would graduate with a degree in medicine this time.  "I'll help you any way I could. Just give me a call, whenever you need something."

I turned to smile at him,  touched by his encouraging words. "You know you don't have to. But thank you."

"You're a natural." He let go of my hand and touched the side of my face for a second.  "You have the ability and potential to do great things. Don't let anything or anyone keep you from getting what you want."

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"Mykaela."

I sat up straight. That was Leandro.

Leandro reclined in his seat and looked directly at me.  He sat a few seats away from us.

My insides constricted at his icy gaze, and his voice was loud enough to distract me from Enzo's grip on my wrist. "Signore?"

"Why don't you join us?" Leandro gave me a quick smile.  His manly voice still sounded calm but quite authoritative now. "We're spending the night on the island. We have a beach house on the coast of San Pietro."

"Sounds nice."  I faked a smile.  My chest felt tighter now for some reason. When I failed to give him another reply,  I turned to Enzo.

"She's supposed to be home by tomorrow," Enzo replied to his brother while a slight frown compressed his lips.

"Just one night." Leandro continued to focus on my face. His unyielding gaze was making my brain struggle and I just couldn't come up with the most appropriate excuse. "Relax. Have some fun on the beach."

Oh no.  Stay another night in Italy?  Just no.

Miles would catch up.  Then he'd confront and pick a fight with Enzo for taking me out of the country without my family's permission and knowledge, and for trying to help me find Ilija.  Enzo would either mock or say something too forward.  By then Miles would snap and...

Well, I'd rather not imagine the next scenario.

"Some company would be nice."  Leandro grinned at me. His tone was friendlier than I expected, but his smile failed to ease the tense, almost displeased look on Enzo's face.  "My girlfriend's bored and cooking for a dozen." Leandro snickered.  "Alodia. She's at the beach house, waiting for us."

I sat still, thoroughly confused.

"Leo, she's got classes the next day," Enzo replied for me.

"Just one night. Come on." Leandro ignored his brother and patiently waited for my answer. "You need a break."

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