One Summer in Italy…

CHAPTER TEN

EVERYTHING changed.

One moment they were enjoying a happy dinner party. The next the guests were saying goodbye, wishing Matteo good luck, but eager to get away.

Within half an hour a posse of police on motorcycles had arrived, ready to take up their positions in the judge’s defence. Matteo greeted them quietly. He had shown almost no reaction to the news, merely nodding calmly as though this were a normal part of life.

And for him it was, Holly realised.

She could barely take in the way life had changed out of all recognition. It might all have been a dream, except that the swarm of armed police made it horribly real. A man who already had several murders against him had set himself to kill Matteo, and was now on the loose, with a gun.

He could be anywhere. The only certain thing was that he wanted revenge and wouldn’t rest until he got it.

She went straight up to Liza’s room, relieved to find her asleep. She longed to talk to Matteo, just to look at him and see him standing there alive. But protecting the child from the knowledge of what was happening had to come first.

She did not even see Matteo again that night, but the next morning he spoke to her quietly before leaving.

‘Two of the police will be staying here, just in case Fortese gets ideas. All of you remain in the house and you’ll be quite safe.’

He departed with barely a nod, and her last sight of him was driving away, accompanied by four police outriders.

Between them she and Galina kept Liza occupied that day, so that she should notice as little as possible out of the ordinary. It took a lot of ingenuity, especially when Matteo returned in the evening, with a change of guard. But they managed.

Galina went to his study and stayed for an hour. When she came out she said to Holly in a strangely urgent voice, ‘He wants to see you.’

She found him looking pale and strained. When he spoke his voice seemed to come from a distance, which contrasted strangely with his words.

‘I have to ask you a favour,’ he said sharply. ‘Not for myself, but for Liza.’

‘Of course.’

He looked uneasy, and seemed unable to look at her as he added, ‘It’s something only you can do for her.’

‘You know I’ll do anything she needs. Name it.’

‘Marry me.’ It came out almost as a bark.

She frowned. She’d heard the words, but didn’t divine their meaning.

‘What did you say?’

‘I want you to become my wife. For Liza’s sake.’

Light dawned. ‘Yes, I see. But there’s no need-I’m not going anywhere. I’ve promised you I’ll be here for her.’

At last he rose and faced her.

‘That’s not enough,’ he said urgently. ‘You need to be her mother-legally-so that nobody else can interfere.’

‘Matteo, what are you talking about? Why should anyone interfere?’

‘I mean-if I weren’t here…’

Like a thunderclap his meaning burst on her.

‘You mean Fortese-you actually think-?’

‘If he manages to kill me Liza will need you as never before. Holly, we have to be married, so that she can’t lose you as well. You’re her only hope if anything happens to me.’

‘Then don’t take the risk,’ she cried. ‘Go into hiding until they catch him.’

She thought she’d never seen so much passionate outrage in one human face.

‘Back off?’ he said in a voice whose softness didn’t disguise its vehemence. ‘Let the villains win? Can’t you understand that the only hope of defeating them is for people like me to face them, no matter what?’

‘But you have a child-’

‘We all have families, we’re all afraid, but if we run away then they’ve won. They take over, and what happens then to all the promises we made about protecting the world from them? What happens to our children in the world that we’ll bequeath them then? Holly, for the love of heaven, tell me that you understand!’

She nodded bleakly. ‘I do understand.’

‘If he comes after me, I’m ready for it. But what I won’t do-can’t do-is run away.’ He added with an icy bleakness that matched her own, ‘No matter what the cost.’

Holly tried to get away, but his hand on her arm was merciless.

‘It’s not like you to duck out,’ he said. ‘You’re stronger than that.’

‘I thought I was, but you’re asking me to jump off a great height into the unknown. I don’t know you. Much of the time I don’t even like you.’

‘You haven’t made a secret of that. But this isn’t about how we feel. It’s about Liza.’

‘So you said. You’ll get me to do for her what you should do, the way you always have. It’s all for Liza, because you know that’s the one argument that will move me. Just like a lawyer.’

‘I can’t help that. I am a lawyer-’

‘And like any good lawyer you know how to go for the jugular.’

‘All right, do it for me,’ he shouted. ‘Do it so that I can sleep at night knowing I’ve protected her future. Do it so that I don’t have nightmares thinking of her alone. That little girl has lost so much… first her mother, then her father-yes, she’s lost her father. I don’t mean the other one, I mean me. I try to do my duty by her, I know she’s innocent, but it isn’t here.’ He thumped his chest with his fist. ‘With your help I’m putting up a good pretence, but I can’t recreate the feeling-the joy I felt at just being with her, gazing at her, knowing that she was mine. I can’t give her the look she once saw in my eyes. I see her searching for it, puzzled that it’s missing, but there’s nothing I can do. Hate me for it. You can’t hate me as much as I hate myself. Think as badly of me as you like, but do this for her, and for me.’

‘Matteo, please-let me think, I need time-’

‘There isn’t any. I know it’s not fair to dump this on you. What a choice to face you with!’ His voice took on a note of grim humour. ‘You could be a rich widow in a very short time. Or, if you get really unlucky, you might be stuck with me for years.’

‘Stop it,’ she said fiercely.

‘I’m just trying to see it from your point of view.’

‘Do you think I want to make light of it?’ she demanded, beginning to be angry again. ‘Is that what you think of me?’

‘I’m trying to confront this the best way I can,’ he said, his voice rising again in its turn, ‘and you needn’t tell me I’m making a mess of it, because I know that. What is the right way? Shall I go down on one knee?’

‘Don’t you dare!’ she cried in horror. ‘I’d never forgive you.’

‘Then tell me how to persuade you.’

‘You can’t!’

‘I must. You’re the one person in the world that I can turn to, the only one I can rely on. You’re stronger than anyone I know. In some ways you’re stronger than me.’

‘But to suggest that we…Why me?’

‘Because there’s nobody else I can trust to protect Liza.’

‘Your mother-’

‘She’s an old lady, with a sick husband to care for. Apart from her my only family is a cousin that I can’t stand. She’s grim and hard, and hell will freeze over before I let Liza fall into her hands. Once you’re my wife I can make sure you’re her legal guardian if I’m killed.

‘Do this for me, Holly, I beg you. It doesn’t have to be a real marriage, just the legal formality, and I won’t ask