*Caterina*

My nails had been biting into the palms of my hands as I waited for Alessandro to get off the phone. My nerves were already terribly on edge from earlier that day, so much so that I didn't even know how I was still functioning at that moment.

I was practically sitting on the edge of my seat when he finally ended the call and came to stand in front of Elio and me. The grave look on his face should have been proof enough that something wasn’t right. ...