I breathe deeply several times, absorbing the weight of those thoughts without drowning in them. Will what I’m feeling now become worse once I open that damned safe?
As if summoned by my thoughts, I receive a message containing only an address and a time. Elinor usually sends far more cryptic messages, which suggests urgency—especially because she wants to meet me at a shopping mall in Palermo, in broad daylight and surrounded by people.
Imagine what she’ll do once she learns there have been more than a thousand women over all these years…
How did nobody notice?
I weave through the crowd of people wandering through the mall and head toward the lingerie store where, supposedly, she is waiting for me. Lorenzo’s soldier walks at a safe distance and remains discreet.
I step into a few sto
