Ava read the proxy she had drafted for Logan once more, making sure she had given her full authority in her absence. Just in case, she thought. She then began packing a small carry-on, mentally preparing herself for her personal mission: Find Alessandro and slap the smoke out of his face.

  Ava knew deep down that she wouldn’t be able to move on with her life until she found the answers she was seeking. She had to hear Alessandro say the words he had written to her, face-to-face, as if he had written them sincerely himself.

  She might not find him, but she had to try. And once she had the answers, she would erase his name from her life once and for all.

  She locked the door of her white ranch house, took one last look at the vineyard, and hopped onto her ride to the airport. She watched the familiar vineyards and restaurants of Paso Robles blur by. Opening the window, she tossed a coin onto the roadside. Just in case, she thought. If Rome had a way of pulling her back, then maybe Paso Robles could too.

  A heavy feeling of loss and relief pressed down on her at the same time. Her emotions were a tangled mess, like a complex dish from an experimental fusion kitchen. She couldn’t even recognize reality, let alone understand her feelings. And above all, she possessed this strange ability to create a light flow of energy, yet she had no idea how, or if, it could be of any use.

  Could she make day turn into night, or night into day? Not exactly. But the thirteen-hour plane ride to the east would certainly did its part. Ava was prepared to fight the jetlag this time. She had her sleep medication tucked neatly into her backpack, ready for when the time came. She swallowed one as soon as she was ready to sleep. When she opened her eyes at the flight crew’s announcement for their descent into Rome, she felt refreshed and ready to face whatever would come next.

  A couple of hours later, as she checked into her usual hotel, the young receptionist recognized her and, with a smile, handed her a business card from his realtor friend. “If you ever need a place in Rome,” he said, “he’d be happy to help.”

  She took a shower and slipped into her lucky blue dress, pairing it with comfortable shoes. Then, she set off on foot from the hotel to Alessandro’s apartment. The walk took half an hour, giving her the time to calm her nerves and brace herself for whatever might come. She didn’t think about what she would say or plan out any actions for when she saw him. She didn’t run through possible scenarios in her mind. She was ready to face the unexpected, even if that meant not finding him at all. If that happened, she would have to come up with a new plan.

  Ava found the doorbell on the side of the iron gate. She rang many times almost for ten minutes. No answer. It was possible that he wasn’t home at that time of the day. She decided to come back a couple of hours later. She walked to the little coffee shop on the corner and ordered an americano and a cornetto to eat.

  A young blonde woman in her twenties walked in just after Ava had taken her coffee and settled into one of the bistro chairs facing the street behind the glass windows of the cafe. The woman smiled at Ava and sat down near her. Ava returned the smile politely and took a sip of her coffee. She could feel the woman’s gaze lingering on her from the side. When Ava looked up again, she met the woman's eyes, who held her gaze with no hesitation. The woman was probably waiting for some kind of acknowledgment, a sign that Ava was open to conversation. It would be nice to chat with a local to pass the time.

  As Ava considered whether to greet the woman, a graffiti on the wall of a building at the corner of the street, right by Alessandro's apartment caught her attention. The first word stood out: "Vaffanculo." Ava translated it on her phone’s translator: "Fuck you, Alessandro!" Someone had written “Fuck you, Alessandro!” on a wall, right there, on his street. Could that be a coincidence? How many Alessandros could there possibly be in Italy? Thousands maybe?

  The blonde woman moved closer to Ava.

  "Are you looking for Alessandro?" she asked boldly.

  Ava's heart shot up into her throat, her pulse racing.

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  “Which Alessandro?” Ava managed to ask, her voice shaky.

  “Alessandro the fuck De Rosa,” the woman replied casually.

  Ava blinked, trying to process the sudden onslaught of information. “Who are you?” she asked.

  “My name is Luna,” the woman said with a bitter smile. “Alessandro’s girlfriend. Well, ex-girlfriend now, after I found out who he really is.”

  “Who is he really?” Ava asked, the question tumbling out before she could stop it. She thought she had braced herself for any possibility, but sitting there, hearing these words, she felt a cold wave of dread wash over her, her face draining of color.

  “First, tell me who you are and why you're looking for him,” Luna replied, her tone cold not only with curiosity, but also with suspicion and threat.

  “I just need to ask him something. My name is Ava,” she said, her words coming out in a soft slur, unsure whether to lie or be honest.

  “Alessandro is a suspiciously rich man,” Luna blurted out, her anger spilling over. She didn’t seem to care who Ava was at that moment; she just wanted to vent about Alessandro. “He has a family business, old money from his grandfather. But I’ve never met his family. I don’t even know where they live.”

  She spoke quickly, as many Italians do when they're upset, her words tumbling out in rapid succession. “Italians value family, you know? Family is everything. But where is his brother? Where are his cousins? I don’t know. It’s like they don’t even exist.”

  “I understand. Thank you for letting me know,” Ava said, keeping her voice calm as she decided it was best not to be completely honest, at least for now. “I’m not his girlfriend. I just need to find him to ask about something related to our previous business. My boss is after Alessandro De Rosa. We’re a US-based company.”

  Ava felt the need to be secretive around this angry young woman, sensing Luna's bitterness. It was clear that Alessandro had done something to make her furious. Ava couldn't help but wonder if he had left a letter and sincerely disappeared.

  “Yes, really? Tell that to my shoe, sister,” Luna scoffed and then explained the expression. “It means I don’t believe you.”

  Ava felt a pang of sympathy for her, realizing that Luna’s anger was because she was hurt. She probably didn’t mean to be threatening; she was just raw with emotion.

  "Luna, you seem like a decent woman," Ava said softly. "I’m really sorry for what you've been through because of Alessandro. But my situation... it’s not the same. I just need to find him for a reason that's personal. I would be very grateful if you could tell me where he is."

  Ava’s words were sincere, hoping that Luna would see her honesty despite the wall of tension between them.

  “He was brought to Rome in an ambulance, unconscious,” Luna began, speaking as though she were finally unloading a long-held secret. “He was taken to the Rome University Hospital.” She watched Ava's eyes flicker with a rush of adrenaline, and, thinking my ass you’re not his girlfriend, Luna continued:

  “I went to the hospital. I needed to see him for myself. But when I got there, he wasn’t even there. He had been discharged, woke up from a fucking brain clot, then walked out on his own, just like that. The doctor changed the diagnosis from a clot to head trauma. He left two days ago, and he never returned to his apartment after that.”

  “How do you know all this?” Ava asked, her mind drifting back to the night in Cappadocia and her panic as she desperately searched for her passport, fearing for her safety. Although safety was no longer her concern, she knew there was a darkness behind Alessandro that she would need to confront if she wanted to find him.

  "That's my superpower!" Luna replied her words sounding more like confidence than arrogance. "Believe me, if I couldn't track him down, you'd have no chance. His yacht isn't at the port, so he's likely out at sea somewhere, God knows where. Go back to where you came from and forget about him. I'm telling you this as a sister."

  “Thank you, Luna,” Ava replied, matching Luna’s honesty with the same level of courtesy. “I appreciate the information. I think I’ll take your advice.”

  “If you happen to find him, tell him to treat you better than he treated me,” Luna said, her words hanging in the air as her last. She cursed the day she met Alessandro though she knew she missed him like a sailor misses the open sea.

  Ava lingered in the little coffee shop for a while longer before she began walking back to her hotel. She couldn’t believe she had just met his ex. She imagined Alessandro with Luna, walking the streets of Rome hand in hand, kissing her as they strolled, taking her home, undressing her, his hands on her thighs. These things had likely happened only recently, maybe just before Ava had met Alessandro. She tried to shake the images of them together from her mind.

  What she said about his hospital visit was worrying. She didn’t seem to be lying. Why hadn’t the Ghull told her if Alessandro was in trouble? The Ghull had asked, “Why do you stay?” He meant that Ava should go look for him. But if he wasn’t in Rome, where could he be? Was he hiding from someone?

  Cappadocia! Of course, if Alessandro wanted to hide, that’s where he would be. She booked her flight to Cappadocia as soon as she connected to the hotel Wi-Fi. The days were flying by. It was already Thursday evening. She hoped to be back in Paso Robles before the new week began.