Chapter 37

**Lily**

I was walking around the garden of the Espositos. If you can even call it a garden still, the place is huge. It was nice to clear my mind for a bit, and to be alone for a bit. This is one overwhelming family!

Matteo wouldn’t let me go to the office, he wouldn’t even let me go home. Hell, the first day he wouldn’t even let me leave his sight. He was breathing down my neck the entire day. It took a lot of persuasion from me, and Vita, and Guilia to stop that. In turn I spent the next two days in the sight of him, or Ennio, or Vita, or Luciano.

They are nice people, but there was something weird going on. I mean, living with your siblings is kind of weird, right? So, technically they are not living in the same house, but the amount of time they spend together is crazy. And they speak in tongues.

But they are kind, and hospitable to someone like me. Someone they barely know. They are also loud, opinionated, and overbearing. It is impossible to get out of their sight, but I know they mean well.

So even the fact that I’m walking out here by myself is nothing short of a miracle. It gives me the chance to process everything that happened. Maybe I’m ignoring it, or avoiding it, but after what my mom pulled on me, this just seemed like another thing on the list. Maybe it will come back to haunt me later. It just seems like an action movie now.

It isn’t until I heard someone behind me that I realize I’ve been standing still, staring in the distance for a while.

“It is a beautiful view. Just not sure if it is beautiful enough to look at it for more than 10 minutes.”, this woman said. “I’m Valeria.”, she said, holding out her hand to shake mine.

“Lily.”, I said, shaking her hand. “It is nice, but I was actually enjoying the silence more.”

Valeria laughed hard. “I can imagine.”, she said when she finally stopped laughing. “They’re a loud bunch. They are great, though.”

“So, how are you part of the family?”, I asked with a sigh. Valeria grinned.

“Ennio is my husband.”, she said. Valeria stayed silent after that, as if she was taunting me to say something.

“How do you do that? Living so close with your family in law?”, I asked her, while staring into the distance.

“It takes some getting used to, but they mean well. We work together as well, so we’re all up in each other’s business anyways.”, she said, and grinned when we made eye contact.

I see Valeria fidgeting with her hands, and I’m curious at what is going through her mind that she wants to ask me.

“Matteo shared with me that you had some questions about your mom?”, she asked. She sounded even a bit frightened to touch this subject with me. As if she was crossing some lines. Like she was expecting to be punished if someone was to hear her. I was waiting for her to continue her question.

“I think I can help you find more information, and maybe get to the truth, but I need your help.”, she said. I’m intrigued by her question. Valeria is this petite, dark haired woman with an olive skin. Her English was great, but the more she spoke, the more I heard a tiny accent. Her eyes were a piercing green color, her nose a tiny bit too large for her face. She had something intriguing, something disarming.

“You could?”, I asked surprised. “How? I’ve not been able to find anything.”, I asked her curiously.

“I have my ways.”, Valeria said with a smirk on her face. It told me all I needed to know, she had illegal ways.

“You know what, I would like that. I’m sick of not knowing.”, I said, and I laced my arm through hers to let her take me to her workplace. Which she happily did.

“So, are you sure about this?”, Valeria asked me once again when we sat down in front of her computer screen. “We might not find anything at all, or you might end up with more questions. Or it might not give you definitive answers at all.”, she explained.

“Got it. But still, chances are better than if I search, because I haven’t been able to find anything at all.”, I said, and motioned to Valeria to get working.

“What is your mom’s name?”, she asked.

“Mary Brown.”, I answered.

“Any middle name? Baptismal names?”, Valeria probed. I felt a bit embarrassed because I didn’t really know. I had never heard her use them. I shook my head, and Valeria started typing. I watched her face as her fingers typed a mile a minute.

“Are you sure there is not a different name she used at any point?”, Valeria asked after about 20 minutes. She sounded irritated. “The only thing that comes up that I can definitely link to her is your birth certificate. There are too many Mary Browns out there to say anything else.”

“I don’t know?”, I said in doubt. “In the letters I found, she was addressed as Maria.”

Valeria’s fingers started immediately as I mentioned that. “Anything else you found in there that can help me?”, she asked. I doubted, do I really want to share that information with someone I don’t know.

“A man called Mario that she loved.”, I mentioned, thinking out loud. I was Valeria’s brows frown when I said that. It wasn’t specific enough for her to work with. But then I remembered.

“There were two property deeds in there with information on it.”, I shared. Valeria perked up, and her eyes were watching me expectantly. “But I don’t remember what’s on there. I would need to go to my house to get them.”, I added softly.

“And Matteo won’t let you?”, Valeria asked understandingly. “Let me talk to him about that.”, she said, and Valeria practically ran out of the room, dragging me with her.

I sat in a chair in Matteo’s office for a little while, while Valeria and Matteo were arguing. Arguing about me, who was not part of the discussion, could go home. It was a surreal situation. I felt like I was being treated like a little kid who couldn’t be left on her own. So, I pulled out my phone and texted Emma to come and pick me up.

“Come on, Matteo! If we want to help Lily, we need that information that she has at home.”, Valeria argued. Matteo slammed his fist on the table and shook his head.

“I’m not having it. Lily is staying here.”, he replied. It went on for a while. I had to give it to Valeria, she was not easily impressed by Matteo’s dominance. I felt my phone buzz, and when I read the text, I got up.

“Great and all, but I do have an opinion of my own. I am going home.”, I said and walked out of the room, leaving the both of them gawking at me.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected to make it out of the room before someone would stop me, but somehow, I made it out of the house without Matteo pulling me back. Once I stepped out of the house, I felt his hand grabbing my wrist to turn me to face him.

“It is not safe there!”, Matteo tried to convince me that staying here was the best for me. I took his hand and freed my wrist from his hold. I kept walking to the front gate.

“Lily! Listen to me, please stay here. I need to know you are safe.”, Matteo went from yelling to speaking softly. His hands cupped my face and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

“I appreciate all you did and do for me, Matteo. I just need my own place for my sanity.”, I told him softly. I stroked his cheek. Matteo leaned into my touch.

“I want you to stay here, to live with me.”, Matteo pleaded, leaning his forehead against mine.

“Matteo… It’s too fast, and not for the right reasons. I like being with you, but I don’t want to be forced.”, I said, and turned around to walk to the gates where I saw Emma wait for me.

“Call me!”, I said to Matteo before I got in the car, and we drove off.

“So, anything you want to share?”, Emma asked while we turned away from the Esposito mansion. I rested my head against the window.

“Too much to mention.”, I sighed. I spent the past few days wrapping my head around all the events that I had witnessed, but it felt most comfortable to ignore it.

“He is not forcing you, right?”, Emma asked tentatively. I shook my head fiercely.

“No, he helped me. And let me leave as I wanted.”, I said. “There is just something that draws me to him.”

Emma smiled wistfully. “Do you love him?”, she asked softly. I shook my head.

“I can’t love him, right? I haven’t known him for that long. It’s too early for love.”, I argued vehemently.

“Sometimes that’s all it takes.”, Emma said, smiling as she glanced at me. Her comment made me think. I had only met Matteo merely weeks ago. There was no denying the sexual attraction between us, it was through the roof. But love? I don’t know.