The Last Masterpiece by Laura Morelli

Author:Laura Morelli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

To my surprise, I find Enzo waiting for me in an alley alongside the Hotel Excelsior. He stands with his back against a stone wall, one knee cocked, smoking a cigarette. Just out of view of the hotel doorman, who doesn’t seem to know he’s just a few meters away. Nearly invisible in his dark clothing, blending into the shadows.

For a moment, I stop walking. Hesitate. For months, Enzo has been a compelling, if mysterious, presence. One minute there, one minute gone, but a magnetic pull for me all the same. A protective force. A humble carpenter willing to set down his hammer, pick me up, and carry me in his arms like a baby to safety without a moment’s hesitation. A man who covered me with his own body as bombs fell from the sky.

Have I got that wrong, too? Have I misunderstood who Enzo is as well? Is he a partigiano, just like Paloma’s brother and his friends, working silently, furtively, against the Germans, who they pretend to help at the same time? I don’t trust myself anymore to recognize the truth. All the same, at the sight of him, I feel the inexorable pull, like a tide to the sands of the beach.

He catches sight of me, drops the butt of his cigarette, and crushes it under the heel of his dusty leather boot.

He walks toward me, his dark eyes glowing. “Take a walk with me, cara?”

I am frozen in place. “To where?”

One side of his mouth rises in a half smile. “One of the best places in the city.”

I hesitate, but I look at his steady, deep-brown eyes, his sideways grin. He extends his hand. Against my better judgment, I put my hand in his. And I follow.

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