Surprised, Rico only stared at him. This was not the kind of thing he expected to hear from a professional thief.
“I, too, was shocked by this revelation,” Gianni admitted with a wry smile. “It is not the sort of feeling a thief most appreciates.”
“I don’t think your father and brother share your philosophy.”
“No.” Gianni laughed and shook his head. “Not yet, anyway. But everything changes, does it not?”
He’d said that to Teresa not so long ago, Rico realized. And now all he could think was that some things would never change. He would always love her. And because he did, he realized what he had to do.
He had to let her go.
Rico had always thought that cloying cliché, “if you love something, set it free,” was bull. He believed more in the “if you love something, hold on to it with both hands so you don’t lose it” way of thinking. But now he understood that cliché. It tore at him to realize the hard truth, but there was no other choice for him.
Teresa had once again given up her own life for the sake of her family. She had once again made a sacrifice. The last time, he hadn’t been a part of it. He had been left out of her choice altogether. Thinking back, he couldn’t say what he might have done had she come to him with the truth. Would he have seen past his own anger at her lies? She’d kept so much from him back then. But had he been any more honest? They had fallen in love so quickly and their marriage was so new they hadn’t had time to build the bridges of trust that would have seen them through bad times.
So. Would he have had her family arrested five years ago? He didn’t know. He only knew what he should do now.
“Your ultimatum,” Gianni said quietly, “had my family scrambling all over Europe to find me.”
Rico laughed shortly and brought his mind back to the conversation at hand. “Your father thinks you should answer your phone.”
Gianni grinned. “If I did that, he would call me more often.”