“Get away from me, you stupid animal,” hissed Elena, like a lioness protecting her cub. “Go back to America, where you came from.”

The rebuke stung Carter, and he stood there stupidly, not knowing what to do, as Elena helped the other man to his feet and the two started on their way out of the club, holding and consoling one another.

“Elena, come back,” he called desperately to her.

Agostina came to his side and put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

“Forget her, Carter,” she said.

“But I don’t understand,” he replied. “I was only trying to protect her. Who is that guy?”

“Armando,” she told him, before gently adding, “suo fidanzato .”

Her fiancé.

“Her fiancé?” said Carter, incredulous.

“They had a big fight today just before you came,” said Agostina. “You see, she was just using you to make Armando jealous. Don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault. That’s just the way Elena is sometimes.”

Carter watched Elena go, and his world crumbled around him. The possibility that she might be involved with someone else was the last of those nagging questions he had refused to ask himself way back at the beginning of the summer. It finally dawned on him then that all he had been doing all this time was chasing a mirage, and that it had all been for absolutely nothing. Everything he had done was a complete waste.

“What a fool I’ve been,” he muttered, rubbing his forehead.

Carter gave a weary sigh and looked around at the people staring at him. One by one, they turned away, even Agostina, who patted him once more on the shoulder and said good night, until only Alfonso remained. As Carter stood there like a statue, his heart dead inside him, Alfonso walked by him on his way out of the club, pausing only to shoot Carter a wry look.

“Benvenuto in Italia,” he snickered.

Welcome to Italy.

Then he left Carter there alone.

CHAPTER 37

CHAPTER 37

Carter opened his eyes.

It was morning, and he was sprawled face down, he knew not where, the side of his head resting against something very hard and cold. With great difficulty, as his head was splitting with pain, he rolled over onto his back and looked up. It took a few moments for his vision to clear before he realized that he was lying alone at the base of the statue in the middle of the deserted piazza. He propped himself up on one elbow and looked about.