‘We have to go back to the pizzeria tonight,’ he said.

‘Why?’

‘Something Liuni told me.’

‘Vito?’

‘Yep. I’m going to have a word with him.’

‘When I tried to have a word with him, you said it would make things worse for Valentina and Francesco.’

‘Yes, but a) he was drunk at the time, and b) we didn’t know we were staying then. If we’d caused trouble for Valentina, she’d have paid for it after we left. I want Vito to know that from now on if he touches Valentina or Francesco, he’s going to have to answer to me. Every time. Every single time. I want him to know that he can’t behave like he’s been behaving; that it’s not acceptable. That none of us likes it.’

‘Joe…’

‘I’m not going to cause any trouble. I’m only going to talk. I won’t be combative, I’ll be tactful.’

I stroked his damp hair. He reached for my hand, held it to his lips and kissed it.

‘I might go and have a shower then,’ I said, ‘seeing as we’re going out.’

‘Okay.’

I pushed myself up to my feet, shook out my towel and tied it round my chest and turned to make my way back up the decking and suddenly felt a blunt, deep pain in my heel. ‘Ow!’ I cried, hopping, grabbing my foot. ‘Oh God, what’s that?’

‘It’s a hornet!’ Joe took my foot, removed the insect and flicked it away. ‘Oh Edie, that’s going to hurt!’

He gathered me up and I put my arm around his neck. The sting was a needle of pain from my foot to my brain. I put my face against Joe’s shoulder.

‘It’s okay,’ said Joe. ‘Lean on me.’

Together we shuffled back to the villa. Every time my heart beat, it pumped a new throb of pain.

In the kitchen, Joe helped me into a chair and lifted my ankle gently onto another, rested it on a cushion. He poured some vinegar onto a cloth and held it against the sting, his hand holding my foot tenderly, as if it was an injured bird.

‘You’ve gone very pale,’ he said.

My heartbeat had slowed, my breathing was shallow. I was floating. The room was beginning to tilt, first one way, then the other.

‘I feel like flour being sifted through a sieve,’ I said.

‘What?’

‘Like flour being sifted…’ I demonstrated the gentle shaking of a sieve.

‘Edie?’

‘I think I’m going to faint.’

‘No, you’re not.’