Beyond Deception

Chapter 1

LIAM’s POV

“Matt?” – I answered.

“I’m downstairs, do you want to come down or should we talk in front of Jamie?” – He asked me.

“I’ll be right down.” – I have to take this moment to tell him what I’ve uncovered. Release him from the compromise he’s walking into to allow me to be happy. I press the button for the elevator but quickly got tired of waiting so I took the stairs in massive steps, going down three and four at a time.

As always, Matt was calm and collected. Even if he was nervous or anxious one could never tell. He always had his demeanor under such perfect control that it was sometimes annoying. Our f*****g fate had just been decided and yet he was standing there like he just passed by to say hello.

“Come on, spit it out already.” – I ushed him. I’ll let him talk first, and explain what I know after.

“It’s done. I’ll be marrying Francesca in about two weeks. We’ll stick to the already set schedule. You’re free, little brother.” – he says as he pats my shoulder.

“It’s good to know, but we’ll be changing our plans.”

“What?” – he asks confused.

“I told you about Jamie’s dad, right? That she didn’t know who he was? I had Jimmy do some digging and all the leads we had hit a wall. Except for this.” – I showed him the pictures I had taken of the ring and it’s engraving before I tell him. – “This was her mother’s.”

His eyes widened in disbelief, looking at me as if searching for some kind of uncertainty in my steady face.

“That’s….” – he trails off.

“Exactly.” – I say as if I’m reading his mind. – “You don’t need to marry Francesca. Jamie’s an Amato. Most precisely, Enzo Amato’s daughter.”

He stands there looking at me, and I can almost see all the wheels turning in his head as he doesn’t utter a word. We remain in silence for a few seconds before he broke it off.

“No. We proceed as planned. I want to marry Francesca. I just need you to keep this to yourself for two weeks, and then you can go talk to Don Amato and confirm it all. Have you told Jamie?”

“Wait. What? Did you just say you still want to marry Francesca?” – I’m dumbfounded. I thought this would make everything turn back into place.

“Yes, I do. I told you I found her intriguing. She’s feisty, not mentioning her beauty. But she can’t know about this for now, or she will never agree.”

I was completely amazed. My big brother had finally developed an interest in someone. Maybe it was wrong to trick her into it. But she’ll never know. No harm, no foul.