“Were you with Felix today?” His own words sounded odd. Like he was hearing someone else say them.

Bianca sighed on the other end just as Jack banged the heater making Gio look up.

“Yes, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Gio straightened out in his chair, feeling a bolt of something almost electric sear through him. “So these pictures were really taken today?”

“Pictures?”

“Yeah, Bianca,” he stood up unable to sit anymore. “Pictures of you and him together laughing—hugging—his f**king arms around your waist.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “They have pictures of that already?”

It all sunk in at once. The realization that the photos weren’t fake. They weren’t old. She’d really been with Felix today. Her sudden declining need to be with him. Noah’s theory. The pungent smell of gas in his nose as he looked up to watch Jack take that last hit at the heater with a screwdriver that caused a small spark.

The explosion was massive, sending Jack flying across the room. Gio’s body was lifted into the wall behind him whipping his head back violently. The desk, with everything on it, flew right into his face and everything went silent.

CHAPTER 24

It’d been over an hour since the line between Bianca and Gio went dead. She tried to convince herself that he hadn’t hung up on her. There had to be a reasonable explanation for why they’d been cut off and he was now not answering any of her calls or returning her texts. Even with the pictures he couldn’t possibly believe the stories about her and Felix being back together.

Toni had called her about a half hour after her call with Gio to warn her about the new stories. The new photos of her and Felix coupled with the stories the media was circulating were pretty damning. She suggested Bianca give Gio a head’s up. The media sure had a way of making even the most innocent of photos seem like some kind of deep moment between them.

The more time that passed without her hearing from Gio, the more anxious she felt that he might actually be buying into the hype. He couldn’t possibly, could he? But it was late already. They usually talked in the evening until bedtime.

The television was on low as she walked into Nana’s house. Having to be sneaky just to run her errands after she got off work tonight had made her get home later than usual.

Everyone was home now, including their neighbor Jerry, a widowed man her mother’s age that often came over to have coffee and chat with them. They were all in the front room as she walked in through the kitchen door from the driveway.

Her mother was the first one to turn to her, the expression on her face alone was alarming. “What is it?”

“You haven’t heard?” Nana asked, picking up the remote.

“Heard what?”

“I’ll rewind it. It’s been on the news for the past hour.”

Bianca began to roll her eyes. The pictures—the rumors—she was so sick of it all. Her mother and Nana couldn’t be falling for this, too, could they?

She took a few steps through the dining room. They all sat staring at the television as Nana rewound it. All set to hear more about her and Felix’s ‘publicity stunt’, Bianca crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame that separated the dining room from the spacious front room.

Nana stood and started toward Bianca as she hit play. The reporter’s first sentence sent a heart stopping chill down Bianca’s spine rendering her literally unable to breathe.

“We are live on the scene where an explosion at the 5th Street gym in East Los Angeles has left one dead and several critically injured. It is unclear what caused the explosion but authorities believe it may have been a gas leak. The name of the deceased is being withheld at this time pending notification of next of kin.

“According to witnesses, the explosion took place just after eight this evening when most members are usually gone but we have no confirmation yet if the deceased or the injured were employees or members of the club. The fire that destroyed more than seventy percent of the old building is now completely out but the investigation will continue into the night.”

“Bianca,” Nana’s words came through a tunnel. “Bianca, breathe.”

Gio hadn’t responded to her calls or texts because he couldn’t. “He’s dead?”

Nana caught Bianca before she went down. “Bianca!”

Somehow Bianca managed to latch her arms around her grandmother’s shoulders. Her mother and Jerry were already by her side helping her grandmother get her onto a chair. “Honey, they don’t know anything. He could just be one of the injured. You haven’t talked to him at all?”

“No!” The reporter had said an hour ago. That’s how long it had been since she’d last talked to him. When the phone went dead. That’s when it must’ve… “Oh my God!”

She tried standing, wanting to bolt out of the room and drive to LA but they held her down. “Bianca, you’re hysterical! Sit down, sweetie. Calm yourself!”

They managed to keep her there but each passing minute was torture. Nana tried giving her a pill to calm her but Bianca refused. She didn’t want anything blurring her state of mind. She needed it clear in case she managed to escape out of there and drive to Gio’s side.

After watching more of the news broadcast, which didn’t seem to have anything new to report other than more small details of the possible cause and more witnesses giving their accounts of the event, Bianca finally gave in and called Felix.