Page 78 of Tito

“Bene, bene,” Stephano said. “I was needing caffeine and Maria’s espresso sounds really good about now.” He looked over at us and motioned to the chairs. “Have a seat.”

Max then served usthe shot of caffeineas Tito called it. Then he gave us a bow and went out.

I stared at him again as he left the study. Something seemed off. I just couldn’t pinpoint it. Then again, Max had always given me like that heebie-jeebies kind of feeling.

“Valencia?”

Looking up, I saw Stephano smiling at me. “Oh, I’m sorry,” I told him while feeling embarrassed about my staring. “Did you say something?”

“I did indeed.” Stephano nodded. “I asked if you were feeling well.”

“Oh yes, I am.” I raised the tiny espresso cup. “I think Tito was right. I needed a shot of this.” I tipped it and downed the small shot-like cup, all in one gulp.

Stephano stared at me and then blinked rapidly. “You should have sipped that, mia cara.”

Tito chuckled. “Yeah, sweetness. You are gonna have like a bad case of the jitters in a few minutes.”

I placed the cup down and then put my hand over my mouth. “Oh, wow. I don’t know why I did that.”

Tito chuckled as he reached over to pat my arm.

Stephano took a small sip of his and then sighed. “You can always tell when my sister makes it, versus anyone else. It is just like they serve in the ole Tuscany Taproom.”

I did start to feel a bit of energy, but I knew I could handle it. Wow, that was fast caffeine. “Is that in Italy?” I asked him.

Nodding, he said, “Anytime I go back there, I have to visit that cafe. The best cannoli and espresso in the world.”

Tito cleared his throat and said, “We just spoke to Valen’s parents last night on Zoom. They were in Italy.”

Stephano set his tiny cup down and said, “So you know then.”

I glanced at Tito then turned my head to stare at Stephano.

“Know what?” Tito asked him. “There were several things we found out.”

“You saidValen’sparents. So I assume you found out who they are.” Stephano stared back at him.

I wondered if he even knew the correlation of Tommy knowing Angelo Bruno. He saw the birth certificate as he had been the one to give us the real ones printed out.

“Si Tito. Tommaso and Bianca.” Although their last name changed, hasn't it?”

“So do you know why they changed it?” Tito questioned him.

“I assumed it was so they could avoid me.”

I sucked in a breath and glanced at Tito.

He kept staring at his uncle. “And why would they do that?”

“They did not tell you?”

Tito sat forward and replied, “They told us a few shocking things, but then when we mentioned you, they looked terrified.”

“But they didn’t tell you why,” Stephano surmised.

“What’s the big secret?” I asked outright.

He looked over at me. “Tommaso saw something he should not have.”