The next day, Julian was holding William as he stood inside of the terminal of Harmony Airport with Eve by his side. Carlo was standing a few feet away from the Crane family, but as usual his eyes were on Eve. Marco happened to look up from his seat as he notice how Carlo was staring at Eve.

“Carlo stop it now!” He snapped.

“Stop what?” Carlo said as he still stared at Eve.

“Stop looking at Eve like that. You can’t have her.”

“I know but I can’t help it. She’s so beautiful, and I’m in love with her.”

“What?!” Marco looked at his brother with disbelief written all over his face. “You can’t love her.”

“I can. And even though I can’t have her, that doesn’t mean I can’t look at her.” He scoffed.

“But the way you’re looking at her clearly shows that you lust after her not love.”

“Of course I lust after her, but that doesn’t matter. I still love her.”

Julian was holding William close to his body, as he looked Eve in the eyes. He really didn’t want to leave but knew he had. He placed his hand on Eve’s cheek and watched as she placed her hand over his. This was the second time that they had been apart from each other. The first time happened twelve years ago and you know how that turned out. But this was the first time they were separated as husband and wife. Whenever Eve had to go to those medical conferences, Julian and William always went with her. So this was something truly different.

“We’re going to miss you, you know that?” Eve whispered softly.

“I’m going to missed you both too.” Julian said then suddenly turned when he heard that his flight was about ready to be boarded. “I gotta go.”

“Call me when you get there. I don’t care what time it is.”

“I will, I promise.” Julian smiled then leaned in kissed her passionately. Eve moaned in his mouth and didn’t want to let him go. Finally parting, Julian kissed William on top of his head and handed him to Eve before kissing her once more.

Picking up his backpack and suitcase, Julian walked over to the Luciano brothers and then all three men headed over to board the plane. Julian looked back once more and smiled at his wife and son before disappearing from their site.

The flight from Harmony to Florence was the longest flight Julian had ever been on. The flight was to be sixteen hours, sixteen straight hours nonstop to Italy! Julian groaned as he leaned back in his chair. Carlo was sitting next to him reading a book while Marco was fast asleep in the seat in front of them.

“This is unbelievable.”

“What is?” Carlo asked.

“Sixteen straight hours on a plane to Italy. This is so boring?” Julian whined.

“Well then go to sleep.”

“I can’t, I’m not sleepy.”

“You miss Eve don’t you?”

“Yeah. We’ve never been apart like this before.”

“Ohh…” Carlo said as he watched a series of emotions appear on Julian’s face.

“I just want to hurry up and get this stuff over with.”

After leaving the airport, Eve drove over to Ivy’s house. They had planned the night before to spend as much time together as possible since both of their men were out of the country. They were currently sitting outside on Ivy front porch, doing absolutely nothing.

“I miss him already…” Ivy sighed.

“I miss Julian too.”

“I can’t believe they had to just leave like that. Marco told me it was very important to the project and the company.”

“Julian told me too. The night before, he told me that he was going to try to get all of this work done quickly.”

“Well, I’m not going to sit around here and do nothing until they return, so how about the two of us go inside, order a pizza and watch some sad sappy romance movies?” Ivy smiled. Eve shook her head a little and smiled as well.

Once the plane landed at Florence International Airport, the three men walked inside of the terminal and got all of their luggage before walking outside and finding a limo waiting for them. After making sure that they had all of their belongings, Marco instructed the driver to take home to the Villa Luciano, located on the corner between Via Arnolfo and Via Orcagna.

Before getting off of the plane, Marco had insisted that Julian come stay with them. At first Julian declined, but after being persuaded by Carlo, Julian give in and accepted the offer. Once there, Julian was lead to the room that he would be staying in. The room was by far, the most expensive room he ever stayed in. It was breathtaking.

Twenty minutes later, Marco came to Julian’s room and told him that it was time to get to work. He also told Julian that Carlo would be staying home for the rest of the day because he wasn’t feeling good. So the two men walked outside and a limo escorted them to the bank that was having the problem.

Carlo watched from his balcony on the second floor as the limo with Marco and Julian drove through the gates and down the road. He then walked back into his room and sat down on his bed. Next he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a few numbers.

“Ernesto, it’s Carlo Luciano… We just arrived about an hour ago. It’s time to put my plan in motion… Yes, I’m positive… Ciao.” The time had come and everything was set. In three days, Julian would be dead and Eve would be his.

Two days went by so fast that Julian hadn’t even noticed. Since day one, he and Marco worked nonstop to hurry and get this part of the project finished ahead of time. He really didn’t even know why they needed him here, it seemed like Marco had everything under control. And just like he promised Eve the night before he left, he called her morning, noon and night. He loved hearing her voice first thing in the morning and first thing before he went to bed at night. He couldn’t wait until he was finished so that he could go home and be with his wife and son.

The next day as Julian got ready to leave and go back to the bank with Marco, things suddenly changed. Today, it was just going to be him and Carlo. Marco had gotten a call from one of their cousins and was needed as soon as possible. Once he was downstairs by the front door, Carlo walked up to him and told him that he would be driving them to the bank instead taking the limo. Julian had no problem with that since he hated riding in a limo for three straight days.

When they were outside, parked in front of the house was a 1992 512TR Blue Testarossa. Julian’s mouth dropped open at the site of this beautiful car.

“Julian…” Carlo said as he waved a hand in front of Julian’s face.

“Huh?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Is that a 1992 512TR Testarossa?”

“Yes it is. This here car is my baby, just like your motorcycle is yours.”

“Yep.”

“So are you ready?”

“Yeah let’s go.”

Once they were inside the car, Carlo started it up, pulled out of the driveway, through the front gate and then they were off. As they drove down the street, Carlo told Julian that he needed to stop somewhere on the way to pick up something. Five minutes later, Carlo came to a sudden stop in front of Casa Bellini then turned towards Julian.

“Julian, I have a confession to make.”

“What’s going on?”

“I can’t keep lying to you anymore.”

Julian looked at him with a confusion written all over his face.

“I’m in love with your wife. I have been since the first time I laid eyes on her the day I was brought to the hospital.”

“What the hell?!”

“And I will stop at nothing to make her mine.” Carlo said as he locked eyes with Julian.

Julian was livid! Carlo, a man that he considered a close friend of his, was in love with Eve… And the damn fool had the nerve to say it to his face! Julian suddenly hauled off and punched him in the jaw. He would’ve punched him again if his door hadn’t been pulled open and if someone hadn’t grabbed him. The person pulled Julian out of the car and held him up as Carlo got out of the car and walked up to him.

“You’re gonna pay for this Julian!” Carlo spat at him then pulled a needle out of his pocket.

“You sonofab*tch! I’ll kill you! I won’t let you near my wife!” Julian shouted as he struggled to set himself free.

Carlo grew tired of hearing Julian shout, finally had enough and jammed the needle into Julian’s leg. Julian yelled out in pain as the needle pierced his skin. He then somehow elbowed the guy who was holding him from behind in the stomach and kicked Carlo in his stomach as well before turning and running off down the street.

Carlo grimaced in pain as he dropped to his knees and watched Julian running away.

“Ernesto, go after him! I want him dead!” Carlo shouted.

Julian was running as fast as he could. He didn’t know where the hell he was going, but he knew that he had to find some help fast. Suddenly, his vision started to blur and he had to stop. He tried rubbing his eyes to clear up his vision but it didn’t work. Whatever Carlo injected him with, was starting to take affect. Shouting from behind startled him, so he started running again even though he could barely see.

Julian continued running until his stomach started cramping up. He suddenly dropped to his knees and grimaced in pain. It felt like his insides were on fire! Footsteps behind him, made him come to the conclusion that he was caught.

“It didn’t have to be this way Julian.” Carlo said.

“What did you do to me?” Julian said in a barely audible voice.

“It doesn’t matter, you’ll be dead in a matter of minutes anyways.”

Julian somehow managed to stand back up, this time on wobbling legs. “I won’t die so easily Carlo… I will be back.” He said gasping for air before Carlo walked up to him and pushed him over what he finally realized was a cliff into the freezing waters below.

Back in Harmony, it was past two in the morning and Eve was walking back to her office when she suddenly felt weak in the knees and leaned into the wall closest to her to hold herself up. Something wasn’t right, and she didn’t know what it was. She had been feeling this way for two days now and thought it would go away. She had to hurry back to her office because it was about time for Julian to call her before he went to lunch. But she couldn’t move as another wave of dizziness came and this time she could do nothing as she dropped to the floor out cold.

When she came to, she was lying down on a gurney and Dr. Carmichael standing over her.

“Jennifer?” Eve said as she tried to sit up, and the moment she did, she fell right back down.

“Eve, don’t try to move.”

“What happened?”

“Nurse Philips found you unconscious in the hall.”

“And how long was that?”

“Two hours ago.”

“Damn it, I missed Julian’s call.” She whined.

“How long have you been feeling like this Eve?”

“About two days now, why?” Eve asked her curiously.

“When was the last time you had your monthly?”

“Jennifer! What’s with all the questions?!” Eve shrieked as she closed her eyes.

“I ran some test on you, just to make sure nothing was wrong with you. And it looks like you’re a month pregnant.”

Eve’s eyes instantly shot open when she heard what Dr. Carmichael said.

“What was that again?”

“Eve…”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep…you’re definitely pregnant.” Dr. Carmichael smiled.

“Can I use the phone please?”

“Sure. I’ll be outside if you need me.”

Once she was alone, she dialed the number that Julian gave her to the Luciano Villa. It rang a few times before someone picked up.

“Hello?”

“Marco, it’s Eve. Is Julian back yet?”

Marco closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair.

“Marco?”

“Eve, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Eve was unnerved by the way Marco sounded.

“Marco, where’s Julian? Tell me...” she demanded.

Marco paused for a second before telling her the truth.

“Carlo came home today, bloodied, bruised and banged up. He said that he and Julian were attacked by a group of men and that one of them stabbed Julian.” Marco said but he still needed to tell her the rest. “Eve, they threw Julian’s body over a cliff… He’s dead.”

And then there was silence…